Here’s what Magellan evaluation means in Death Stranding 2

You were greedy. As soon as you gained access to fast travel in Death Stranding 2 you started concocting a scheme in your brain; a plan to conveniently transport all of your lost cargo to its destination using the DHV Magellan, letting you speedily accrue likes and rank up with each shelter for new upgrades.

But just when the plan seemed foolproof and you were about to set sail, a message prompt appeared before you:

• You will receive the ‘Magellan evaluation’ for order or request where the DHV Magellan is used to transport cargo.

This guide is based on the PS5 version of Death Stranding 2, but we’ll update it if anything changes as and when the PC version arrives. If the first game is anything to judge by, we could see it coming our way in around six months time.

Now, how do I know all that? Because I am you, dear gamer. After this prompt appeared, I was similarly confused by its cryptic wording and figured I’d do a little experiment to see exactly what the ‘Magellan evaluation’ is so I could provide that info here.

I delivered two separate pieces of cargo by hand and with them stored onboard the DHV Magellan during fast travel to see what the difference was. These were:

• Fluffy Pajamas
  • Before fast travel: 45 likes
  • After fast travel: 11 likes
• Lost Filtration Equipment
  • Before fast travel: 393 likes
  • After fast travel: 101 likes

As you can see, the cargo transported via fast travel is worth less, and judging by the ratios here, the Magellan Evaluation reduces cargo value by around 75% or to 25% of its overall value, phrased another way.

I imagine this was implemented to discourage players from gaming the system and amassing cargo onboard the Magellan with a view to quickly gaining all the rep rewards at every shelter. Well played, Kojima.

I guess you can still easily deliver cargo using it, but it’ll take you a lot longer to farm up those likes, so you’re better off porting the ol’ fashioned way by sticking with vehicles or your trusty legs, and improving your carry capacity.