Inventory Management 101: "...A crucial part of Death Stranding is managing and expanding your inventory. Depending on how you choose to organize your backpack and other inventory slots, Sam's poise, posture, and speed will be affected. You can eventually acquire exoskeletons to boost the overall carry limit, but it's essential to understand the basics in the beginning. First, you need to ensure that you're keeping track of what's on your body at all times. While exploring, it can be easy to pick up stray cargo, and before you know it, you'll find that Sam's stamina is reduced and his ability to balance negatively impacted. There's a consequence for every item added to your inventory if you're not careful. Even if you're far under the carry limit, you can still notice an impact on your movement speed and balance with enough things stacked on you...
Auto-Arrange Cargo also doesn't take into consideration what's most efficient when it comes to what to equip onto your tool rack. For example, if you have a Bola Gun--which takes up two small cases worth of space in your bag--Auto-Arrange will often place it on your back instead of your tool rack. A simple reorganization will fix this, but it's something to consider whenever you're dealing with tons of large, heavy cargo and are looking to save on space..."
MULE Guide: "...Despite your best efforts to be sneaky, you're likely to encounter trouble from the MULEs' scanning pylons, which periodically trigger as you travel through their territory. When a scan initiates, any marked cargo on Sam will get pinged, alerting MULEs to the location it was last picked up. If this happens, immediately try to find cover as far away from where you were pinged as possible. With some luck and persistence, you'll avoid their incoming patrols. It's worth noting that in Episode 3, you'll get an ability that allows your Odradek's scanning ability to negate MULE scans... If you're not carrying any cargo (tools or deliverables), know that MULEs will mostly ignore you as long as you stay away from their main camp area... Early on, the best strategy is to run for dear life. When you do, try not to sprint in a straight line, as they're quick to throw their shock spears ahead of you, which upon contact can knock cargo from your backpack and temporarily halt your movement for a short time..."
Don't Miss This Useful Upgrade: "...But have you ever found yourself wondering why Sam's backpack in Death Stranding is always open, exposing your precious cargo to the wild and unpredictable Timefall elements of the world? But what if we told you that it's possible to unlock a cover that fits around your backpack--something to keep all of those high priority deliveries safe? Well, it's just for the cargo directly inside the confines of your backpack and not placed above it, but still, the backpack cover upgrade is an invaluable tool that's especially useful during late game deliveries when you're up against intense weather conditions... The backpack cover becomes available to get once you start doing deliveries at the Distribution Center South of Lake Knot City during Episode 3..."
