It is important that you learn how to store items efficiently, to maximize what you can carry in your vehicles and what you can store at your settlement.

This page goes into detail concerning storage, or you can read the quickstart.

• Store unique items like objects, tools, weapons, clothing and armor in chests, coffers, cupboards and large storage bins.
• Store high to medium volume resources and crafted build materials in small and large crates. You can also use crate racks to store your small and large crates.
• Store low to medium volume resources and crafted build materials in bulk storage bins and food storage bins as these are volume based containers. You can also use bulk container units have four bulk storage units built in.
• Store liquids in various sized liquid containers. Size determines what it can hold. Only small barrels can be sealed to stop decay.

• Items refers to any item in Wurm.
• Items like tools, armor, weapons and miscellaneous objects are unique items.
  • Unique items are stored in item based storage containers like small and large chests, large storage units, coffins, coffers and cupboards.
• All items stored in items based containers decay and take damage with the exception of crates and magical chests.

Most general purpose item based containers can hold 100 items.

Even though the containers are primarily item based, volume can be a factor for some of them. If an item based container has one or more large volume items in it, the number of items it can hold may be reduced due to the space that is being taken up by the large volume items.

Some containers have a larger volume capacity than others. For instance, you can't put a barding (horse armor) in a large chest, but it will fit in a coffin.

Item based containers can hold resources and crafted build materials, but they will decay, and storage is limited.

The expand enchantment can increase the volume capacity of an item based container.

NOTE: Crates are item based containers, but cannot hold unique items, which is why they are covered in the next section.

Resources and crafted build materials are stored in crates and bulk storage containers where they are kept indefinitely. Liquids can be kept indefinitely if sealed in a small barrel.

NOTE: The unit of measure for volume is unknown, thus it is called volume for lack of a better word.

Volume based containers generally hold up to 16k volume and are best for storing low to medium volume resources, crafted build materials, and raw foods. Liquid container volume varies by the size of the container.

The expand enchantment can increase the volume capacity of a volume based container up to 64k.

NOTE: Included in the table below are small and large crates. These are item based storage containers, but cannot store unique items (as per the previous section). They are best used for high volume to medium volume resources and crafted build materials.

TIP: To determine the volume of an item, drop it in an empty bulk container unit or bulk storage bin and look at the volume column.

• 1 large crate can hold 300 items and is not (primarily) volume based.
• 1 BSB has 16k volume and can hold 300 items of 53.333333333 volume; equal to 1 crate.
• Thus one can conclude that anything greater than 53.33 volume is best stored in a crate, and that anything less than 53.33 is best stored in a BSB. However, consider that there are times when crates and bulk containers are the best solution, especially considering crate racks, bulk container units, and the expand enchant.

• 1 crate rack can hold 30 large crates without an expand; 9000 items.
• 1 crate rack with a 77 expand cast can hold 100 large crates; 30000 items.
• 1 BCU has 4 BSB's that can hold 16k volume each.
• Each BSB inside the BCU can be expanded to hold up to 64k volume; 256k volume.
• The more you expand containers to hold more items the less restrictive you have to be about where you store items as you will have ample space regardless. Still, it's nice to be organized and efficient.

Only a few containers keep items from decaying. Note that some items do not decay, like unfermented moonshine.

• Crates
• Bulk Container Unit
• Bulk Storage Bin
• Food Storage Bin
• Small Barrels (if sealed)
• Small and Large Magical Chests

TIP: Store items in a mine. They will decay at a slower rate.

What follows is my storage method. Yours may vary.

How you store things is going to depend on the size of your settlement; how much room you have. The more space you have, the more detailed you can get with sorting your items.

This is a minimal solution that I use for basic needs when first starting out. Once established, I expand storage, which I'll show in the next section (Main Storage).

Note that medium storage is either/or.

Crates (as needed):

• Dirt
• Log
• Ore
• Sand
• Shard
• Slab
• Support Beam
• Wooden Beam

Four BSB's:

• Animal, Plant
• Wood, Metal
• Ground
• Misc

Large Chests and Coffins as needed.

This is my configuration for a settlement.

I create a location I call main storage. Main storage is what I use when I'm not crafting at length and need something. I like to have most items on hand for quick access.

I sort my items by volume and put them in the appropriate containers. For instance, if I were to put logs into a BSB the container is going to fill up quickly because logs are a high volume item and BSB's are based on volume. This is why I store high volume items in crates.

High volume storage consists of crate racks containing large crates that store high to medium volume items. The crate racks are named after the item they contain.

• Dirt
• Log
• Ore
• Sand
• Shard
• Slab
• Support Beam
• Wooden Beam

I also have an empties crate rack.

• Empties

Low volume storage consists of 5 bulk container units that store low to medium volume items. The bulk container units are named after the items they contain.

My 5 main storage BCU's:

• Animal
  • Leather (Hide, Leather, Strips of Leather, Tail Leather)
  • Organ (Bladder, Cochineal, Fat, Gland)
  • Part (Hoof, Horn, Paw, Tooth)
  • Other (Beeswax, Feather, Fur, Wool, et al)
• Plant
  • Flower (Camellia, Lavender, Rose, Woad)
  • Grass (Mixed Grass, Moss, Reed, Thatch, Wemp)
  • Seed (Bouquet, Seed, Seedling, Sprout)
  • Other (Acorn, Kelp, Cotton, String of cloth, Square pieces of cloth, sheets)
• Wood
  • Ash (Ash)
  • Charcoal (Charcoal)
  • Rift Material (All rift materials, including stone and crystal)
  • Wood Material (All wood build materials)
• Metal
  • Armor Material (All armor build materials)
  • Build Material (All metal build materials except nails)
  • Nails (Small and large nails)
  • Ranged Material (Arrow heads)
• Ground
  • Clay (Clay)
  • Peat (Peat)
  • Sand (Heaps of sand)
  • Tar (Tar)

Anything that doesn't fit in these goes into dispersed and backup storage (more on that below).

You can fit 300 items of 53.33 volume in a BSB, but that is a poor use of a BSB if you consider it can hold thousands upon thousands of items. You then must decide what medium volume is for yourself and whether it should go in a crate or a bulk container.

When you start to think about the mass storage containers, the crate rack and the bulk container unit, and factor in the expand enchant which greatly increases the capacity of both, the numbers suddenly don't matter as much as you progress.

BSB's have a volume column. If you put 1 item in an empty BSB container you can see its volume value.

What I did was look at the items that fill up a BSB quickly and classified them as high volume items, because I don't want my BSB's to fill up too quickly.

I then looked at the items I could fit most efficiently in the BSB and classified them as low volume items.

This led me to decide that the medium volume number for me is somewhere between 5 and 15. Items above 15 volume I put in crates. Items below 5 I put in BSB's. Items between 5 and 15 I decide on a case by case basis, depending on my needs, the containers I'm using, and whether or not they are expanded.

Ultimately, it's up to you what you consider to be high volume, medium volume and low volume.

While I do keep items at my main storage, the bulk of my storage is actually at crafting stations.

Examples:

• Smithy: Lump, kindling, wood scrap, charcoal, ore
• Tailory: Cotton, string of cloth, square pieces of cloth, sheets
• Carpentry: Logs, wood build materials, nails
• Pottery: Clay, kindling, wood scrap, clay products (unfired), pottery products (brick, etc.)
• Masonry: Shard, brick, slab, etc.
• Lye: Water, ash
• Distillery: Crops, salt, small barrels, pegs, water
• Dye: Acorn, cochineal, copper, woad, water

It is beneficial to free up your main storage of certain items, so your main storage can have a smaller footprint.

Backup storage is where I sort items for long-term mass storage. The backup storage location consists of a larger number of crate racks and bulk container units, as well as large storage units for unique items.

Crate racks in backup storage follow the same concept as main storage. They are named for the items they contain. I add more as needed, but keep them separated.

Backup storage expands the main storage concept by separating the items into their own BSB's. I add more BCU's as I need them.

My 19 backup storage BCU's:

• Cotton
  • Cotton
  • Cotton
  • Cotton
  • Cotton
• Wemp
  • Ropes
  • Wemp Fiber
  • Wemp Plants
  • Wemp Seeds
• Animal - Part
  • Hoof
  • Horn
  • Paw
  • Tooth
• Animal - Organ
  • Bladder
  • Cochineal
  • Fat
  • Gland
• Animal - Leather
  • Hide
  • Leather
  • Strips of Leather
  • Tail Leather
• Animal - Other
  • Beeswax
  • Feather
  • Fur
  • Wool
• Plant - Seed
  • Bouquet
  • Seed
  • Seedling
  • Sprout
• Plant - Grass
  • Mixed Grass
  • Moss
  • Reed
  • Thatch
• Plant - Flower
  • Camellia
  • Lavender
  • Rose
  • Woad
• Plant - Other
  • Acorn
  • Kelp
  • Misc
  • Misc
• Wood
  • Ash
  • Charcoal
  • Rift Material
  • Wood Material
• Metal
  • Armor Material
  • Build Material
  • Nails
  • Ranged Material
• Ground
  • Clay
  • Peat
  • Sand
  • Tar
• Cloth
  • Bowstring
  • Sheet
  • Square Pieces of Cloth
  • String of Cloth
• Shipmaking
  • Cloth
  • Cordage
  • Tar
  • Wood
• Papermaking
  • Paper
  • Paper
  • Papyrus
  • Papyrus
• Wood Scrap
  • Wood Scrap
  • Wood Scrap
  • Wood Scrap
  • Wood Scrap
• Kindling
  • Kindling
  • Kindling
  • Kindling
  • Kindling
• Misc
  • Misc
  • Misc
  • Misc
  • Misc

Food storage bins hold huge amounts of items. It is difficult to fill one up. Still, I like to keep meat, vegetables, fruits and herbs in separate bins.

At some locations I separate the items into individual bins as follows.

• Meats (includes eyes, hearts, eggs)
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Grains
• Mushrooms
• Cheeses
• Nuts
• Herbs and Spices

I store food at crafting locations and overage at backup storage.

I store liquids at various locations where they are used, like the kitchen, the lye station and the distillery. Depending on the size and needs of the settlement, I may have liquid storage at main storage as well. All overage is stored in backup storage.

Unique items are items like tools, armor, weapons, clothing and miscellaneous small objects that fit into chests and large storage units. I store these where they are most likely to be found, like the forge area, or in my home. All overage is stored in backup storage. I also sell overage items on my merchants.

Large items like statues and furniture are usually stored in a large empty mine room for longevity (i.e. backup storage). Items in mines decay at a lower rate. I go through frequently and repair the items. They also make great skill gain for new citizens looking to skill up in mind logic so they can drive a large cart.

These are just examples of how you can feed your own brand of OCD. Store things how you want.