Cargo

Caravan with 2x5 cargo inventory capacity.^[1]

Cargo is the official name of supplies that are transited by caravans and ships.^[2] – Steven Sharif

Cargo refers to crates that are transported by caravan, ship, or mules.^[3]^[2]

The only constraint is available size in the spatial inventory system for the crates.^[3]^[4]^[5]
- Materials and resources (in crates).^[5]
- Player commodities.^[5]
- Node commodities.^[5]

There are... three primary methods by which caravans transit the world. The first is when players are moving commodities. The second is when players are moving materials and resources, and that's to your question. That's relevant because materials and resources across the world are unique to the geographic region in which they are produced or which they spawn, and crafting stations are located at certain nodes, and nodes specialize the types of crafting stations that they can have; so the transit of those materials across the world is a necessary component of keeping the economy alive; and where there is a demand there will be a supply. So that's with regards to the second reason for transiting caravans. The third is when mayors and system generated caravans transit the world. This is for nodes to acquire certain types of node commodities or node resources that they need to initiate public Work projects and to initiate construction projects.^[5] – Steven Sharif

Cargo for shipment by caravan is stored at the caravansary not in a player's inventory. Stored cargo is visible via the warehouse UI.^[6]^[7] Likewise, merchant ships can only be launched and received at harbors.^[8]

Upgrading a caravan's components can increase its cargo capacity.^[9]^[8] The maximum cargo capacity of caravans will be determined during Alpha-2 testing.^[10] Merchant ships have a much larger capacity than caravans.^[8]

Cargo stays on the caravan (or ship) until it is unloaded.^[11]

When you land a caravan it doesn't automatically flood the node's cargo with the stuff that was on your caravan. It stays on the caravan as additional cargo storage.^[11] – John Collins

Caravan speed is currently not affected by the weight of the cargo being transported.^[12]

There are visual hints relating to the cargo being transported on caravans, but players will not be able to see the exact contents of the caravan.^[13]^[14]^[15] Cargo is represented in this way even if a cosmetic caravan skin has been applied to the caravan.^[14]^[15]
- Decoy crates may be available via social organization progression to aid in launching of decoy caravans and merchant ships.^[13]

Commodities are transported by caravans and merchant ships in sealed crates.^[16]^[17]^[18]
- These commodities cannot be stored in a player's inventory. Looting them will convert them into stolen commodities which yield a lesser value when exchanged at black market locations in nodes.^[19]^[20]^[21]^[17]
- To retain the value of the commodities, players must summon an empty caravan from a nearby node to collect and transport them.^[20]^[22]^[23]

Commodities crates found in caravan wreckages are marked with a green symbol.^[24]
Materials crates found in caravan wreckages are marked with a black symbol.^[24]

Collecting cargo

Summoned caravan collecting commodities and materials crates from a caravan wreckage in Alpha-2.^[25]

Players may summon an empty caravan from a nearby node to collect and transport crates from caravan wreckages.^[20]^[22]^[23]

Looting at the spot obviously you can do right away. The problem with that though is you forfeit a lot of the materials: a lot more get lost; and as you crack open those crates. But if you're able to have your own caravan and bring it there, you can loot and you'll get more of the overall materials that way.^[20] – Chris Justo

Skill	Icon	Description
Collect Cargo		Pick up cargo nearest the mouse location and add them to your caravan's storage if there's enough room.^[26]

Unloading cargo

Alpha-2 Unpack Crate UI.^[27]

That timer scales with how the node progresses. That's actually an extremely fast unpacking time, but typically it's going to be on the scale of days.^[27] – John Collins

Materials crates that are transported by caravans (or merchant ships) may be unloaded into a node's warehouse.^[27]

Unpacking time can take a number of IRL days to complete. This can be decreased through node policies, service building upgrades, and node progression.^[28]^[27]

That throttle of timing out the unloading of materials and supplies is intended to mitigate the impact on the local economy that transiting materials has within the world. Right now that's a runway, which means that through certain decisions that a node makes, whether it be upgrades or policies, they can reduce that amount of time significantly; and by creating a differential or a disparity of the amount that days would represent, versus hours, you can have the nodes that select those types of upgrades and policies really become the epicenter of trade within a particular region.^[28] – Steven Sharif

Cargo stays on the caravan (or ship) until it is unloaded.^[11]

Player commodities may be sold directly from caravan (or merchant ship) inventory to commodities vendors.^[27]

Crates

Commodities crates found in caravan wreckages are marked with a green symbol.^[24]

Materials crates found in caravan wreckages are marked with a black symbol.^[24]

Cargo transported by caravan and merchant ships must be stored in crates.^[18]

There are small, medium, and large crates.^[29] The higher quality the crate, the greater its capacity.^[18]

Commodities are transported by caravans and merchant ships in sealed crates.^[16]^[17]^[18]
- Player commodities are "pre-crated" when they are purchased from commodities vendor NPCs.^[30]^[16]^[31]
- Player commodities present in caravan wreckages have a portion of their value sunk (lost).^[32]^[22]^[23]
- These commodities cannot be stored in a player's inventory. Looting them will convert them into stolen commodities which yield a lesser value when exchanged at black market locations in nodes.^[19]^[20]^[21]^[17]
- To retain the value of the commodities, players must summon an empty caravan from a nearby node to collect and transport them.^[20]^[22]^[23]

Commodities can go into Crates to move them. If someone loses a Caravan, in the wreckage there are Crates. If you get a Crate to a Caravansary you can unpack it.^[22] – Ry Schueller

Commodities crates found in caravan wreckages are marked with a green symbol.^[24]
Materials crates found in caravan wreckages are marked with a black symbol.^[24]

Unsealing crates (by breaking open sealed crates) yields less value than transporting the sealed crates for unloading.^[32] This is in addition to the value already lost when the caravan (or merchant ship) was destroyed.^[22]^[23]^[21]^[17]

Glint must be transported via crate when in large quantities.^[33]^[18]

Crates will undergo testing and iteration during Alpha-2.^[18]

Unsealing crates

Unsealing crates (by breaking open sealed crates) yields less value than transporting the sealed crates for unloading.^[32] This is in addition to the value already lost when the caravan (or merchant ship) was destroyed.^[22]^[23]^[21]^[17]

Player commodities have a portion of their value sunk (lost).^[32]^[22]^[23]
- These commodities cannot be stored in a player's inventory. Looting them will convert them into stolen commodities which yield a lesser value when exchanged at black market locations in nodes.^[19]^[20]^[21]^[17]
- To retain the value of the commodities, players must summon an empty caravan from a nearby node to collect and transport them.^[20]^[22]^[23]
Unsealing crates with other types of cargo may also cause the cargo to become stolen.^[21]^[17]
- Resources taken from caravan wreckages become stolen resources.^[23]
- Glint taken from caravan wreckages becomes stolen glint.^[21]

Cracking/breaking Crates always give less value than doing the work to get a Crate back to a place where you can unpack it. Commodities like "A Case of Kaelar Wooden Soldiers" don’t go into a player’s inventory. The only way someone gets Commodities like "A Case of Kaelar Wooden Soldiers" from place to place is in Crates.^[32] – Ry Schueller