Always Over Encumbered in Starfield? Here Is What to Do!

In this guide, I will go over how to better manage your inventory to avoid being over-encumbered in Starfield.

Starfield is an RPG, and as RPGs go you have quests to complete, enemies to destroy, and random things you will never use to pick up and hoard.

Here is what you can do to deal with it:

Stop picking things up
Level up the Weight Lifting skill
Find stat buffing Magazines
Use your ship’s cargo bay
Use your companion’s pockets
Use certain foods or treatments

If you are struggling to make money and keep up with all the things you want to buy, check out our guide on how to start a money farm and get more credits in Starfield.

Starfield: What Does Over Encumbered Actually Do?

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RPGs bring out our worst hoarding tendencies, and Starfield is no different. The game wants to prevent players from going around with three stores’ worth of items on them and introduces the encumbered status as a countermeasure.

In the menu, in the bottom right corner, you will notice the mass meter. This is a limiter on how much you can carry before you become Encumbered.

The Encumbered status will quickly drain the player’s oxygen while they run around. You will also not be able to fast travel, so be sure to plan around that limit.

This is all you need to know about the over-encumbered status in Starfield.

Starfield: Stop Picking Things Up

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Understandably we all have the habit of picking up everything that shines and prompts us to pick it up. It’s compulsive, but please stop.

Since space is limited no matter how many of our tricks you end up using, you will only be delaying the inevitable. Always make a plan for what you need, and try to pick those items only.

It will be hard at first, but it will help you manage your inventory issues the most, and that is why it’s at the top of the list.

Starfield: Level up the Weight Lifting skill

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Weight Lifting is a Novice Physical Skill. It increases the Spacefarer’s total inventory capacity.

It has four different ranks, and in order to rank up you will need to complete different challenges related to the skill. Each rank requires a skill point to unlock.

Rank	Challenge	Bonuses
1	Sprint for 1,000 meters while at 75% or more of your maximum load capacity.	Increase total carrying capacity by 10 kilograms.
2	Sprint for 2,500 meters while at 75% or more of your maximum load capacity.	Increase total carrying capacity by 25 kilograms.
3	Sprint for 5000 meters while at 75% or more of your maximum load capacity.	Increase total carrying capacity by 50 kilograms.
4	N/A	Increase total carrying capacity by 100 kilograms. Gain 50% resistance to stagger.

These are all the challenges you will need to complete for each rank of the skill.

Starfield: Find Stat Buffing Magazines

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Skill Magazines and Books grant permanent buffs and other bonuses by collecting magazines in Starfield. These can usually be found on tables, counters, or other flat surfaces.

Magazine bonuses are given in sequential order regardless of which one you pick up first. Here is a list of the magazines that increase capacity in the game.

I will include both ship cargo and player capacity increases.

Freestar Captain’s Log

The Freestar Captain’s Log magazines provide increases in carry capacity, robot damage, and disarming with unarmed and melee attacks:

Logs 01 and 02: Increase carry capacity by 5%.
Log 03: 5% more damage to robots.
Logs 04 and 05: Additional 1% chance to disarm opponents with unarmed and melee attacks.

Peak Performance

The Peak Performance issues increase carry capacity by 5kg, with the exception of issue 04 which increases melee weapon critical damage by 5%.

Logs 01 and 03: Increase carry capacity by 5kg
Logs 04: Increases melee weapon critical damage by 5%
Logs 05: Increase carry capacity by 5kg

Starfield: Upgrade and Use Your Ship’s Cargo Bay

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When you are almost full, but you find that one item you really need, the cargo hold will be able to hold all the items you need.

Highly customizable with different parts, you will always have the right amount of excess capacity to fill it with everything you want to keep for later.

Here is what you need to do in order to transfer items to your ship cargo from your player character, while out and about, with the only exception being while you are in a dungeon.

Open character menu (Tab)
Select ship section (bottom left)
Open ship cargo hold (press Q or look at the bottom right)
Now, while there, if you swap back to your character’s inventory (bottom right button again) you can deposit items from your character into your ship’s cargo hold.

This process will completely remove redundant trips, where you have to make it back to the ship before the oxygen runs out while having to deal with the over-encumbered status in Starfield.

Starfield: Use Your Companion’s Pockets

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Aside from the excellent company, your companions that come along with you will be able to carry different things.

It is pretty easy to use and allows you to make a long trip that little bit longer. All you have to do is talk to any companion that has come with you and among the dialogue options, there is “Let’s trade gear.”.

Make sure to throw all the less valuable items onto them, and keep picking up all the valuable items you keep finding.

Starfield: Use Certain Foods or Treatments

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Aside from the permanent buffs to carry capacity, there are also temporary buffs that increase the player’s carry capacity.

You can either use some food item that buffs your carry capacity for a set period of time, or you can unlock some chems that offer the same temporary effect.

Here is a list of everything you can take, that will temporarily increase your carry capacity.

Bourbon (food) +8 Carry Capacity for 5m, but -25% O2 recovery for 5m
Alien Liquour (food) +10 Carry Capacity for 5m, but -25% O2 recovery for 5m
UC Battlemeal (food) Restores 15 health, and +6 Carry Capacity for 5m
UC Battlemeal Multipack (food) Restores 20 health, and +8 Carry Capacity for 5m
Pick-Me-Up (treatment) +50 Carry capacity for 15m

These were all the temporary buffs that will help you deal with the over-encumbered status while you look for more permanent solutions.

Final Thoughts

Systems like these can make the world feel more real, and help with player immersion.

They can easily be misused, and make players annoyed when they encounter it, but the game has enough support systems, to allow for many different ways to deal with it.

If you are starting to encounter tougher, and tougher enemies you will need to be appropriately equipped, so check out our guide on the best weapons for the mid and late game in Starfield.

With all the ways to counter the over-encumbered status in Starfield, you will be ready to explore without fearing that capacity limiter. Share your thoughts in the comments down below, on what you do to avoid being encumbered.

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Nikiforos

Nikiforos has been a fan of Nintendo from a very young age and writing allows him to share his vast knowledge with others.

With thousands of hours played on Nintendo systems since the original Gameboy, Nikiforos is happy to share his endless passion for Nintendo franchises and everything he can get his hands on.