Outpost Guide: Unlock & Room Upgrades

Last updated: 2026-10-30

The Outpost is a surface base introduced with the Frozen Trail update on October 8, 2026, sitting between the Rust Belt and the mountains and replacing the old lobby backdrop. It is not just decoration: it adds the Research Station for blueprint and furniture research, unlocks weapon amplification — a fifth quality tier beyond tier IV for 15 weapons at launch — and gives you somewhere to craft and set up furniture.

• Unlock requirement: reach Level 18, then start the Sheltered Retreat project under the Outpost tab in the Speranza menu
• Unlocks: Research Station, weapon amplification, furniture customization
• Built via: a three-stage project (photograph, turn-in, combat)
• Expansions: levels 1→2, 2→3 and 3→4, each adding a room of your choice
• Limits: menu-only management — you cannot walk around the Outpost — and it is single-player, so no visitors

Stage 1: Research Topside Living Conditions

Bring a Camera with you into Blue Gate. Shani sells them, you can craft one at the Workbench, or find one Topside — keep it in your Safe Pocket so you don’t lose it if you die.

Head to the Ruined Homestead in the south of Blue Gate, near Ancient Fort, and photograph any farmland house. Zooming in from the edge of the area works; simply looking at the house does nothing, so press the shutter. Expect company — a Leaper, Bastion or Bombardier often patrols the area, but you do not need to fight them: approach from a quiet side, take the shot, and extract.

Reward: Advanced Camera Blueprint.

Stage 2: Gather Building Materials

A plain turn-in — items already in your Stash count.

Celeste charges three Assorted Seeds per Plank or Sheet Metal, making her the quickest source for both. Your Seeds come from Scrappy, who collects them while you raid but stops at 50 until you claim them — talk to him after every few raids, since you will run a lot of raids for the Outpost.

Reward: Red Light Stick Blueprint.

Stage 3: Safeguard the Building Site

Now you fight. Deal:

• 800 damage to flying ARC enemies
• 300 damage to a Bully

Pendola Pass handles both targets; flying ARC show up everywhere, and Spaceport works well if you only need the last bit of the flying total. The Bully has 3,000 health and charges straight at you, so stay inside a building or on a roof. A Hullcracker, a pair of Wolfpacks, or Trigger Nades will chew through the 300 damage you need. Bullies do not spawn reliably — they tend to hang around the central areas of Pendola Pass and often show up when other Raiders start a nearby firefight. If you hear heavy shooting, go check it out.

Reward: Decorative Chair, 15 Planks, and 5 Durable Cloth.

Finish stage 3 and a short cutscene plays: your Outpost is a tower in the mountains with a base room to furnish, and your Workshop stations move in there too. The main lobby changes to the new surface background — that confirms the Outpost is yours.

Outpost Expansions

Each expansion adds a room of your choice — Panoramic, Timeless, Chalet, Studious and others — picked by switching the camera to choose where it attaches. Once installed, a room cannot be moved or swapped.

The three purchasable rooms (Panoramic, Timeless, Chalet) each cost the same: 3 Steel Cables, 20 Sheet Metal, 3 Cable Strippers. Keep those in reserve so one bad raid does not stall your progress — expanding the base is what pushes the Research Station forward.

The Research Station

Research runs on Research Points, earned by finding certain items Topside and extracting with them; you then spend the points on the blueprints and designs you want. Some projects also demand specific materials or an in-raid task, so hoarding points alone will not unlock everything. The station has three tabs: Blueprint Crafting, Design Crafting, and Amplified Research (which needs the station at level 4).

Each station level needs an Outpost at the same level — expand the base first. The Stage 3 reward of 15 Planks gets you partway toward the 35 Planks needed for Level 1.

Weapon Amplification

Amplification is a fifth level beyond tier IV: it does not add flat stats, and each weapon gets its own permanent upgrade tree. To unlock it, expand the Outpost to level 4 and upgrade the Gunsmith from III to IV with 3 Radial Press, 3 Magnetic Accelerators, and 1 Emperor Modulator — the legendary material that drops inside the Fallen Emperor.

Then get the weapon to tier IV first, since amplifying raises max durability from 130 (the tier IV value) to 200. In the Gunsmith’s Weapon Upgrades tab, select the gun and press Amplify. It costs one Amplification Module of the weapon’s rarity — a Mk. I for the common Rattler, a Mk. III for the rare Osprey — and amplifying also repairs the gun.

Furniture and Known Limits

Frozen Trail adds 100 Furniture Designs that work like blueprints: find one, learn it, then craft the furniture once you have the materials.

Furniture only changes how the base looks — if you care about combat power, put your first materials into the Research Station. Known launch issues include furniture clipping through walls, furniture blocking selectable slots, awkward camera angles, and broken lighting at Low shadow quality. A walkable version of the Outpost may come later, but no date exists yet.