Rally Point: An immense frustration test almost overshadows Burden of Command’s narrative success

Band of bothers

Image credit:RPS / Green Tree Games

Burden Of Command is a lot like me, in that it deserves a lot of love but it’s too frustrating and annoying to get it for long.

The concept is promising: tactical battles with a small batch of soldiers, but as a “leadership RPG” instead of a regular wargame. Occasional glimpses kept my hope alive over its long development, perhaps predisposing me to forgive more than usual when it finally arrived last month. I’m glad I did. But wow, did this game get me yelling for a while.

You are a newly hatched lieutenant of the US Army, ready to respond to Hitler’s genius big brain declaration of war by repeating and debating his ideas. But you’ll be fighting in Italy first, and in Sicily before that, and in Morocco before that. And before that, you’ll finish training. Before that… you’re a blank slate.

This isn’t the player character as the most special person in the world. It doesn’t matter who you were before. Training is a natural tutorial, but also a section that’s already defining you. Moreover, it’s trying to get you to accept mistakes. To learn by making them. When you screw up by not understanding the order system or how turns work, that’s intended, I think, to put you in the position of your character. He hasn’t played 300 hours of wargames this year, or watched all the films and convinced himself he’s a tactical genius. When you fumble with the UI, that’s him conveying his orders badly, or getting flustered by adding physical pressures to book learnin'.

But it draws up my perennial, whingeful cry: Burden Of Command is a single-save game. Worse: that save is overwritten with every action. Move a squad three hexes and it saves, I suspect, after each one. Certainly, the constant pauses suggest more than just updating how many mines you’re standing on. Micro-delays that rob battles of some tension , but worse: everything is final.

Image credit:RPS / Green Tree Games

BoC makes a point of this - this is roleplaying as being this guy , not maximum numbers and ideal outcomes. You’re expected to fail, to get named characters or even yourself killed, to retreat or lose, and continue with events altering course (a rare and precious dynamic worthy of respect). One event warns of an upcoming graphic image, which you can skip by having your guy look away.

But that’s undermined by its interface, and the opaque details of how things work. UI elements deactivate when you check something else, causing squads to shoot instead of capturing. Icons and panels appear and disappear in awkward ways. It’s hard to see the tiny icons over units you can’t zoom into enough (a real shame; I like the art). Units deselect when you drag the map, and movement ranges are only shown for the current action, exacerbating unclear rules that throw up inconsistencies I can’t explain. I can move three hexes over that grass but only two over identical grass? Rather than charge a hex westwards, my guys run downhill and attack back up it again? And squads block each other’s movement - a forest can fit twelve guys, standing room only - which isn’t indefensible, design-wise, but “My men run three hexes under fire because my other men won’t let them pass” isn’t a satisfying narrative consequence of my actions. And there is not, I say calmly with calmness, any order confirmation. Even ending the turn doesn’t ask, and that’s bound to the space bar.

Image credit:RPS / Green Tree Games

The relationship between “orders” and “actions” throws up curveballs, frustrating Burden’s most simple-yet-rich system. Turns are divided into rounds. In each round you choose a lieutenant, whose order points are spent to move, act, and activate squads under him. Each squad can only use its own action points if it’s activated, but can act independently afterwards. You must end the round to use another officer, but the next round goes to the people who are just asking questions. It’s a game of prioritising, and distributing your focus to where limited orders are most needed, made more malleable by several details. Officers can have multiple rounds, if you want to move Thompson’s first squad out of danger, fire Stern’s machine guns, then move Thompson’s other squads. The Captain can act whenever you want, activate any squad, and use Bolster and Rally actions on adjacent hexes. Lieutenants must be in the hex to do that, which carries other benefits. But officers move faster alone, and are just as vulnerable to explosions (life tip). Suppressed/demoralised people lose actions/orders, so sending one into the breach could paralyse his whole platoon, as they’re left without anyone telling them to stop waving at the guys with Very Real Concerns and shoot them.

They’re often needed elsewhere too, as Bolster and Rally (and Press: spend one order to restore one action) are always needed. One is an all-purpose “do everything better” power, the other lifts suppression. They’re not special perks on a cooldown. They’re bread and butter, a constant reminder that you’re not here to do Tactics or add +4 to attack and fire damage. It’s leadership as what men in combat need: being there. Taking charge, prompting training to kick in. A whole round might be running back to an immobilised squad just to be the guy. Maybe he’s being a dick, maybe he’s supportive, maybe he’s playing the bagpipes, but he’s here . We’re all here, let’s go.

It’s a decent shot at simulating human limits to organising in a deadly situation. But it’s sometimes opaque, and prone to bugs and inconsistencies (WHY does that suddenly take two orders? Why is he suppressed, nothing has happened? Why did my officer not move with that squad?). And of course, your save is constantly overwritten, leaving you unable to enjoy the consequences, because those weren’t your decisions. I would have quit outright after a few hours, if it didn’t quietly keep a backup save once per turn.

Image credit:RPS / Green Tree Games

Burden Of Command isn’t here to punish you, though. Gunfire almost never wipes squads out, but holds them down until someone charges, usually causing surrender. Deaths were rare until the Germans showed up, barring a bug that vanished most of a squad, leaving them genuinely useless even months later (it wasn’t worth the cost in abstract points to replenish them, so they sat unmoving at various starting areas for most of the war. The remaining squads got more attention from Lt. Daddy and they turned out fine, dunno what your problem is). The point isn’t a gruelling hardcore challenge or showing off. It’s how you handled the job, the ordeal.

Its flaws distract from its great strength - it is, essentially, complex interactive fiction. When not in battles, you’re reading through events around them, handling antics from the men, writing letters to soon-to-be-grieving families. There’s esteem of men and brass (not opposed, but the latter mostly want strategic results, while the former want to survive) to earn, your own wellbeing, and relationships with other officers to balance against preparing for the next fight, and doing the right thing. The writing is quietly excellent, with a slight stoicism that never veers into jingoism, handwringing, or war porn. Tonnes of research went in, but an impressively restrained hand left the bulk of it out of shot (“So it goes.” - Archivist Ed). The result is an authenticity of spirit rather than technicality, and succinct text that nonetheless conveys what it ought to. It trusts the audience to understand and infer things, which is worth the cost of occasionally going over my head, resulting in the classic RPG dialogue problem of responses not quite meaning what I thought.

Image credit:RPS / Green Tree Games

I’m struck too by how much work clearly went into the permutations. Some scenes are “Crucibles” wherein your responses determine which of eight “Mindsets” you espouse, but may cause unpredictable reactions in other officers. Thompson might be inspired by your Idealism, but Wilson develops Caution against such naïveté. It’s sometimes dissatisfying, as your first Mindset permanently locks another three that seem compatible. This may be for balance, since developed Mindsets grant abilities of varying utility. Many are once-per-mission actions, landing squarely in the “too useful to use” zone. That’s still preferable to making them all-important though, and many passives are too subject to chance to be more than a pleasant surprise, in a way that fits Burden’s ethos more than the standards of its genre.

This is not a game about customising a perfect team, see. You’re one leader among many, not a Shepard among sheep. I turned down a free advantage before one mission, doubting I’d use it, so it should go to some other rando. I didn’t expect a videogame payoff, but decided as someone in that position.

Burden Of Command is no heavy melodrama of traumatised war lads (despite the occasionally audible Shane Taylor , aka sad soldier boy and my dear son Doc Roe), but is about people rather than game tokens. I even got over my initial hatred of Lt. Dearborn for his platoon repeatedly embarrassing me in training by failing some hidden “morale” check to move, wrecking multiple turns. He had low “trust”, see, and experience, thus a higher chance of spending orders on nothing. I wanted to have them all shot. But his multilingualism was an asset, and he grew into an oddly loveable, conniving stalwart whose men I’d put on the vanguard if I had any bloody control over where anyone starts.

If there’s a summary of Burden of Command, it’s exactly that. A maddening few hours of inconsistent behaviour and unclear details compounded by an intrusive save system, slowly giving up ground to the excellent, unusual, and replayable narrative RPG it’s trying to be.

Burden of Command

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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.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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