When you’re exploring the Star System in Starfield, you’ll come across a lot of stolen goods and Contraband. Contraband is essentially illegal items that can be sold to earn big bucks, but if caught with them, you will go to jail, and all those items will be confiscated by the law enforcement forces, so you need to be careful.
Contraband items are marked with a yellow icon, while stolen goods are marked with a red one. If you’re found with them in your possession during a ship scan, you’ll get a nice trip to jail while all your items, stolen or not, will be confiscated, which is why selling them as soon as you find them is the best option.
Visiting the Trade Authority offices on a planet or a ship is the best way to sell stolen goods and Contraband in Starfield. Trade Authority vendors can be found in major hubs like New Atlantis, Mars, etc. or on ships like the Crimson Fleet ship called The Key.
The Trade Authority office in New Atlantis is located in the underground Well area. There’ll be an elevator to the right of Jemison Mercantile that will lead you underground. Keep going forward in this area, and eventually you’ll see a path to your left with the words Trade Authority on top.
On the other hand, if you’re a member of the Crimson Fleet, you’ll be able to sell your items easily on the Key space station itself, as you don’t get scanned there. In addition to that, you’ll find multiple vendors to sell your items to, including their own Trade Authority vendor.
But remember that all vendors have a certain number of Credits on them at a time, so you’ll be able to sell only those items for which they have the required amount of Credits.
1. How to avoid getting scanned in Starfield?
Three ways to avoid getting scanned in Starfield are:
- Unlocking and upgrading the Deception skill.
- Installing a Shield Cargo Hold on the ship.
- Installing a Scan Jammer on the ship.
Deception: Unlocking the Deception skill isn’t recommended, but if you’re smuggling on a daily basis, then you’ll need it.
Shielded Cargo Hold: Installing the Shielded Cargo module on your ship will help you hide stolen and Contraband items. It’s not guaranteed that the items won’t get detected during a ship scan, but the chances of you getting caught get lower.
If you want to get the module or a ship with one already installed, then I suggest purchasing it from Lon Anderssen at the Red Mile on Porrima III. You can buy a ship with the module attached for 72,000 Credits but buying the part on its own is obviously the cheaper option.
Scan Jammer: Another good option is to install a Scan Jammer on your ship. The thing basically interrupts the frequencies of the authorities’ scanners, making it harder for them to identify any illegal items on your ship.
You can obtain a Scan Jammer by:
- Stealing Crimson Fleet ships that already have it installed or
- By purchasing it from traders like Jasmine ‘Jazz’ Durand on the Key space station and Lon Anderson at the Red Mile found on Porrima III
2. Where to get Contraband in Starfield?
The two best places to get Contraband in Starfield are:
- Neon
- Prisons
Neon is a gorgeous city located on the planet Volli Alpha in the Volli Star System. You can get Contraband there from the Euphoria Vendor in the Ebbside area by buying Aurora from the vendor for 670 Credits.
Other than Neon, prisons are a good place to get Contraband. Not all prisons have it, but checking prison cells will guarantee you at least some Contraband items, which is better than nothing.
3. How to get Contraband and stolen items back if caught in Starfield?
Players can get back their confiscated items by picking the locks of chests named Stolen Items Locker. The confiscated items can also be located inside containers marked Seized Cargo, which players have to lockpick.
The Stolen Items Locker can also sometimes contain Contraband if you’re missing any, and it’s usually located in the security offices of the local authorities’ security facilities. When opening it, make sure that you’re crouching in order to not get caught.
On the other hand, the Seized Cargo containers will be located around the landing pads on every spaceport planet. These will contain any Contraband that was previously confiscated from your ship.
Also remember that you’ll need at least Rank 2 of the Security Skill and Digpicks to lockpick the expert-level locks on these lockers and containers.
4. About Starfield
Starfield is a space exploration game developed by the popular video game company, Bethesda. The game’s teaser launched in 2018, while the gameplay trailer came out in 2022.
Starfield will take players to the deepest depth of space. Being a Sci-Fi game, one can expect it to be brimming with stupendous weapons and supersonic spacecraft while offering a magical tone that is enough to get lost in.
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