More Inventory Space & the Sixth Quick Slot

How to increase backpack space

Permanent inventory upgrades use upgrade terminals. The Biohacking Chamber category on a Scanner Station provides a useful way to search for them once you have a powered base. Select a contact and use its world signal, distance and depth information to plan the trip. A contact can require a different approach from the direction it appears on the map.

Read the terminal reward when you arrive. Backpack capacity, quick-access positions and passive Biomod slots solve different limitations. Finish the interaction and check the relevant inventory or loadout screen before leaving. Merely finding or scanning a nearby object is not the same as applying its upgrade.

If you cannot reach another terminal yet, storage is the immediate alternative. Keep construction materials in named base lockers, carry the next recipe's shopping list, and leave room for the resource you are going out to collect. Emptying your backpack before departure can be more useful than bringing every tool you own.

How to unlock the sixth quick slot

The Colonist Bunker 1 route combines Silver gathering, Repair Tool progress and a quick-slot upgrade. Our route shows the tool bar expanding from five positions to six after using the bunker BioBed panel.

1. Start from the Angel Comb landmark with your Scanner, oxygen equipment and enough free inventory for the Silver return.
2. Follow the two-light cave and black cable toward the Silver area. Use the illustrated route for the turns rather than guessing from a straight map line.
3. Continue to the red hatch and enter Colonist Bunker 1. Complete the useful object scans while you are there.
4. Use the BioBed panel before leaving, then check that a sixth quick-access position is available.
5. Arrange your frequently used tools and return with the gathered materials. Keep the two Silver for a Standard Air Tank separate from any Silver assigned to electronics.

This upgrade is especially useful once Scanner, Air Bladder, Survival Multitool, Flashlight and Habitat Builder compete for quick access. It does not make a full backpack able to accept another pickup.

Portable storage for longer gathering trips

The current Portable Locker recipe uses four Titanium with the Habitat Builder, after blueprint access. Pack it for a route where moving a container is worth the extra handling, and place your essential oxygen, healing and return supplies where you can reach them.

At home, arrange and label lockers by the jobs you repeat: tools, electronics, base construction and food. The base-building guide shows the locker placement and naming workflow. A planned storage stop makes the next trip quicker even before you find another permanent upgrade.

Pack for one job and the return trip

• Mining: take the required tool, a charged spare and the material budget for the intended craft. Leave unrelated base construction supplies at home.
• New cave or wreck: reserve food, water, healing and oxygen support before filling space with optional pickups. Arrange the tools you need to reach quickly on the shortcut bar.
• Recovery: leave room for black-box contents, and fix the power or oxygen problem that ended the previous trip before returning.

A Tracking Tag in your hand or inventory when you reprint increases black-box range. The recovery guide explains assignment and retrieval. Keep a separate home reserve so it is still available after an unsuccessful expedition.

Before packing extra batteries, use the charging routine to distinguish charged spares from depleted cells. More carried items only help when they are ready to use.

Inventory upgrade questions