The business of smuggling goods is a lucrative side income in Starfield, if you don’t get caught. How to successfully acquire, hide, and sell smuggled goods is explained here on MeinMMO.
What are smuggled goods? These are usually high-priced items that you can only sell at certain locations.
The problem: When approaching one of the civilized planets, you will often be scanned, and the local law enforcement are eager to confiscate your smuggled goods – as a reward, there’s a bounty for you. By the way, while they are at it, the cops will also take all your stolen goods.
- Smuggled goods have a yellow symbol
- Stolen goods have a red symbol
How to get past the checkpoints with smuggled goods and who will take the stuff from you is explained here in the guide.
Starfield: Smuggled Goods – Acquire, Hide, Sell
Where to get smuggled goods? You can find large smuggled goods containers in Starfield to collect valuable items. Additionally, boarded ships from pirates and mercenaries are considered an excellent source.
It’s the same as with stolen goods: Pay attention to the symbols on the right side of the display field when picking up items. If you pick up something with a yellow symbol, you won’t get through the security scan unless you hide the goods.
How to hide smuggled goods? The base for hiding smuggled goods is ‘cargo space shields’. If you have ‘cargo space shields’ installed, you can see the strength of these smuggling shields in the ship overview.
The higher the shield strength, the more illegal stuff you can transport. But beware: There is still a chance that the smuggled goods will be discovered. The closer the mass of smuggled goods approaches the strength of the ‘cargo space shields’, the higher the risk of detection.
This helps with smuggling:
- Cargo space shields
- Scan disruptors
- Social skill ‘Deception’
‘Cargo space shields’ and ‘scan disruptors’ can only be found very rarely with merchants. Take over or search ships that you haven’t destroyed in battle and keep an eye out for the components.
By the way: It won’t help if you just throw smuggled goods into your ship instead of stowing them properly. Then the stuff will definitely be detected by the scanners.
How to sell smuggled goods? At a merchant or vending machine of the ‘Trade Authority’. The branding of the ‘Trade Authority’ is hard to miss. They use a bright yellow, matching the smuggled goods:
You will find a ‘Trade Authority’ merchant in all major cities, such as in Neon or Akila City. At larger landing sites, you can also look out for vending machines from friendly merchants.
Smuggling can be very profitable, but with a bit of bad luck, it can also get expensive quickly. Keep an eye out for cargo shields and scan disruptors, otherwise, you won’t get rid of your bounty anytime soon.
A speedy ship is always helpful in this regard: One of the best ships in Starfield can be obtained early, but easily missed
