Blueprints

Blueprints represent the viceroy's ability to build a specific type of building in their settlement.
Overview

Every viceroy starts with a few Essential Blueprints that they can always build in every settlement. These are unlocked by purchasing upgrades in the Smoldering City. Viceroys can also bring blueprints for some buildings with them when Embarking. The main method for Viceroys to unlock new blueprints in a given settlement is by gaining reputation. Every time the reputation bar hits a threshold with a blue dot, a new blueprint choice will become available. Traders sometimes have blueprints available for purchase, replacing one of the perks slots.
The Coastal Grove biome has unique mechanics related to blueprints. The number of blueprints available from gaining reputation is reduced, but new blueprints can be obtained by sending out expeditions in the Strider Port.
Viceroys do not have the blueprints for the Ancient Hearth or the Main Warehouse; they start settlements with these buildings constructed.
Blueprint Choices
Viceroys can choose from a selection of new blueprints at the start of each settlement and when certain amounts of reputation have been reached. Normally, 3 blueprints can be chosen at the start of each settlement and 8 can be chosen once you have reached reputation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 11. The number of blueprint selections available and the thresholds can change based on Prestige modifiers and Biome.
Blueprint Pools
The blueprints that appear in each blueprint choice are generated based on a set of rules to increase the probability of buildings appearing when they are more likely to be useful to the viceroy. As such, Farms, Gathering Camps, and Buildings that produce construction materials are more likely to appear in the first blueprint choices and buildings that are most useful later in the game, such as Service buildings, are more likely to appear later. To accomplish this, the game uses a system of Blueprint Pools to generate blueprint choices.[1]
Each blueprint pool is a list of a building blueprints that can be drawn. Whenever a blueprint choice is generated, one of the currently available blueprint pools is selected randomly and used to determine which blueprints will appear. After being selected, that blueprint pool will no longer be active unless all blueprint pools available have been exhausted. The blueprint pools available at the start of the game consist of 2 pools of early-game relevant buildings that can produce construction materials and raw food as well as some random Complex Food and Industrial building pools with a low initial chance of being selected. As your settlement accumulates Reputation, new blueprint pools containing Service buildings and species-specific housing will be added.[1]
If the option to reroll blueprints is selected, all of the newly selected blueprints are drawn completely randomly, ignoring the blueprint pool system.
Example
Using a non-Prestige game on the Royal Woodlands with no rerolls as an example, the following is a simulation of one possible set of blueprints that could appear:
| Blueprint Pool | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueprintCollection Basic Production | |||
| BlueprintCollection Food Camps & Farms I | |||
| BlueprintCollection Set IV |
| Blueprint Pool | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueprintCollection Food Camps & Farms II | |||
| BlueprintCollection Set III | |||
| BlueprintCollection Set I |
* It is possible for blueprints to appear repeatedly if they have not been selected.
| Blueprint Pool | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueprintCollection Institutions & Housing I |
* Blueprints that have already been obtained as essential blueprints will not appear as a blueprint choice.
| Blueprint Pool | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueprintCollection Set VI |
| Blueprint Pool | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueprintCollection Set V |
| Blueprint Pool | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueprintCollection Institutions & Housing II |
| Blueprint Pool | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueprintCollection Master Collection |
Prestige
On Prestige 12+ difficulty, 2 fewer blueprints will be available at each blueprint choice. On Prestige 16+ difficulty, the number of initial blueprint choices is reduced to 2. On any Prestige difficulty, a blueprint from each blueprint choice will be drawn completely randomly instead of following the rules of the blueprint pool system, resulting in less predictability.
Upgrades
Various Upgrades can improve your blueprint choices. In particular, Obsidian Archive level 4 increases your number of blueprint choices to 4 and many upgrades in the Vanguard Spire tree give you species-specific housing as essential blueprints, which prevents them from diluting the "Institutions & Housing" blueprint pools, making it easier to find the Service buildings you need. Note: when 4 blueprints are shown during a blueprint choice due to the Obsidian Archive upgrade, the 4th (rightmost) blueprint will be drawn completely randomly. On any Prestige difficulty below Prestige 12, this effect stacks with the effect of Prestige, causing the 3rd and 4th blueprints to be drawn randomly.
Coastal Grove
The Coastal Grove Biome has unique blueprint choice and blueprint pool settings that make obtaining the blueprints you want from standard blueprint choices more difficult to counterbalance the increased availability of blueprints from the Strider Port. In Coastal Grove games, the number of blueprint choices available by default drops from 11 (3 initial + 8 from reputation) to 8 (3 initial + 5 from reputation). Additionally, the "Institutions & Housing" blueprint pools don't appear on the Coastal Grove unless playing at Prestige difficulty, where they can only appear once for the reputation 11 reward. This means that the Strider Port expeditions are the only reliable method of obtaining blueprints for Service buildings on these maps. It's also possible to get Service buildings to appear in the blueprint choices by rerolling, but the odds of seeing one are low due to how many other blueprints exist.
List of Essential Blueprints
Main page: List of Essential Blueprints
The Blueprints in this list can be earned through completing Deeds and buying Upgrades in the Smoldering City. Once earned, they become Essential, which means they are available from the start of every settlement.
Roads
| Blueprint | Unlock or Upgrade |
|---|---|
| (always available) | |
| Unlocked on Level 3 | |
| Unlocked on Level 13 |
Camps
| Blueprint | Unlock or Upgrade |
|---|---|
| (always available) | |
| (always available) | |
| (always available) | |
| Unlocked on Level 2 | |
| (always available) | |
| Unlocked on Level 2 | |
| (always available) |
Food Production
| Blueprint | Unlock or Upgrade |
|---|---|
| (always available) | |
| Unlocked with Obsidian Archive Level 11 Upgrade |
Housing
| Blueprint | Unlock or Upgrade |
|---|---|
| (always available) | |
| Unlocked with Ancient Knowledge Deed | |
| Unlocked with Vanguard Spire Level 1 Upgrade | |
| Unlocked with Vanguard Spire Level 2 Upgrade | |
| Unlocked with Vanguard Spire Level 3 Upgrade | |
| Unlocked with Vanguard Spire Level 4 Upgrade | |
| Unlocked with Vanguard Spire Level 6 Upgrade | |
| Unlocked at Level 9 | |
| Unlocked at Level 11 |
Industry
| Blueprint | Unlock or Upgrade |
|---|---|
| (always available) | |
| (always available) |
City Buildings
| Blueprint | Unlock or Upgrade |
|---|---|
| Automatically available on Veteran Difficulty and higher | |
| Automatically available on Veteran Difficulty and higher | |
| (always available) | |
| (always available) | |
| (always available) | |
| Automatically available on Prestige 1 Difficulty and higher |
Strategies
- Often, viceroys will avoid choosing their initial several Blueprints until they know a little bit more about their mission. For example, waiting to pick until opening the first Glade or choosing a Cornerstone first.
References
- Datamining done by Discord user @forwindz. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mx9OKXck6aJL7aA-ANgP5zaNeR_qktHJ


