Storage planning: crate capacity, radiation shielding, and retrieval zones

Current crate facts

Abiotic Factor's three standard storage crates provide 18, 30, and 42 slots. The Hazard Crate provides 30 slots and 100 percent radiation shielding. The shielding controls radiation leaking from stored radioactive items; it does not mean ordinary items in another crate become permanently contaminated because a radioactive item sat nearby.

Capacity alone does not identify the best container. A Small Crate can be more useful beside a work area than a Large Crate placed across the base. The real cost is the time spent opening containers, moving stacks, and walking between the item and the station that consumes it.

Organize by retrieval path

Build zones around actions rather than broad material names. A workable layout uses four flows:

1. Arrival buffer: one partly empty crate near the entrance for items that have not been sorted.
2. Crafting supply: frequently consumed components within a short walk of the Crafting Bench.
3. Mission loadout: healing, food, water, ammunition, and spare equipment near the exit.
4. Hazard storage: radioactive materials in a Hazard Crate away from the normal handling path.

The arrival buffer prevents a returning player from scattering items through random containers. It is not permanent storage. Empty it at the end of a run, then leave several slots open for the next return.

The crafting zone should be divided by frequency. Components used constantly belong in the closest container. Rare progression items can sit farther away in a Large Crate. This is an editorial layout rule, not a hidden crafting bonus. Its value is that the player can predict where an item will be before opening a container.

When to upgrade a crate

Do not upgrade solely because a larger crate exists. Use an expansion threshold:

• Below roughly two-thirds full, keep the current container and preserve empty receiving space.
• Near capacity, decide whether the category is genuinely growing or merely contains items that belong elsewhere.
• If the category is high-volume and stable, move it to the next size.
• If the category is mixed, split by workflow before buying more capacity.

For example, a 30-slot Medium Crate holding food, medicine, ammunition, and tools is not one coherent category. Splitting mission supplies from workshop supplies can reduce search time even if total slot count stays the same.

Use Large Crates for resources with predictable volume: common salvage, construction stock, or a long-term reserve. Use Small Crates where the limited capacity is a benefit, such as completed mission kits or replacement batteries. A small boundary makes overstock visible.

Radiation storage without invented mechanics

Radioactive items continue to emit radiation while stored unless shielding reduces that exposure. The Hazard Crate's documented value is 100 percent shielding and 30 slots, so it is the dedicated choice when the goal is to stop radiation escaping the container.

The current Small and Medium pages list partial shielding of 10 and 20 percent. The current Large Crate page lists its 42 slots but does not state a radiation shielding value, so this guide does not assign one. Known partial shielding is not equivalent to a Hazard Crate. If radioactive stock is placed in a standard crate, do not assume it provides the Hazard Crate's documented 100 percent protection.

The current references do not support a mechanic where radiation permanently spreads from one stored item to every adjacent item and destroys the contents. Plan for emitted radiation and player exposure, not an invented contamination chain.

Use this transfer procedure:

1. Clear a direct route to the Hazard Crate.
2. Move radioactive material into it instead of leaving the item in an arrival buffer.
3. Close the container before continuing normal sorting.
4. Keep the Hazard Crate's location consistent so every player uses the same path.
5. If it reaches capacity, add another Hazard Crate rather than silently moving radioactive stock to ordinary storage.

A 120-slot base example

Suppose the base needs about 120 working slots. Four Medium Crates provide 120 slots exactly, but an exact fit leaves no receiving capacity. A more practical allocation could be:

This layout has 132 nominal slots and intentionally keeps 36 open. Empty slots are not waste. They absorb the next expedition, make incorrect placement obvious, and prevent the sorting system from failing whenever a new stack appears.

The categories can be represented with signs, paint, or consistent physical position. Choose one scheme and keep it stable. A perfect color system that changes every week is worse than four plainly named zones everyone remembers.

Recovery when storage has collapsed

When every crate is mixed, do not attempt to classify every item in place. Create one empty receiving container and process one workflow at a time:

1. Pull all radioactive items into Hazard storage.
2. Build one mission loadout zone so the next trip is not blocked.
3. Consolidate common crafting components.
4. Move rare reserves into the largest remaining container.
5. Leave the arrival buffer partly empty.

After recovery, the test is simple: can a player return, unload, prepare a new mission, and find radioactive stock without opening every crate? If yes, the layout is doing more than maximizing slot count.