Expedition

The Ruins in your region may contain valuable Resources, Seeds for Fields or Orchards, undiscovered Technology and more.

In order to collect these valuable supplies you will need to send Expedition teams across the map to explore the Ruins.

Expeditions[]

Expedition Station[]

Expeditions can be prepared and launched at the Expedition Station, destinations on the map must first be explored by Scouts who bring back detailed information needed for Expeditions to explore them. Explorers can then be sent out to retrieve supplies and special rewards from the locations.

Scouts are the workforce of the Expedition Station, when not scouting the map they produce Expedition Rations from Food and Water.

Choosing a Location[]

Ruins may sometimes be labelled as nothing special, simply shown with a list of loot and displayed as a white icon on the map. These ruins do not require any Expedition Rations to explore, only the manpower to carry the supplies, these can be a good choice for earlier expeditions before Expedition Rations have been stockpiled.

You must individually specify which Settlers you want to send on an Expedition. Expedition requirements are shown in the configure expedition window and when you select a settler that matches an advantage criteria a corresponding icon will highlight in green, these Advantages help perform actions and increase your chances of success.

Expedition locations(Ruins) will ask you to complete actions, each action costs one Expedition Ration for each Explorer in the Expedition team upto a maximum of 6 Explorers, larger expeditions will consume more rations but be able to carry more supplies back to the Settlement. Actions available at a Ruin will indicate to you which criteria is required to complete it successfully, and whilst advantages often provide the safest and most positive outcomes, there are sometimes riskier choices that can be made if you do not have the tools, equipment or appropriate advantage available.

Ruin areas may require specific equipment and/or settlers characteristics to complete. Areas display a Confidence bar to indicate the chance of successfully unlocking access or fully looting them. A fuller more complete green bar represents a higher chance of success and a smaller orange bar represents a more negative outcome, such as one or some of your Explorers losing Health or Confidence.

Equipment[]

You may have to equip specific tools and the requirements are a minimum, Metal Tools cover both Scrap and Metal Tool requirements, Scrap Tools will not be sufficent when Metal Tools are required, Protective Clothing requirements work similarly.
You may choose to equip Protection on you Explorers even they are not required by the expedition, as your Explorers may have to travel across radiated terrain during their journey to or back from a Ruin location. Consider incoming weather, expedition preparation and travel time before choosing between Neckscarf, Activated Carbon Mask or Radiation Suit.

Advantages[]

Some Expeditions require an Explorer of a specific minimum age, this might refer to one explorer or all of them.
Education of one or all Explorers might be necessary.
Ruins will often require specific qualifications from Settlers, these are referred to as Badges and are acquired with time spent working in a profession, they can also sometimes be rewarded to Explorers during Expeditions.

Badges[]

Badges known to be required on expeditions;

Exploring a Ruin[]

Each Ruin has a number of areas and you will typically need 1 Expedition Ration to complete each area.

Areas can be roughly split into two different categories: Access and Storage.

Completing an access location gives you access to more locations.
Completing a storage area potentially rewards you with supplies or special rewards.

You may choose to end an expedition early without fully exploring the Ruin, notably if you lack Badges required to access certain areas or did not bring enough Expedition Rations. Any leftover Expedition Rations will return with the explorers.

At the end of the expedition, you will be presented with a window to select how much of the discovered supplies you wish to carry back to the Settlement. If you have not completed or fully looted the Ruin you might later wish to send an additional expedition to finish the job.

Rewards[]

Ruins may contain various types and amounts of supplies, but can also include:

Seeds
Unique Decorations
Completed Technologies
Research Utensils and/or Research (Knowledge) points
Profession badges, granted to your Explorers in the field
Side Tasks to perform
Additional surviving Settlers for your colony

Once scouted, a ruin can be marked for salvage, allowing a Scrapyard to recycle it.

Completed ruins are marked with a green completion checkmark on the map. This only refers to actions performed at the ruin and is not indicative of a location being cleared of supplies.

Where to Begin[]

Here's some suggestions on locations you might consider choosing first once you have the Expedition Station completed.

Check the map for white icons, these are ideal first Expedition locations as they do not require any expedition rations and some may be very close by. They may also contain Electronics which can go toward upgrading the Bus before you have access to the Electronics tech.
Look for Combine Harvesters, these only require 2 Action Points to explore and contain a random Cultivation or Orchard seed, these can be helpful if your settlement started with an unlucky selection of Seeds.
Greenhouses are a good option to, they also only require 2 Action points, usually (not all variants) reward you with a seed and sometimes supplies to.
Lastly be on the look out for a Corner Shop, you'll want to complete this location fairly early to acquire the Electronics technology, saving yourself time and research knowledge.

Other viable locations for early exploration that primarily contain supplies (no particular special rewards) and only require a low number of Action Points are, Storage Depots, Train Stations and Diner's.

Ruins[]

Information[]

Not all expeditions will be available on any given map and some buildings have multiple variants, however badge and tool requirements are usually enough to differentiate between them.

The amount of supplies at a location can depend on the distance from the center of the map. The number of Explorers required to carry all the supplies will vary for some locations.

For some locations, there is a random chance of failure for some actions. These locations are differentiated below by the word 'Minimum' before the Action Points required, indicating that this is the absolute minimum number of Expedition Rations required for that location if 100% of the chosen Actions were successful. For these locations it is suggested to bring along an additional 1-2 Rations in case of unlucky random rolls. Those locations designated with 'Total Action Points' mean that so long as all of the other Badge/Tool/Age/Resource requirements have been brought along for this Expedition, there is no randomness associated with the Actions available at that location and that is the Maximum Expedition Rations that you will require.

Location[]

Bar[]

Total Action Points: 6
Badges: Explorer, Pubkeeper
Tools: Scrap
Chance of Research Utensils
Yield: Random Seed, 1 Settler, Electronics, Metal, Scrap, Wood, Beer, Hard Liquor
Promotions: 1 Pubkeeper Badge
Quest: Making Beer (Only if Prosperity Research Track is able to be unlocked)

Cake Shop[]

Total Action Points: 3
Other: 10 Iodine Pills
Yield: Cake Recipe, 2 Settlers, Activated Carbon Mask, Expedition Rations, Cloth, Cake, Scrap Tool
Promotions: Medic Badge
Quest: But No Contaminated Food!

Church[]

Variant 1:
- Action Points: 5
- Badges: Scrap Collector, Explorer, Wellkeeper
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Wood, Metal, Cloth, Medicine, Iodine Tablets, Water
Variant 2:
- Action Points: 4
- Badges: Builder, Mortician
- Yield: Scrap, Wood, Electronics

Clothing Store[]

Total Action Points: 6
Badges: Researcher, Explorer
Tools: Scrap
Chance of Research Utensils
Yield: Knowledge, Scrap, Electronics, Plastic, Cloth
Promotion: 1 Tailor Badge
Quest: Off the Hook but not off the Rack

Combine Harvester[]

Action Points: 2
Yield: Random Seed

Construction Site[]

Total Action Points: 4
Badges: Refiner
Tools: Metal
Chance of Research Utensils
Yield: Metal, Scrap, Electronics, Plastic, Wood

Corner Shop[]

Total Action Points: 3
Chance of Research Utensils
Yield: Knowledge (?? - Needs Confirmation), Electronics Technology, 1 Settler, Metal, Scrap, Electronics, Wood, Plastic, Cloth
Quest: Electrifying

Diner[]

Total Action Points: 3
Badges: Technician, Explorer
Chance of Research Utensils
Yield: Electronics, Scrap
Promotion: Explorer Badge

Doctor's Office[]

Variant 1:
- Total Action Points: 3
- Badges: Medic, Scrap Collector
- Other: Educated
- Tools: Metal
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Knowledge, Scrap, Plastic, Metal, Medicine, Iodine Tablets, Cloth
- Promotion: Educated
Variant 2:
- Action Points: 7
- Badges: Medic, Explorer, Pubkeeper
- Other: All Educated, Adult or Young Adult
- Tools: Metal
- Yield: Medicine, Iodine Tablets, Hard Liquor, Scrap
- Promotion: Medic Badge

Endzone[]

Variant 1:
- Action Points: 3
- Badges: Technician
- Yield: Fish Feed Technology, Black Salsify, Herbs, Scrap, Electronics
Variant 2:
- Total Action Points: 5
- Badges: Gatherer, Medic, Technician
- Other: Educated
- Tools: Metal
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Knowledge, Decoration, 5 Settlers, Mushrooms, Medicine, Cloth, Iodine Tablets, Expedition Rations
- Promotion: Gatherers Badge, Explorers Badge

Factory[]

Minimum Action Points: 8
Badges: Technician
Tools: Metal
Other: Educated, Adult or Young Adult
Chance of Research Utensils
Yield: Knowledge, Pipe System Technology, Cloth, Electronics, Metal, Plastic, Scrap, Wood
Promotion: Technician Badges, Scrap Collector Badges

Fast Food[]

Variant 1:
- Total Action Points: 4
- Badges: Researcher, Scrap Collector
- Other: Educated
- Yield: Electronics, Roe Venison, Metal, Scrap, Plastic
- Promotion: Scrap Collector Badge
- Quest: Below Ground
Variant 2:
- Total Action Points: 4
- Badges: Technician
- Yield: Knowledge, Electronics, Metal, Scrap, Cloth, Expedition Rations
- Promotion: Explorer Badges, Scrap Collector Badges, Miner Badge
- Quest: Below Ground

Furniture Store[]

Action Points: 8
Badges: Builder
Other: Educated, 20 Cloth
Yield: Wood, Electronics, Metal Tool, Scrap Tool, Scrap, Metal, Cloth, Plastic

Gas Station[]

Variant 1:
- Total Action Points: 3
- Badges: Technician
- Other: Adult or Young Adult
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Metal, Plastic, Scrap, Metal Tool, Electronics, Scrap Tool
Variant 2:
- Action Points: 2
- Badges: Scrap Collector
- Tools; Metal
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Hard Liquor, Cloth, Metal, Metal Tool

General Store[]

Minimum Action Points: 10
Badges: Explorer, Technician
Other: Educated
Tool: Scrap
Yield: Scrap, Metal, Cloth, Wood, Roe Venison, Activated Carbon Mask, Radiation Suit, Electronics, Plastic
Promotion: Explorer Badge

Greenhouse[]

Variant 1:
- Minimum Action Points: 2
- Badges: Farmer, Gatherer
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Corn Seed, Mushrooms
Variant 2:
- Action Points: 2
- Badges: Scrap Collector, Farmer
- Yield: Random Seed
Variant 3:
- Action Points: 2
- Badges: Farmer
- Tools: Metal
- Yield: Hemp Seed, Scrap, Joint, Hemp, Metal

Variant 4:
- Action Points: 2
- Badges: Farmer
- Tools: Scrap
- Yield: Random Seed, Herbs
Variant 5:
- Total Action Points: 2
- Badges: Scrap Collector
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Scrap, Metal, Plastic, Hemp

Hospital[]

Variant 1:
- Minimum Action Points: 6
- Badges: Explorer, Medic, Technician
- Tool: Metal
- Other: 1 Educated, 5 Medicine, 20 Cloth
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Knowledge, Stew Recipe, 1 Settler, Activated Carbon Mask, Medicine, Iodine Tablets, Hard Liquor, Expedition Rations, Stew, Metal Tool, Electronics, Radiation Suit
- Promotion: Educated

Variant 2:
- Action Points: 6
- Badges: Technician, Medic, Scrap Collector, Tailor
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Knowledge, Settlers Educated, 1 Settler, Medicine, Iodine Tablets, Electronics, Plastic, Scrap, Metal, Cloth

House Ruin[]

Total Action Points: 4
Badges: Explorer
Tools: Metal
Chance of Research Utensils
Yield: Knowledge, Scrap, Cloth, Metal, Beans, Medicine, Iodine Tablets
Promotion: Teachers Badge, Explorer Badges

Military Base[]

Variant 1:
- Minimum Action Points: 10
- Badges: Explorer, Scrap Collector, Technician
- Tools: Metal
- Other: 5 Expedition Rations
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Decoration, Metal, Scrap, Electronics, Rubber Bullets, Metal Bullets, Cloth, Hard Liquor, Plastic, Metal Tool, Scrap Tool, Radiation Suit, Medicine, Neck Scarf, Expedition Rations
- Promotion: Technician Badge
Variant 2:
- Action Points: 7
- Badges: Explorer, Medic, Scrap Collector
- Tools; Metal
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Decoration, Cloth, Scrap, Metal, Electronics, Metal Bullets, Rubber Bullets, Activated Carbon Mask, Joint, Metal Tool, Medicine, Iodine Tablets, Radiation Suit
- Promotion: Scrap Collector Badge

Nuclear Power Plant[]

Variant 1:
- Action Points: 7 - 20
- Badges: Scrap Collector, Technician
- Tools: Metal
- Protection: Radiation Suit
- Other: 1 Educated, 1 Adult or Young Adult, 20 Cloth
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: 2 Knowledge, Electronics, Metal, Radiation Suit, Activated Carbon Mask, Scrap, Plastic
- Promotion: Technician Badge

Variant 2:
- Minimum Action Points: 6
- Badges: Technician
- Tools: Metal
- Protection: Radiation Suit
- Chance of Research Utensils
- Yield: Knowledge, Decoration, Electronics, Scrap, Metal, Activated Carbon Mask, Radiation Suit, Plastic

Storage Depot Ruin[]

Variant 1
- Action Points: 3
- Badges: Charcoal Burner
- Tools: Metal
- Yield: Coal, Hard Liquor, Scrap, Wood
- Promotion: Explorer Badge
Variant 2
- Action Points: 2
- Tools: Metal
- Yield: Cloth, Metal, Wood, Plastic, Scrap

Train Station[]

Variant 1
- Action Points: 2
- Badges: Scrap Collector
- Protection: Neck Scarfs
- Yield: Scrap, Cloth, Mushrooms
Variant 2
- Action Points: 2
- Badges: Explorer
- Tools: Scrap
- Yield: 2 Settlers, Scrap, Metal
- Quest: Missing Mother

Distant Places DLC[]

Balloon Station[]

The Distant Places DLC features additional locations which can be explored via Expeditions. Once researched and built, a Balloon Station provides access to Expeditions at each of the 4 cardinal compass points, each with 3 Stages in total - requiring a minimum of 12 separate Expeditions to complete this DLC.

Because of the length of time it takes to travel to these locations, as well as the sheer volume of rewards yielded, it is recommended that these Expeditions only be attempted with a full Expedition team, and/or after the Reinforced Backpack is researched so that multiple Expeditions are not required to completely clear each individual stage.

Whilst Scouts are also the workforce of the Balloon Station, they do NOT produce Expedition Rations from this building, therefore an Expedition Station is still required in order to produce the Rations necessary to complete these new Expeditions. Action Point numbers listed below are the absolute minimum number of Rations needed - however as the success rate of choices in these Distant Places Expeditions is much lower than that of regular Expeditions, it is highly recommended to equip your Explorers with 15-20% more Rations than the Action Points listed for each Expedition.

Expedition to the East[]

Stage 1: (2+ Explorers with Backpack Upgrade Recommended)
- Minimum Action Points: 5
- Badges: Scrap Collector (OR Adult/Young Adults), Technician, Wellkeeper (OR Technician)
- Other: Metal Tool, All Adult or Young Adult (OR Scrap Collector)
- Yield: 2 Knowledge, Scrap, Metal, Scrap Tool, Electronics, Metal Tool (if Technician used), Plastic, Coal (if Wellkeeper used), Cloth (if Metal Tool used)
- Promotion: 2x Technician Badge, Explorer Badges

Stage 2: (5+ Explorers with Backpack Upgrade Recommended)
- Minimum Action Points: 20
- Badges: Scrap Collector, Technician, Cook, Refiner, Medic, Explorer, Mortician
- Other: Metal Tools, All Adult or Young Adult (OR Metal Tool), 1 Educated (OR Metal Tool)
- Yield: Knowledge, Physalis Seed, Wood, Metal, Scrap, Hard Liquor, Plastic, Electronics, Cloth, Scrap Tool, Metal Tool, Medicine, Neck Scarf, Activated Carbon Mask, Herbs, Iodine Tablets, Iodine, Coal, Metal Bullets, Radiation Suit, Decontamination Kit
- Promotion: 1x Technician Badge, 1x Pubkeeper Badge, 1x Gatherer Badge, 2x Scrap Collector Badge, Explorer Badges
Stage 3: (2+ Explorers with Backpack Upgrade Recommended)
- Minimum Action Points: 10
- Badges: Wellkeeper, Farmer, Technician, Cook, Scrap Collector
- Other: 1 Educated, Scrap Tool, 10 Electronics (OR Technician)
- Yield: 2 Knowledge, Fish, Metal, Scrap, Electronics, Scrap Tool (if Scrap Collector used), Metal Tool (if Scrap Collector used)
- Promotion: 1x Fisher Badge, 1x Cook Badge, 2x Technician Badge, Explorer Badges
Reward for completing Stage 3: Less Food and Water used throughout the settlement.

Western Expedition[]

Stage 1:
- Action Points: ??
- Badges: Water Carrier, Farmer, Irrigator, Cook
- Other: 1000 Water, Metal Tools, 5 Expedition Rations
- Yield: ??

Stage 2:
- Action Points: ??
- Badges: ??
- Other: ??
- Yield: ??
Stage 3:
- Action Points: ??
- Badges: ??
- Other: ??
- Yield: ??

Expedition to the North[]

Stage 1: (2+ Explorers with Backpack Upgrade Recommended)
- Minimum Action Points: 11
- Badges: Charcoal Burner (OR Wood), Technician
- Other: Metal Tools, 10 Electronics OR 10 Scrap, 10 Wood (OR Charcoal Burner), 10 Cloth
- Yield: Scrap, Plum, Peach, Hard Liquor, Plastic, Metal Tool, Wood, Metal, Scrap Tool, Activated Carbon Mask, Decontamination Kit, Cloth
- Promotion: 1x Scrap Collector Badge, 2x Technician Badge, 1x Technician Badge (if Scrap used), 1x Charcoal Burner Badge, Explorer Badges

Stage 2: (2+ Explorers with Backpack Upgrade Recommended)
- Minimum Action Points: 20 (Or bring along X, and gamble with T. Bara for the rest)
- Badges: Scrap Collector, Gatherer (OR Coal), Technician
- Other: Scrap Tools, 20 Coal (OR Gatherer), 10 Cloth OR 10 Plastic, 25 Wood
- Yield: Knowledge, Wood, Scrap, Medicine, Cloth, Plastic, Metal, Scrap Tool, Metal Tool, Coal, Electronics, Activated Carbon Mask, Mushrooms, Hard Liquor
- Promotion: 1x Decontaminator Badge (if Gatherer used), 1x Technician Badge (if Cloth used), 1x Charcoal Burner Badge, Explorer Badges
Stage 3:
- Action Points: ??
- Badges: Technician, Herder, Farmer, Logistics Specialist, Explorer, Scrap Collector, Tailor, Builder
- Other: Metal Tools, 10 Sulphur
- Yield: ??

Southern Expedition[]

Stage 1:
- Minimum Action Points: 10
- Badges: Water Carrier OR Builder, Wellkeeper, Farmer, Refiner, Technician
- Other: 1000 Water, 50 Food, 5 Decontamination Kits, 5 Expedition Rations, 10 Medicine, Metal Tools, 10 Coal OR 10 Wood OR 10 Plastic
- Yield: Pineapple Seed, Electronics, Herbs
- Promotion: Explorer Badge, 1x Irrigator Badge, 2x Medic Badge, 1x Technician Badge (if Builder used), 1x Charcoal Burner Badge (if Coal used), 1x Charcoal Burner Badge ('Air Supply' Option??),

Stage 2:
- Minimum Action Points: 15
- Badges: Scrap Collector, Technician, Decontaminator (OR Cloth), Explorer, Logistics Specialist
- Other: 10 Cloth (OR Decontaminator), 20 Electronics (OR Technician), 25 Scrap OR 10 Metal, Scrap Tool
- Yield: Coconut Seed, Electronics, Metal, Scrap, Plastic
- Promotion: 1x Logistics Specialist, 3x Miner Badge, 1x Farmer Badge, 1x Builder Badge (if Scrap used), 1x Irrigator Badge (if NOT 'Bail Water'), Explorer Badges
Stage 3:
- Minimum Action Points: 14
- Badges: Refiner, Technician, Builder (OR Plastic)
- Other: 1 Adult or Young Adult, Scrap Tool, 10 Electronics, 10 Plastic (OR Builder), 10 Metal Bullets
- Yield: Electronics, Scrap, Metal, Plastic, Water, Coal, Metal Bullets, Rubber Bullets, Sulfur
- Promotion: 2x Technician Badge, 1x Scrap Collector Badge, 1x Builder Badge (if Plastic used), 1x Militia Badge (if Metal Bullets used), Explorer Badges
Reward for completing Stage 3: Increased electricity production and Battery capacity.