The Rally Point: Messy urban wargame Khaligrad is this year’s low-intensity strategy game for when it’s blisteringly hot out

Shtrafbattle brothers

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Orbi Universo Team

I was partial to a scrappy little strategy game even before idiot billionaires doomed the planet, and the UK to brain-steaming heat just when you thought we’d escape it this year. Khaligrad is plenty scrappy. Its edges are rough and you have to figure it out yourself, but it’s more intuitive than it appears, and easy to operate once you discern some basics. It’s scrappy too in that it’s, well. It’s Stalingrad. Not really: its world is so fictional it’s their 15th century. But the invaders are explicitly fascists and the defenders communists embroiled in a long and brutal semi-guerrilla city war with World War 2 technology. Thankfully, it’s stripped of any actual fashy or genocidal play-acting beyond each side doing “hail the empire/union” bits as a sign off.

I think that’s why, despite its brutal and difficult setting, it’s this year’s entry in the long tradition of Low-Intensity Strategy Games For When Hot Why Hot Please Stop You Cannot See My Begging Tears For They Evaporate.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Orbi Universo Team

The UI. I have to talk about the UI first. Your view is top down over the ol’ warhexes, and your clicking controls are basically fine, if a tad inefficient. But there are no keyboard controls at all. Not even for scrolling . The reflex to drop it for this (on the basis that neglecting something so basic has a strong correlation with generally threadbare design) passes though, for its maps are tiny and it’s… well, it’s good.

You get two campaigns, as the invaders or defenders, with about ten (I think always ten, but I’m uncertain) missions each, typically about establishing a foothold on a patch of enemy ground or defending your own, but sometimes there’s a more free-for-all shootout or combat sweep. Nearly all units are infantry, but rather than attack and defence ratings or stats in general, each unit is made of as many individual soldiers as you’ve crammed into it, up to a limit of 20 plus two embedded specialists (unrecruitable, but sometimes sent by the brass). A little like in Songs Of Conquest , you can split soldiers into multiple units to give the enemy more and smaller targets to spend attacks on. But the cost is fewer concentrated attacks of your own, since every “attack” action means a shot from every soldier.

More severely, it’s also more expensive. In between missions you convert whatever supplies you’ve won (it’s unclear how this is calculated but seems fairly consistent with how you perform) into usable resources. Food is needed on a logical per-soldier basis, medicine for the already wounded, and you can even send soldiers or whole units in without a gun, either to scavenge on the battlefield or risk them on melee charges (or ambushes, if you hide them in a building the enemy enter). But each unit requires fuel, and more of it the colder it gets. New recruits are fairly cheap, but you then have to arm them, and there’s no headquarters to stash the knackered out. Everyone comes with you. But you can skimp on any of these things, for their cost in morale, lives, and effectiveness.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Orbi Universo Team

The two sides tend to get different specialists too, with the notzis getting morale-boosting nobles and “butchers” who scare the enemy, and the communisn’ts more scavengers and defence-oriented engineers and scouts. They add their effects to their unit rather than any special attacks (with a minor exception or two), thus still play much the same, but with some implied inclination towards elite training vs pragmatism and graft. Missions and armies are small enough though that none of this is complex in practice - you can seldom field more than a handful of units (adding more is free but the fuel cost leaves them clearly doomed if you overdo the splitting), so even with specialists, the decision is still usually “move, overwatch, or entrench”. Even hitting tanks just requires sustained fire - the animation is rifle shots pinging off armour, somehow killing a crewman maybe 4% of the time, but that represents that “ammunition” includes molotovs and makeshift bombs. For once, tanks do not spoil the fun of an infantry game!

Refreshingly, you can fire before moving, or fire on your turn and also return fire once rather than having to choose. Pumping bullets is usually worth it, too; this isn’t the XCOM sniping contest, but one where you if you don’t take the 11% shot you’ll probably die anyway. As in real war most shots are expected to miss, but their volume means you might land a few, and every dead or wounded enemy reduces their ability to shoot back. Even misses can shake the enemy’s resolve. But this is not-Stalingrad, so bullets become scarce, and retrieving them in combat requires holding position for a turn in a spot that may well be covered with loot because it’s a terrible place to wait.

Armies tend to get smaller in the battle and more desperate in the war, and even a victory might have meant ending with dozen turns of scattered remnants exchanging a paltry three or four bullets, or finding that a single tank was more precious for absorbing 50 bullets even after its death (an excellent detail) than for its wildly variable damage output. It’s oddly reminded me of Foxhole , when I’ve been stalking through a ruined city in the bitter end of a hopeless war, scavenging for supplies, picking off stray invaders, and covering a fellow straggler’s back as we all freestyled through the porous mess of what was once a front line.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Orbi Universo Team

The AI is more active and unpredictable than I’d expected too, sometimes blundering around a corner into a brutal 22 x 65% chance to hit (and likely outright kill, these are not -5hp tokens but bullets), but sometimes taking shots at where they think you are. One mission had most of their army standing in the open, off to the side of the map instead of occupying the territory I was to liberate. The turn after one of my units stepped into their line of sight and swiftly retreated, they started blindly firing into the tank traps they hoped I was charging across. They tried a gambit!

It didn’t work, since I’d made an uncharacteristically reckless rush to the target, leaving them badly exposed when my one tank flanked their way (also giving my infantry cover to finish the job). But if I had taken a different approach, or maybe not have that scout embedded in the unit, that might well have won them the war.

But the situation’s severity isn’t all one-way. There’s an ebb and flow to campaigns. Barely holding out through a fight with 17 men and a blinded, immobilised tank left might earn a reprieve of fresh soldiers (making the notice that 43 soldiers reached level two but only 7 reached level 3 a reminder that you’re getting so many people killed), and even the weather is not a one-way trip a lá Endless Legend .

Most refreshingly of all though, its campaigns are somewhat dynamic. It will even let you fail here and there rather than instantly end your game because everything in the universe has to be a bloody roguelike , as though we’re sat here Milhousing coins into a slot. The inter-mission letters from command will berate you but, y’know, it’s war. You’re gonna lose a few fights. Not only that, but failure leads to different missions and supply/recruitment situations in between them. There are of course only so many maps, but when I failed a mission and was explicitly told I’d now have to retake the bridge everyone got brutalised for a few missions ago, I was impressed.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Orbi Universo Team

Contextualising it like that was resourceful of an obscure developer, and I’m entirely here for more campaigns using defeat as an alternative path rather than an end, or just a score penalty. It would definitely help to get the next mission briefing before reorganising, but I think the unknown factor fits its premise. You’re trying to give your soldiers a fighting chance at anything that might happen. It’s a desperate, disarrayed struggle through Urbanmech territory, not a pre-planned operation.

But despite that sense of desperation, and its grim setting, it is indeed low intensity. Turns move quickly, missions are short, and quicker players than me might finish a campaign in a few hours. The resource management is less complicated and more intuitive than it initially appears, and although losing half your force to a single artillery strike is painful, it feels fair, or as fair as such a game should be. The unpredictable reinforcements, variable missions, and sometimes sheer luck feel appropriate rather than punitive or timewasting. The stakes are clearly high for your people but as the player, it doesn’t demand agonising decisions, intense focus, or complex thinking. Khaligrad is a scrappy little beast punching above its weight, and though a tad rough, it’s as solid a wargame as I’m able to play in between repeatedly dunking my hair in the sink.

Khaligrad

PC

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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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