Crusader Kings 3’s “landless adventurers” are set to offer a whole new way of playing the medieval trouble sim

Home in a thousand strange places

Image credit:Paradox Interactive

Okay, listen. The Roads To Power expansion coming to Crusader Kings III is focusing on the Byzantine Empire. But forget that. Because today developers Paradox revealed the ins and outs of another feature from the DLC that is way more exciting than some fusty old Greeks. It’s called “landless adventurers” and it’ll let you play as disgraced dirtbag travelling the world in a sort of medieval gig economy. You’ll be making camp, gathering followers, taking random jobs from local rulers, and catching infectious diseases as you try to travel safely through war-torn regions. It sounds amazing.

Simply put, you’ll be able to create a custom “Landless Adventurer” character at the start of a campaign, just like designing a normal ruler (you might also find yourself landless mid-game following some classic political turmoil). At this point, you’ll be expected to play the game a little differently than normal.

" Crusader Kings is a game about marriage, inheritance, and complex realm politics; none of which really apply to wandering characters with nary a vassal to call their own," say Paradox in a lengthy developer diary . “Well, simply put, we think of [adventurers] as the ultimate underdogs: outsiders with no land or prospects, but also no responsibilities or restrictions…

“We wanted to reflect this philosophy with a play style focused on travel and roaming, encouraging you to experience the map in a different way by moving across and spectating it — occasionally stopping to influence this realm or that when you have to proverbially sing for your supper.”

Image credit:Paradox Interactive

That travel takes the form of making camp. You pick a region and set up camp there, at which point you’ll be offered “contracts” - various odd jobs that range in difficulty and payout. Some contracts will see you help out in a war (provided you have the soldiers trailing along with you). Others might have you assisting the local ruler’s councillors in some scheme or plot, or collecting taxes from reluctant locals, or educating a noble’s child.

“Some require no travel, some require you to travel the length of the map, while others might involve a small tour of a character’s realm,” say the developers. “Naturally, a core part of this is servicing the fantasy of forming a strong, mobile mercenary army, but we also didn’t want players to be restricted to just this. For every Roger de Flor, there’s an Ibn Battuta or a Marco Polo, after all.”

Having read Ibn Battuta’s travels, I love this idea. I, too, want to upset a despotic Sultan in India. I, too, wish to be mugged on the road an inconceivable number of times. (The developers say that the “travel safety mechanics” will be the same as those introduced in previous expansion Tours & Tournaments.) To generate new contracts, you’ll have to stay on the move, hopping from one de jure region to another in search of the next gig.

Image credit:Paradox Interactive

“If you complete a contract to your employer’s satisfaction, you’ll receive resources like gold, prestige, sometimes piety, and the new Adventurer-specific provisions… Prestige is needed to advance your fame, which both governs the tier of rulers who’ll offer you contracts (kings and emperors won’t hand them out to just anybody).”

If any of this sounds familiar, it feels a lot like the mercenary wandering of the Mount & Blade games, throwing your lot in with a distant duke before upping sticks to go charm the neighbouring Khan’s daughter. Just like those games, you’ll also need to keep a healthy stack of food and supplies (those “provisions” mentioned above). If you start running low, followers will start to lose their opinion of you, and starvation will eventually kick in. But it may not come to that. You may become a prestigious wanderer, prompting the chance to earn yourself a landed title.

“Landing yourself should be possible (especially if you’re willing to take the indignity of an impoverished, remote county somewhere), but not something you can do with a click of your fingers and no prep work,” say the devs.

“We do expect some players to want to be adventurers for as little time as possible, and others to want to be them for centuries at a time. Off-ramps are provided at various stages for players who decide they want to leave the life of an Adventurer. It’s up to you if you’d be happy taking a back-water county somewhere in exchange for a huge sum of cash, building an army to try retaking your throne, or simply drift around the world making your mark in a half a dozen small ways.”

The post shares an example of exactly that, detailing a playthrough featuring a landless Kashmiri schemer called Shirin who “longs to explore far from home”. It’s worth a read if you still want finer details of how certain contract types will play out (a video version is also available ). At one point, she takes a transport contract, meaning to escort a Baron westwards, only to discover that Persia is in the midst of the Iranian Intermezzo, a huge and prolonged struggle that probably will not clear up by tomorrow.

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Image credit:Paradox Interactive

“Along the way,” the dev explains, “danger events bedevil us, [my follower] Lalit manages to lose some provisions and get beaten up in a tavern fight, and I caught typhus.”

Yes. YES. This is exactly the kind of stuff I long for in a CKIII game. Travel! Excitement! Accidentally dropping all your food into a puddle of excrement at the side of the road!

There are a bunch of other contract types, including ones based on intrigue and stewardship. But there are also jobs allowing for criminal actions like arson, murder or robbery, essentially making you a travelling bandit. At some point you’ll be able to “wipe the slate” clean with a donation of gold and prestige, should you want to clean up and go straight again.

There are a lot more differences in playstyle when compared to a landed noble. Skill trees will be different, for example, and the grandiose feasts and weddings of the gentry are replaced with campfire revelries. You’ll also have to invest in camp upgrades, in order to unlock other traditionally available features. Like creating a portable shrine to allow for converting religions. And, perhaps most importantly, succession becomes far more “informal” and simple: your oldest child or closest relative will take the lead. Failing that, whatever follower in the camp has the highest “prowess”.

Image credit:Paradox Interactive

“Adventurers don’t really experience succession politics in the same way that even the smallest realm does,” the developer explains. “There are no laws binding them save their own will, and comparatively little to be divided or fought over anyway…”

The post goes deeper into the mechanics and says more details will be covered in a later dev diary. Considering the length of this post alone, I’m excitedly afraid of what constitutes the “individual nuts and bolts” yet to be discussed. But that’s Crusader Kings’ simulation for you. Why be merely complex, when you can be a ferociously intricate labyrinth of tiny cogs?

All in all, it’s getting me excited for CKIII in a way I haven’t been for a while. And it’s not even the flagship feature of the Roads To Power DLC (that’s all the Byzantine stuff ). Adventurers previously existed in CKII, but mostly as pesky randos who would show up in your country with an army and a shit-eating grin. Here, players will actually be let loose into the chaos of CKIII’s fully simulated nonsense, without any of the trappings of the nobility. I hope it’ll be as disastrously good as it looks.

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

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ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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