The Outer Worlds Holographic Shroud Guide- how it works and the easiest way to find all the ID Cartridges

Stealth doesn’t play a particularly massive role in The Outer Worlds, but there is one important element to it. After leaving Terra 2, Phineas Welles will tell you all about his new device, the Holographic Shroud. 

You’ll find the Holographic Shroud in the Captain’s Quarters of the Unreliable. You’ll find this area on the second floor, just before the crew’s bunks. 

The Holographic Shroud acts as an instant disguise whenever you enter a Restricted Area. You don’t need to activate it, as it works automatically providing you have the right ID Cartridge to suit the area. The Shroud is limited by a purple meter at the bottom of the screen that wears down over time. Movement makes the meter go down faster, and it can only be refreshed by leaving the area and coming back.

In the event you run out, guards may try and talk to you, where you’ll have to use one of your personality attributes to pass a conversation. Doing this will reset the Shroud again. If you get caught three times the Shroud will fail and you better be ready for a gunfight. 

Restricted areas don’t come about very much in The Outer Worlds, but when they do they tend to hold some interesting items or quest lines, so you’ll sometimes need to find a way in them. Of course, shooting everyone or trying to use traditional stealth is always an option, but not one we necessarily recommend. 

The big issue with the Shroud is that you need ID Cartridges. ID Cartridges are what power the Shroud and without them you’ll be without a disguise. There are five ID Cartridges to find across Halcyon, and they generally correlate to wherever you find them. For example, the Mardet ID Cartridge will correlate to Restricted Areas on the Groundbreaker. There are multiple ways to get ID Cartridges, but these are the easiest we could find. 

Mardet ID Cartridge

Since the first time you’ll need to use the Shroud is likely to be on the Groundbreaker, this is going to be the first ID Cartridge you’ll find. 

It makes sense then, that this is also the easiest to get. In what has to be a parody of quests having easy solutions, the Mardet ID can be found on the table right next to the Restricted Area in the Medical Bay. 

The ID Cartridge can also be found on a crate next to the Mardet’s office. Don’t expect two locations for any of the other ID Cartridges though, this is a one off to demonstrate how the Shroud works. 

Sublight ID Cartridge

To find this Cartridge, you’ll need to go to Amber Heights on Monarch. Towards the end of the town is what looks like a bar, which is where you’ll be heading. 

You’ll see a locked door at the top of the stairs, which will need a Lockpick skill of 40 to get into. You can optionally use Bronson’s Key, but having a high enough lockpicking skill is recommended for general play anyway.

Inside the room you’ll find the Sublight ID Cartridge on a shelf near a bin. 

Boarst Factory ID Cartridge

This cartridge is optional and only a part of the Slaughterhouse Clive side quest, but it can be a big help for making that quest go faster. 

To find the Boarst Factory ID Cartridge, you’ll need to head to Fallbrook on Monarch. Go to the Dry Goods And Sundry and you’ll find Duncan Elley.

Talk to him and the dialogue option will come up to say that you need an ID Cartridge to get into the Boarst Factory. You’ll need to have a Dialogue skill that’s above 70 to pass his conversation and get the Boarst Factory ID Cartridge. 

UDL Identity Cartridge

You’ll find this Cartridge on Byzantium, and it will help you when getting around the Restricted Areas of the Ministry. 

To get this Cartridge, you’ll first need to hack into a computer on the lower floor of the Ministry. You’ll find the computer in a corner. Doing so will let you find a conversation where Caroline complains about other members of the Ministry. Talking to her following this will make her let you into the lab.

This is where the ID Cartridge is actually located, but to get access to it you’ll need to make a choice. If you have 100 Lie or 70 Intimidate, you can talk to the guard and get access to the Cartridge without any bloodshed but that depends on how high you’ve been making your dialogue skills. Failing this, you can choose to kill him as discreetly as possible. The choice is yours.

As a side-note, when you get onto the Hope later on in the game, you can actually find a lot of the ID Cartridges on there. This will be late into your playthrough though, so it's preferable to get them earlier on. 

Labyrinth Security Personnel ID Cartridge

This is likely to be the last ID Cartridge you find in The Outer Worlds. When making your journey to Tartarus, you’ll be stopped by a guard before your ship can park. 

Whilst he’s reprimanding you, you can trick him into giving you an ID Cartridge. You’ll need a Dialogue skill with 70 points to pull it off, but it’s the only way to get the ID Cartridge. 

This is the most reliable way to avoid combat in this section of the game, so we definitely recommend getting it.