Template: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]
- Materialien 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]