Stellar Reach is a thoughtful “real-scale” space 4X strategy game from a former Creative Assembly developer

Out now

Image credit:Stelleas

Once upon a time, Stellar Reach developer James Miller wanted the stars to move about over the course of 4X strategy game campaigns that might stretch for hundreds of years. In reality, stars are in continual motion: our Sun, for example, orbits the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, which means that right now, you and I are technically travelling at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour in the rough direction of Vega, 25 lightyears away. Eek!

“I’ve always been someone who really gets into more grounded and realistic fiction,” the former Creative Assembly developer explains over email. “So, it’s something that naturally worked its way into the design of Stellar Reach. I wanted the stars to be realistically distanced and planets to have realistic orbits. Inevitably, however, realism often works against the fun. I originally considered having the stars gradually move over the centuries as well, but it only added to an already complex visual design, so I dropped it.”

Image credit:Stelleas

Planets still orbit stars in the final version of Stellar Reach, which creates some interesting wrinkles. It means that when you order a scout to investigate another world, the craft calculates the appropriate rendezvous point on the orbital path. Admittedly, the tactical ramifications of each solar system’s ceaseless whirling are relatively slight. “The actual positions of the planets aren’t so important,” Miller notes. “but there’s real high-risk to two players inhabiting the same star system; and real importance to defending every planet.”

The orbiting of the planets also means that you sometimes lose track of your dominions, though you can pause time or use various hotkey icons to leap to friendly orbs. I quite like this slight confusion, this sense that I’m hubristically striving to impose firm borders on a universe of moving parts. The looseness of the zoomable 3D playing field is amplified by the absence of the fixed hyperspace lanes between neighbouring solar systems you find in games like Stellaris and Sins of a Solar Empire . In Stellar Reach, you can immediately send out a fleet towards the most distant star system, perhaps establishing a frontline behind your nearest rivals. “The greater freedom opens up more directions of opportunities, and with it more directions of incoming risk,” Miller notes.

Miller’s taste for ‘hard’ science fiction also extends to the practice of settling planets - a broadly familiar process of setting build orders and managing population growth, productivity and morale. “We often see humans do hard labour and fight in wars in sci-fi, but the reality, for better or worse, is that machines will just be better at this kind of thing in the not-that-distant future,” he notes. “So, there was an opportunity in Stellar Reach to have this be done entirely by automation, robots, and AI. Humans can sit back and try and enjoy their best lives amongst the stars while machines do all the work.”

In practice, this means that humans appear chiefly as politicians who apply passive perks. “Councillors buff their planets, Delegates buff their Star Systems, and Senators buff the whole faction,” Miller explains. “It was a simple idea that grew into something distinct and rich, and I’m proud of it. I feel it adds an interesting dynamic to the management side of the game.” He’s also pleased with the game’s research element, which shares certain techs between six trees so that you’re not entirely locked off from the benefits of other paths.

Image credit:Stelleas

I’ve only played a couple of hours of Stellar Reach in a pre-release build, far too little to get a sense of how these themes and design choices affect the experience overall. But I’m having fun thinking about the game’s hard-fought compromises with astrophysical realism, which have been thrashed out over 11 long years in development. While there are obvious concessions to approachability and certain wider expectations for sci-fi strategy games, this is a lot nerdier in its representation than, say, Halo Wars 2 , one of the games Miller worked on at Creative Assembly (his other projects include the ill-fated Hyenas ).

Stellar Reach offers “a to-scale stellar neighbourhood”, while simulating ship movement in the hundreds of metres. This created some unexpected technical problems. “Modern computers deal with really, really big numbers,” Miller says. “That “64” in your 64-bit chip means one number can be big enough to count tenths of a second since the Big Bang with room left over. That’s huge. However, simulating ships travelling hundreds of metres at a time across lightyears of space pushes these numbers to their limit.”

Miller has also had his work cut out designing the game’s AI players. “I did it the hard way,” he recalls. “Each faction has multiple colonisation, occupation, defence, and recon missions on the go at once, and calculates the most efficient way to distribute potentially hundreds of ships spread across the vastness of space to support these missions. It was too much. I bit off more than I could chew, and it was the most stressful aspect of the project.”

Still, Miller is happy about his project on the whole. “Stellar Reach has been my first go at game design, art direction, interacting with a game’s community, and the business aspects of game development,” he says. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed taking these on.”

After a couple of hours with it, I think Stellar Reach has definite promise, though it doesn’t feel like it’s going to displace the genre heavyweights anytime soon. It lacks the ornate 3D models and (so far) funky writing you find in Stellaris. It also might displease the Admiral Akbars amongst you, in that it doesn’t give you much control during battles, which look like holograms having a stare-off - once you’ve committed a fleet, it’s stat-vs-stat until a victor emerges. But it’s full of engrossing individual elements that could add up into something distinctive, and it certainly has a sense of cosmic scale, with skirmishes and voyages sometimes lasting decades. Here’s hoping the stars align for Miller as his project launches on Steam - it’s out now, and you can still try the demo at the time of writing.

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Stellar Reach

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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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