Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic 1.0 review: reject tradition, embrace a fundamental revolution in city building

That’s a common logistical fallacy

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Hooded Horse

• Developer: 3Division
• Publisher: Hooded Horse
• Release: Thursday 20th June 2024
• On: Windows
• From: Steam , GOG , Epic
• Price: £35/€40/$40
• Reviewed on: AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 3400G, Radeon RX 590, 24GB RAM, Windows 10

If nothing else, Workers & Resources Colon Soviet Republic will give anyone an appreciation of the incredible complexity and difficulty of building and maintaining a city. On another day I might call it the first ever city building game .

Even a Settlers or Factorio cannot match its extreme focus on logistical simulation. It isn’t realism for its own sake (look no further than the automated vehicles and the ludicrous citizen behaviour to refute that), but a fundamentally different interpretation of what city building means. It’s about co-ordinating all your pieces so they’ll be in the right place to support each other, and how the whole is all that matters, but that whole will fail if you don’t organise its parts. It is… a lot. It’s too much at times. But if you have those times, it will occupy them like nothing else.

In other city builders, you can enable recycling to make pollution go down 10%. In W&R, populated buildings fill bins with “mixed waste”. You must organise rubbish trucks, build them a depot, and a site to dump their collections at. But it’s better to build centralising bins here and there, then later a transfer station to centralise those at for mass collection. The theme isn’t “lol concrete commies”: it’s centralisation all the way down.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Hooded Horse

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Hooded Horse

There’s more. Research (at one of three types of university) unlocks a depot that scours the waste to salvage building aggregate. More research unlocks more facilities to put the remainder through, recovering different materials in the process. Better still to research sorting, so people will separate it at home. This recovers a bigger range of resources (the exact mass of each material in every bin is constantly tracked), and this isn’t half of the detail of one service. Every step means moving material, which means acquiring, fuelling, and instructing vehicles specialised for different resources, and integrating them with the hundred other things you need to provide for your workers in return for all their toil. Being in charge of everything means exactly everything.

This is not a game about painting zones or lowering taxes. This is a game where providing running water (instead of tanker deliveries), immediately turns people into sewage factories. There are trucks for that, too, and pipes and pumps. Vehicles and buildings wear out and need repair crews, or a scrapyard to recover their ingredients. Demolishing a mine or pulling up a footpath (which are the most important things in the world) requires vehicles and workers to dismantle them and take away multiple substances. You can’t demolish an occupied house at all. There’s no “upgrading” a building. If you want a bigger one you must cover for its function while you wait for crews to tear it down and build it anew, a multi-stage process necessitating imports, production, and delivery of a dozen more materials.

You have to build things to demolish things. That might be Workers & Resources in a nutshell. You’re not managing budgets (money is exclusively for imports/exports), you’re organising stuff . Thinking about what all your different resources and vehicles and distribution networks DO, not second guessing what percentage of abstract businesses will vanish if you raise a tax rate by 3%. You must arrange and instruct your little clockwork vehicles and hope they’ll join a well-oiled machine, not another well-oiled machine but you used the wrong oil and now everything’s on fire.

Let’s say it: this sounds like a nightmare. Even after playing on and off for several years, with mods on top (which I’ve played without for this review, and as noted , it plays much the same), it’s sometimes paralysing. But W&R wants you to enjoy yourself.

Though its popular “realistic mode” leans fully into doing everything from scratch, a special interest in simulating All The Things isn’t mandatory. You’re free to switch many challenges on and off at will. Simplify electricity if it bores you, teleport stock into shops to save time, activate infinite money. You can’t automate everything like a Distant Worlds , but you can tone down its demands. God help you, in fact, if you never teleport-build a temporary wind turbine for the millisecond of power needed to activate a satellite town, or use saves and cheats to test a layout rather than risk dismantling and rebuilding an entire district with one train station three pixels to the left.

Play it however you please, because that’s what games are for , and because my god can it be fussy. If ever I pity a town planner, it’s when a decision to plop a quick logging camp down turns into two hours of moving and microscopically rotating buildings and the fifteen or so types of conveyance that move things between them, each with its quirks. It’s more like thirty if you count every type of electrical line and road, which cost different materials, thus strain different industries. Every new build ripples outwards with consequences and competing ideas.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Hooded Horse

Dramatic terraforming powers present huge and granular possibilities but endless, endless faffing around trying to get the bloody conveyor to go where it will definitely go. But only if you figure out the exact order needed to place everything, then coax the right angles and lengths out of a treacherous, counter-revolutionary road. The logic of where things fit and overlap is fickle and sometimes maddening. And let’s not get started on its four completely unconnected time systems, or the alien logic of workers who will starve if a supermarket’s lights go out, but teleport home after a shift.

I could recite a litany of frustrations and wishes, but it would be dwarfed by the novella about how absorbing and fascinating Workers & Resources is. I love its conceptual commitment to a planned economy that its genremates observe de facto but don’t examine. Its complex models and processes built for the joy and satisfaction of watching them come together. Its foundations in Slovak history and experience, and its refusal to be like anything else.

Many of you already know you would hate or have no time for it. You ought to trust your own instincts. But some of you are going to adore it like I do. Play it in the simplest modes at first, spend a few disposable towns to pay the deposit of learning its basics, its still scratchy UI, and its esoteric underlying logic. Give it some room, and you’ll be glad you let it take over your life.

Biomes DLC bonus mini-review

• Price: TBA

3Division and publisher Hooded Horse provided a pre-release build of Biomes, the launch DLC. It is, and I say this with love: fine.

You get three new climates to build in, each with a handmade map, and a place in the base game’s reasonably user-friendly map editor. Each presents new challenges: very long winters (hell no, cold is by far the most punishing problem) in Siberia, fairly irrelevant road-slowing rains in tree-heavy Asia, and a unique water source restriction in the Middle East, whose map also starts with no electricity import points. The latter is by far my favourite (hence the rather limited vanilla screenshots - apologies) because restricting farmland and wells redirects your plans in interesting ways, and your concrete frownslabs actually look nice when contrasted against the sandy yellows.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Hooded Horse

It’s disappointing that there are only three maps (no random maps at present), and the new themed buildings are usable only when map editing. I imagine its thriving mod scene will fill in those gaps. Biomes is a nice bonus. A bit underwhelming if you want to go all in, but completely skippable if you’re fine with the default setting. Thus: it’s fine, with potential to become more appealing over time.

These reviews are based on review builds of the game provided by the developer.

Find out how we conduct our reviews by reading our review policy .

Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic

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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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