How to Unlock the ARC Raiders Outpost and Use the Research Station

The Outpost and what it gives you

The Outpost arrived in ARC Raiders with the Frozen Trail update on October 8, 2026. It is your personal base: a few rooms you can fill with furniture. At launch you cannot walk around it or invite other players. Rooms and items are managed through a menu, so it works more like a living wallpaper than a full home.

The real value is not decoration. Unlocking the Outpost opens the Research Station, which gives you some control over progression: part of the blueprints and upgrades can be earned with research points instead of waiting for a drop. Weapon Amplification, the fifth quality tier for weapons, also runs through it.

You can start the unlock at level 18 (our Leveling guide covers the climb). After that you finish the three-stage Sheltered Retreat Project.

Sheltered Retreat: three stages to unlock

The Project appears in the Projects section at level 18. All stages are visible in advance, so it is convenient to gather materials for stage two while you work on the first.

Stage 1, Research Topside Living Conditions. Photograph a farmland house at Ruined Homestead on Blue Gate. This one needs a real Camera. You can buy it from Shani when it is in stock, craft it at the Workbench, or pick one up in a raid Topside. Reward: the Camera Blueprint.

Stage 2, materials. Hand in 3 Planks, 5 Sheet Metal, 10 ARC Alloy, and 3 Advanced Electrical Components. The items do not have to come from a single raid, so you can turn them in as you collect them. Reward: the Red Light Stick Blueprint.

Stage 3, Safeguard the Building Site. Deal damage to flying ARC and to Bullies. The Bully is one of the new Frozen Trail machines: a heavy four-legged ground unit that fires shotgun blasts and throws cluster grenades. The exact damage numbers show on the Project screen. Bring a weapon with plenty of ammo.

The third stage unlocks the Outpost. You also receive a Decorative Chair, 15 Planks, and 5 Durable Cloth: your first furniture and the resources for it.

Research Station: why the base is worth building

The Research Station, affects progression outside of decorating. Research Points are spent in three directions: Blueprint Crafting, Design Crafting, and Amplified Research. The station has four levels, and each is gated by your Outpost level. For how stations are upgraded in general, see Crafting Station Upgrade.

Points do not come from extracting with an item. They come from studying items at the station. According to player reports, a Battered Paperback gives 50 points and a Raider Logbook 100. Grappling Hook research costs 2,000 points and 10 Rope at station level I, and Weapon Amplification perks are priced at 5,000 points per project.

The routine looks like this:

• bring home items that carry Research Points;

• study them at the station;

• pick an available project;

• pay the points and materials, and finish the objective if there is one.

Research does not replace drops entirely. Weapon Blueprints still drop in raids. Weapon projects need materials plus a damage objective, so you cannot just hoard points and buy everything.

Modules: more rooms and a higher station level

From there the Outpost grows through Modules: each Sheltered Retreat expansion adds a room and raises the Outpost level. That level sets the ceiling for the Research Station, so Modules matter for more than furniture space.

Scrappy shows up at the Outpost too, and you can read more about Scrappy the Rooster separately. Update 2.3.0 fixed his appearance there.

Check the base menu for expansion costs before you start collecting. Planks are needed for stage two of the Project too, so do not spend them early.

When deciding what to build first, look at the Research Station. While its level is capped by the Outpost, a new expansion is worth more than a prettier room. Once the cap is lifted, you can take your time with the decor.

Furniture Designs: blueprints for your base

Furniture Designs work like blueprints for the Outpost. Find one, learn it, and craft the furniture at the Research Station once you have the resources.

Frozen Trail adds 100 Designs in total. Here is where they come from:

Five Designs come with the Frozen Trail Pass and the Collector Set DLC, and the other 95 come from playing and building up the base. Update 2.3.0 on October 27 fixed inverted Design drop rates: rarer items now drop less often. Chasing a favorite rare piece is harder now, but rarity now matches its name.

Weapon Amplification in brief

Amplification opens Quality V for weapons. It requires Gunsmith 4 and Research Station 4, and the system covered 15 weapons at launch. The details on materials and points are in the separate Weapon Amplification guide. What matters here is that the path starts at the Outpost, so there is no reason to delay Sheltered Retreat.

What changed since launch and where to start

Update 2.1.0 on October 13 added an orange indicator on the Outpost tab when a Project step is complete. Update 2.3.0 brought furniture sounds, camera cycling that skips views without a compatible slot, a camera clipping fix at the Workshop Bench, and a new Project, Souls Offering.

A practical order of action:

• at level 18 start Sheltered Retreat right away and keep Planks and Sheet Metal in your raid loot;

• buy or craft the Camera ahead of time so you do not lose a raid;

• finish Sheltered Retreat alongside your current Quests to save raids;

• once the base opens, put points into the Research Station before decor;

• as you spend skill points on the way to level 18, check the Skill Tree.

Furniture can be collected slowly. Research and Modules matter more: your blueprints and upgrades depend on them.

For stage 3 pick a raid where you already plan to fight ARC. Part of the damage will come from ordinary fights with flying machines, and for the Bully it is best to bring a weapon with plenty of ammo.

After the base opens, visit the Research Station at the start of every session: study the items you brought, see which project is closest to done, and plan the next raid around the missing materials. That way points do not pile up unused, and blueprints and upgrades arrive noticeably faster.