Death Stranding guide: Order evaluation and porter grade stars, explained

Every time you deliver an order in Death Stranding, you’ll get evaluated on your performance. The Likes you receive from the recipient, other players, and BB — and factors like how quickly you completed it, the path you took, and damage to the cargo — all figure into your rating and your porter grade.

In this guide, we’ll show you what all of those categories mean and what you can do to improve your ratings and get more Likes.

The five categories (points on the star)

Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Every delivery you turn in is evaluated in five categories represented by a star on the order evaluation and porter grade screens that you see after completing an order. These results are determined by how many Likes you get for certain aspects of a delivery. We’ll talk about them starting at the top, and working around clockwise.

• Bridge Link evaluates your connections to other players. When you get Likes from other players for your signs and structures or Likes from BB, you’ll increase your bridge link rating.
• Cargo condition increases as you deliver cargo with minimal damage from either timefall or dropping containers. Most orders have a guideline for maximum damage — usually around 50% for early-game orders. If you have damaged containers, use container repair spray to restore container condition (but not the cargo inside).
• Miscellaneous, as the name suggests, is a catchall category. You’ll increase this when you do things like forge new delivery routes or take on orders that involve traveling into BT-heavy areas. You’ll also improve this category when you get Likes from porters after clearing out MULE camps and picking up and delivering lost cargo.
• Delivery Volume evaluates how much cargo you deliver. For some simple orders, you won't be able to do much to increase this rating. For orders where you need to deliver at least one package, but you have the option to find or deliver more, going above and beyond will improve your score in this category.
• Delivery Time is tied to time-sensitive orders. It’s very clear what these orders are when they’re available, and they’ll have a countdown clock on your HUD when you’re carrying the cargo. Delivering these orders under the time limit will increase this rating.

Increasing your porter grade and evaluation results

Increasing your porter grade is as simple as getting more Likes for each delivery you make. As a rule, this means that you made the delivery quickly, with the maximum number of pieces of cargo, and that cargo was in good condition.

The other option to get more Likes it to turn standard orders into premium orders. When you’re taking on an order, hit right on the thumbstick or D-pad to Select Premium Delivery. They have stricter constraints — like less damage or a shorter time limit — but reward you with more Likes when you turn them in.

Increasing your rating improves Sam’s stats

There’s more to your porter grade and your score in each order evaluation category than just Likes and bragging rights. Reaching certain milestones — every 10 levels — will earn you boosts to Sam’s stats and abilities. Here’s how:

• Bridge Link increases the number of strand contracts you can make, allows you to request materials from other players for your structures, and increases the amount of time you have to award multiple Likes.
• Cargo Condition improves Sam’s balance, making it less likely that he’ll fall down.
• Miscellaneous increases the number of Likes you receive.
• Delivery Volume increases Sam’s carrying capacity, meaning you can carry more cargo before you start to lose your balance.
• Deliver time increases Sam’s stamina.