Key takeaways
- Holder 1 — Crew Quarters corridor. The first one is unmissable: it sits in the corridor you walk through after the opening tutorial, mounted at chest height on the left wall just past the first locked door. Total capacity after activation: 8 slots, 45 kg.
- Holder 2 — Maintenance Sublevel, pump room. Drop through the collapsed floor panel in the Sublevel and follow the steam pipes. The holder is on the far wall behind a stack of crates you need to break. Total: 10 slots, 50 kg.
- Holder 3 — Habitation Ring, medical bay. Return after you get the keycard from the sublevel. The rack is inside the supply closet, not the main ward. Total: 12 slots, 58 kg.
There are 12 Cartridge Holders in Pragmata, and they unlock in a fixed campaign order: one per major zone through the first two acts, two in the final station ring, and two hidden on optional side routes that only open once you have the grapple traversal module from Act 3. Every one of them is a permanent upgrade, so nothing here is a temporary buff you can outgrow.
What a Cartridge Holder Actually Does
A Cartridge Holder is a wall-mounted rack that expands the capacity of your rig’s cartridge bus. Activating one does three things at once: it adds slots to the active cartridge array, it raises the carry-weight ceiling for the equipment you’re hauling, and it unlocks a second or third quick-swap row in the loadout menu.
The capacity number is the one that matters most. Your starting rig holds 6 cartridge slots and caps out at 40 kg of carried gear. By the end of the campaign the same rig holds 30 slots at a 120 kg ceiling, which is the difference between choosing between a repair kit and a decoy, and carrying both plus ammo for a full boss phase.
Note that capacity is not the same as loadout size. You can only have 4 cartridges equipped at once no matter how many slots you own — extra capacity is storage, so you can hot-swap mid-fight instead of returning to a bench. That distinction trips up a lot of first playthroughs.
All Cartridge Holder Locations in Progression Order
Zone labels below are the anchor points; if a patch nudges a container a few meters, the zone and the landmark description are what stay stable. Difficulty setting does not change holder count, only enemy density.
Act 1 — Habitation Ring
- Holder 1 — Crew Quarters corridor. The first one is unmissable: it sits in the corridor you walk through after the opening tutorial, mounted at chest height on the left wall just past the first locked door. Total capacity after activation: 8 slots, 45 kg.
- Holder 2 — Maintenance Sublevel, pump room. Drop through the collapsed floor panel in the Sublevel and follow the steam pipes. The holder is on the far wall behind a stack of crates you need to break. Total: 10 slots, 50 kg.
- Holder 3 — Habitation Ring, medical bay. Return after you get the keycard from the sublevel. The rack is inside the supply closet, not the main ward. Total: 12 slots, 58 kg.
Act 2 — Research Wing
- Holder 4 — Research Wing lobby. Behind the reception desk, in the small server alcove. Easy to walk past because the door reads as a dead-end decoration. Total: 14 slots, 66 kg.
- Holder 5 — Specimen Storage, cold room. This is the first genuinely missable one. The cold room’s inner door seals when the alarm sequence ends, so grab it before you trigger the security lockdown. Total: 16 slots, 72 kg.
- Holder 6 — Observation Deck. Reached by the exterior catwalk. Total: 18 slots, 80 kg.
- Holder 7 — Research Wing, fabrication lab. Requires the cutting tool. Behind a welded panel on the north wall. Total: 20 slots, 88 kg.
Act 3 — Coolant Tunnels and Command Spire
- Holder 8 — Coolant Tunnels, junction B. Opens only after the grapple module is installed. Total: 22 slots, 95 kg.
- Holder 9 — Coolant Tunnels, flooded section (optional route). Use the grapple to cross the collapsed span instead of taking the ladder. Total: 24 slots, 102 kg.
- Holder 10 — Command Spire, upper landing. Story-gated, cannot be missed. Total: 26 slots, 110 kg.
Act 4 — Final Station Ring
- Holder 11 — Surface Array, relay tower (optional route). Grapple-only, and the window closes when the final approach begins. Total: 28 slots, 115 kg.
- Holder 12 — Command Spire, core access. The last rack in the game, sitting in plain sight before the point of no return. Total: 30 slots, 120 kg.
Capacity Progression at a Glance
| Holder | Progression point | Slots added | Total slots | Carry ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Habitation Ring corridor | +2 | 8 | 45 kg |
| 2 | Maintenance Sublevel | +2 | 10 | 50 kg |
| 3 | Medical bay closet | +2 | 12 | 58 kg |
| 4 | Research Wing lobby | +2 | 14 | 66 kg |
| 5 | Specimen cold room | +2 | 16 | 72 kg |
| 6 | Observation Deck | +2 | 18 | 80 kg |
| 7 | Fabrication lab | +2 | 20 | 88 kg |
| 8 | Coolant Tunnels, junction B | +2 | 22 | 95 kg |
| 9 | Flooded section (optional) | +2 | 24 | 102 kg |
| 10 | Command Spire landing | +2 | 26 | 110 kg |
| 11 | Relay tower (optional) | +2 | 28 | 115 kg |
| 12 | Core access | +2 | 30 | 120 kg |
Two things to read out of that table. First, the curve is deliberately flat — +2 slots each time — so the real power spike comes from crossing weight thresholds, not from slot count. Second, the jumps that matter most are 3→4 and 7→8, because both cross a tier where a heavy weapon cartridge plus a full ammo stack stops incurring the overload penalty.
How Each Upgrade Changes Equipment Organization
Overload is the mechanic that makes capacity a real decision. Exceed your carry ceiling and your reload speed and dodge window both take a hit, so the practical question is never “how much can I hold” but “what do I stop carrying.”
| Your situation | What to prioritize | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Below 12 slots (Holders 1–3) | One weapon cartridge, one repair, ammo only | No room for utility; scavenge instead of stockpiling |
| 12–20 slots (Holders 4–7) | Add a decoy plus a second weapon | You can now absorb one boss phase without a bench run |
| 20–26 slots (Holders 8–10) | Full utility row and spare ammo types | Weight ceiling of 95–110 kg stops penalizing heavy cartridges |
| 26–30 slots (Holders 11–12) | Everything, plus a dedicated traversal cartridge | 120 kg ceiling removes overload from normal play entirely |
| Missed a holder | Lean on scavenged ammo and drop the second weapon | A single missed rack costs roughly one boss phase of flexibility, not a run |
Missable Holders and Backtracking
Only three racks can be lost permanently: Holder 5 in the specimen cold room, Holder 9 in the flooded coolant tunnel, and Holder 11 at the relay tower. All three sit behind optional routes, and all three close at a story checkpoint rather than a timer, so you can check your progression menu — it lists capacity upgrades separately from collectibles — before committing to the next story beat.
The remaining nine are reachable on any return trip, and the game keeps fast travel open between the Habitation Ring, Research Wing, and Command Spire until the final approach. If you’re doing a completion run, sweep Holders 1–7 before entering the coolant tunnels; the Act 3 route is one-way in several places.
FAQ
- Do Cartridge Holders carry into New Game Plus? Capacity does, along with the quick-swap rows you unlocked. The physical racks respawn as empty containers, so you can’t double up on the same holder.
- Does difficulty change the capacity numbers? No. Slot counts and carry ceilings are identical across difficulty settings; only enemy density and damage scale.
- Can you finish the game without all 12? Yes. The campaign is tuned around roughly 18 slots, so Holders 1 through 6 are effectively the baseline and everything past that is comfort.
