ARC Raiders handles character resets differently than most extraction shooters. Instead of forcing everyone to lose their progress through mandatory server wipes, the game uses a voluntary system called the Expedition Project. You decide when (or if) you want to reset your character progression.
This design philosophy respects different playstyles and time commitments. Players who enjoy the fresh-start experience can opt into regular resets, while those with limited playtime can keep advancing at their own pace without losing everything they've built.
Understanding the Expedition System
Most extraction shooters wipe on a fixed schedule. Everyone loses their gear, levels, and resources at the same time. This creates a level playing field but ignores the time investment of players who can't dedicate extensive hours to the game.
ARC Raiders makes it personal. Each player decides independently when to send their raider on an expedition, which triggers a character reset. This maintains economic balance across the community over time while letting players control their progression.
The system frames resets as narrative events rather than mechanical necessities. Your raider ventures beyond the Rust Belt into unexplored tunnel networks, a one-way journey that represents both an ending and a new beginning for your account.
Prerequisites and Unlocking Expeditions
Your raider needs to reach level 20 before you can participate in the Expedition Project. This requirement makes sure players have experienced enough of the core gameplay to understand what they're committing to when they reset.
Once you hit level 20, you'll gain access to Projects through the main menu. Navigate to the 'raider' section and select 'projects' to view available options. The Expedition Project will be your first major project and serves as the gateway to voluntary resets.
The Eight-Week Expedition Cycle
The Expedition Project operates on a repeating cycle that lasts roughly eight weeks (60 days). Understanding this timeline matters for planning your participation and avoiding missed opportunities.
Construction and Supply Phases
You can actively work toward completing your Expedition Project during the first seven weeks of each cycle. This period involves gathering resources, completing objectives, and making steady progress toward launching your caravan.
The game doesn't require you to complete everything within a single cycle. If you run out of time or decide to pause your efforts, your progress stays intact and carries over to the next cycle. This accommodates players who face scheduling conflicts or simply need more time to gather materials.
Finalization Phase
The finalization phase begins at the start of the eighth week and stays open for the entire week (seven days). During this window, players who've completed all necessary stages can commit to launching their expedition.
This one-week finalization period provides a specific departure window. Miss it, and you'll need to wait for the next cycle's finalization phase, though your completed progress will be preserved.
Launch and Departure
At the end of the eighth week, all committed expeditions depart. This is when the actual character reset happens for players who finalized their projects. Players who weren't ready simply maintain their progress and keep working during the next cycle.
Building Your Expedition Caravan
Completing the Expedition Project requires substantial resource investment across five distinct stages. Each stage represents a different aspect of preparing your caravan for the journey beyond known territory.
Understanding what you need helps you plan your gathering priorities and manage your stash efficiently. Once you commit materials to the project, you can't get them back, so careful planning prevents wasted resources.
Stage 1: Foundation
The foundation stage establishes the basic structure of your expedition caravan. This stage requires the largest quantity of basic crafting materials, making it the most time-intensive for gathering common resources.
| Material | Quantity Required |
|---|---|
| Metal Parts | 150 |
| Rubber Parts | 200 |
| ARC Alloy | 80 |
| Steel Spring | 15 |
Stage 2: Core Systems
Core systems involve the technical components that make your caravan functional. These materials focus on electrical and mechanical functionality, requiring more specialized items than the foundation stage.
| Material | Quantity Required |
|---|---|
| Durable Cloth | 35 |
| Wires | 30 |
| Electrical Components | 30 |
| Cooling Fan | 5 |
Stage 3: Framework
The framework stage adds structural integrity and advanced systems. This stage introduces rarer components like Exodus Modules, which may require more focused farming or trading to acquire.
| Material | Quantity Required |
|---|---|
| Lightbulb | 5 |
| Battery | 30 |
| Sensors | 20 |
| Exodus Module | 5 |
Stage 4: Outfitting
Outfitting involves highly specialized components for advanced caravan systems. The Leaper Pulse Units represent faction-specific materials, so you'll need to engage with particular enemy types or locations to complete this stage.
| Material | Quantity Required |
|---|---|
| Humidifier | 5 |
| Advanced Electrical Components | 5 |
| Magnetic Accelerators | 5 |
| Leaper Pulse Units | 5 |
Stage 5: Loading
The final stage works differently than previous ones. Rather than requiring specific items, you must contribute items valued at specific coin amounts across four categories.
| Category | Required Coin Value |
|---|---|
| Combat Items | 250,000 coins |
| Survival Items | 100,000 coins |
| Provisions | 180,000 coins |
| Materials | 300,000 coins |
What You Lose When Departing
Understanding what resets helps you prepare mentally and strategically for an expedition. The system removes character-specific progression while preserving account-level achievements and purchases.
- Player Level returns to level 1
- All Skill Points are removed
- Stash Upgrade Progress resets to baseline
- All Inventory Items disappear
- All learned Blueprints are removed
- Accumulated Coins reset to zero
- Workshop and its upgrades reset
- Active and completed Quest progress is removed
- Raider Den Progress returns to initial state
- Unlocked Maps remain accessible
- Workshop Stations stay available
- All Codex Entries persist
- Raider Tokens are preserved
- Premium Cred currency remains
- Raider Decks Progress carries forward
- Active Leaderboards continue
- Trials progress persists
- All Cosmetic Items stay permanently
- Event participation is tracked
- Bonus Skill Points from past expeditions
- Bonus Stash Slots from past expeditions
After completing your first expedition, you can skip most tutorial and onboarding steps that new players must complete. Features and maps that typically unlock through early-game progression become immediately available at the start of your reset character.
Benefits and Rewards
The Expedition Project offers incentives to encourage participation without creating unfair advantages. Embark Studios has made clear that expedition rewards never provide combat or power advantages over players who choose not to reset.
Immediate Rewards Upon Departure
When you successfully complete and launch an expedition, you receive several benefits that activate for your next character.
Ongoing Expedition Cycle Benefits
The rewards system includes buffs that apply for the duration of the next expedition cycle (roughly eight weeks). These account buffs improve quality-of-life aspects and smooth out progression bottlenecks. Benefits center on convenience and progression assistance rather than combat effectiveness.
Sequential completions of the Expedition Project increase the magnitude of these buffs. However, buff increases have a cap to prevent excessive power gaps between players.
Permanent Account Unlocks
Each completed expedition adds permanent improvements to your account. You receive unique cosmetic rewards that serve as exclusive appearance items showcasing your expedition veteran status. These cosmetics cannot be purchased from the shop or obtained through any other means.
The cosmetic rewards serve as visible badges of accomplishment, letting you display your commitment to the expedition system. Additionally, you receive unspecified permanent benefits that improve your overall account capabilities.
Why Players Choose Expeditions
Understanding the motivations behind voluntary resets helps you decide whether the Expedition Project aligns with your playstyle and goals.
Fresh Gameplay Experience
Veteran players accumulate extensive resources, knowledge, and equipment over time. This accumulation can make the game feel less challenging or exciting. Expeditions let experienced players recapture the tension and thrill of early-game survival.
Starting with minimal resources recreates the scarcity that makes each piece of loot meaningful. Rebuilding your capabilities provides clear progression goals. Early-game encounters feel dangerous again when you lack high-tier equipment.
Economic Participation
The voluntary reset system serves an important function for the game's overall economy. Regular resets from dedicated players help control inflation and item saturation. Rare items maintain their value when fewer veterans hoard maximum-tier equipment. The trading ecosystem stays healthier with regular resource circulation.
By participating in expeditions, players contribute to economic balance that benefits the entire community, improving matchmaking fairness and maintaining item value.
Long-Term Account Advancement
The permanent rewards from expeditions represent a form of meta-progression. Each completed expedition adds lasting benefits that stack over time. Sequential completions increase buff magnitudes, rewarding consistent participation. Permanent account unlocks and bonus stash slots never disappear.
For highly engaged players, expeditions become a long-term investment strategy. The temporary loss of character progression is offset by permanent account improvements that benefit every future character.
Prestige and Status
Similar to prestige systems in other games, expeditions provide a way to showcase dedication. Unique cosmetics signal expedition veteran status to other players. Completing multiple expeditions shows commitment and skill. The voluntary nature makes expedition rewards feel more earned than mandatory wipe participation.
Strategic Tips for Participation
Timing Your First Expedition
Reaching level 20 as quickly as possible gives you maximum available time within an expedition cycle. If you hit level 20 early in a cycle, you have more weeks to gather materials without pressure.
Reaching level 20 late in a cycle might mean you can't complete all stages before the finalization window. In this case, remember that progress carries over. You can keep building during the next cycle.
Efficient Resource Gathering
Focus on quests and extraction objectives that contribute to your current expedition stage. The game appears to offer increased progress for activities aligned with project phases, making targeted farming more efficient than random play.
Work on one stage at a time rather than spreading your efforts across multiple stages. This approach provides clear short-term goals and lets you track progress more easily.
Preparing for the Loading Stage
The fifth stage requires significant coin-value contributions across four categories. Planning for this stage means diversifying your stash to include items from all four categories, understanding which items hold high coin values in each category, and avoiding the temptation to sell or use valuable items if you're approaching expedition completion.
Coordinating with Groups
If you play with a consistent group, coordinate your expedition timelines. Launching together creates a synchronized reset experience where everyone progresses at similar rates. This improves the cooperative experience and makes sure your group maintains similar power levels.
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Evaluating Opportunity Cost
Think about your personal playstyle when deciding whether to pursue expeditions. Casual players who log limited hours might find more enjoyment in continuous forward progress rather than resets. Highly engaged players who maximize their playtime benefit more from expedition rewards and the fresh-start experience. Players who primarily enjoy endgame content should weigh whether they want to repeatedly progress through early and mid-game stages.
The Optional Nature of Expeditions
The Expedition Project is completely voluntary. No mechanic forces players to reset their characters, and choosing not to participate carries no penalties.
Players who prefer steady, continuous progression can build their stash, improve their raider, and engage with endgame content indefinitely. The game design accommodates both playstyles. Reset-focused players get regular fresh starts with permanent account benefits. Progression-focused players maintain their advancement without external interference.
This dual-path approach represents Embark Studios' attempt to serve a broader player base than traditional mandatory wipe systems. The goal is respecting player time investment while still offering the benefits that resets provide to those who want them.
Fair Play and Matchmaking Benefits
The voluntary system aims to achieve gradual economic balance without forcing resets on everyone. As engaged players complete expeditions, the overall distribution of power and resources shifts naturally over time. This evolution helps maintain fairer matchmaking when veteran players periodically reset, better trading opportunities as resource circulation stays active, and sustained item value when not every veteran hoards maximum-tier equipment permanently.
While this approach doesn't create the clean break of a mandatory global wipe, it pursues more equitable outcomes for players with varying time commitments.
Future Developments
Embark Studios has said that the Expedition Project represents only the first major project available to players. More projects may be added over time as part of regular updates, holiday events, and special occasions.
These future projects will vary in scale and offer different reward structures. The system provides a framework for ongoing content additions that give players long-term goals beyond standard gameplay loops.
Final Considerations
The Expedition Project represents ARC Raiders' take on an established extraction shooter challenge. By making resets voluntary and properly incentivized, the system attempts to provide benefits to multiple player types.
Engaged veterans get fresh-start experiences without dominating new players indefinitely. Casual players retain their progress and advance at their own pace. The community benefits from gradual economic balance. All players gain from fairer matchmaking and maintained item values.
Whether you participate depends on your priorities, available playtime, and what aspects of ARC Raiders you find most engaging. The system's flexibility makes sure both approaches stay viable, letting you decide how to best invest your time in the game.