Hideout Upgrade Order: What to Build First

Best hideout upgrade order at a glance

Build the stations that finish your next task or support your next raids, then invest in production you will keep running.

For a fresh character, start with Security level 1 and Generator level 1, add Medstation, Workbench, and Lavatory, then work toward Intelligence Center while completing the infrastructure those projects require. Move Nutrition Unit forward for a food hand-in, and move Stash forward when storage or a construction prerequisite blocks you. Once this foundation works, choose between better crafts, water and moonshine production, and a modest Bitcoin Farm. Solar Power and a fully expanded farm usually belong much later.

Treat this as a priority system rather than a queue in which every building must wait for the previous one. If you already have everything for Lavatory but still need a spark plug for Generator, build Lavatory. If a Medstation craft can finish an active task, that immediate reward can outweigh an upgrade with better theoretical income. The right next project has an identifiable benefit and leaves you able to play.

Check your profile before following an old build order

Battlestate's 1.1.0.0 patch notes changed several assumptions behind older hideout guides: some early construction requirements became easier, some build times shortened, and some materials lost their found-in-raid requirement in PvP Zone and PvE Zone. The same update removed the Workbench requirement for the Weapon Build system and reassigned certain task-unlocked crafts. A familiar recipe or prerequisite from an earlier wipe may therefore be wrong for your character.

Seasonal characters also have their own modifiers. Check the active season rules and the individual construction screen before deciding whether a bought item will count. A seasonal exemption from found-in-raid construction requirements does not establish the rules for a permanent profile, a quest hand-in, or a flea-market listing. These are separate checks.

This guide was reviewed on September 17, 2026. Its order is editorial advice; the module references in the source ledger establish functions and selected dependencies. Use your client for the final material quantities, trader and skill gates, recipe locks, and timers. Community trackers can disagree after a balance change, so resolve a mismatch before buying the shopping list.

Set a construction budget that survives a losing streak

A hideout upgrade competes with ammunition, healing, food, repairs, and replacement equipment. Keep a separate raid reserve before calculating what you can spend. Three to five affordable replacement loadouts is a useful starting rule, adjusted upward if you are learning a map or attempting a difficult task. Count equipment you already own, but remember that a spare rifle without magazines, ammunition, and medical supplies is not a complete replacement kit.

For example, suppose you have 1,200,000 roubles and each replacement loadout costs you 150,000. Reserving four kits leaves 600,000. Set aside another 100,000 for fuel and your first craft inputs, and the current construction budget becomes 500,000. These are illustrative figures, not current game prices. An upgrade costing 700,000 is outside that budget even though the build button might let you spend the money.

Price the whole project. A station that costs little to construct may require an expensive preceding upgrade, and its useful recipe may need ingredients you cannot yet replace. Conversely, a slightly more expensive module can be the better choice if it immediately finishes a task and gives you access to useful equipment. Compare what each project changes over your next few sessions.

Pause construction when the reserve is gone. Rebuild your cash through routes you can survive, sell genuinely surplus materials, and return with a narrower plan. Repeatedly entering raids under-equipped to finance the hideout often makes both raid progression and construction slower.

Read the dependency chain before buying the final module

Open the module you want and work backward through every unmet condition. Separate missing materials from missing module levels, skills, trader loyalty, and task unlocks. Buying the materials solves only the first category. If an earlier project consumes the same bolts, wires, or money, include that cost before deciding whether the final station is affordable.

The selected dependencies below are useful planning landmarks from the linked module references. They are not complete requirement lists: the previous level of an upgraded station, its materials, and any other conditions still apply. Their main purpose is to show why apparently unrelated construction can become urgent. Stash, for example, can be a production prerequisite as well as extra storage.

Keep one primary destination and one inexpensive alternative. If the destination is Workbench 3 and you are blocked by Stash, your next meaningful purchase may be storage. Meanwhile, finish an affordable medical or Lavatory project if it has its own immediate use. Avoid splitting your budget among five unfinished branches.

Establish power and basic infrastructure

Security 1 into Generator 1 is the first useful infrastructure route for most fresh characters. The Generator 1 reference lists Security 1, one spark plug, and 100,000 roubles. Fuel is a separate operating expense. Keep that first spark plug when you find it, and avoid spending your entire construction allowance before you have a station and ingredients ready to use the electricity.

Vents, Illumination, Heating, and Rest Space often matter because another module needs them. Build their affordable first levels as your chosen route requires, then upgrade the particular facility blocking your next benefit. There is little reason to buy an expensive infrastructure level just to make the hideout look more complete while your useful crafting station remains unfinished.

For most ordinary crafts, the Generator must be running when production starts. Switching it off afterward greatly extends the timer; Lavatory is the important exception and can craft without power. Do not assume all continuous production behaves like an ordinary queued recipe. Before logging off, check which systems need power and how much fuel remains.

More Generator fuel slots primarily make it easier to keep the hideout supplied between visits. Evaluate an upgrade for its dependency value and the operating time it enables, rather than expecting the extra slots themselves to make each canister cheaper.

Prioritize Medstation when it removes a task bottleneck

Medstation 1 is a strong early purchase because useful medical production can overlap with progression. Its listed construction materials include a disposable syringe, a pile of meds, two aseptic bandages, and OLOLO multivitamins, alongside the rouble payment. Keep those components deliberately instead of selling them and later buying them back. The level-one craft list includes Salewa first aid kits, making the station especially attractive when your active tasks need that output.

Hideout-crafted items receive found-in-raid status. That makes a relevant medical craft a practical alternative to repeatedly searching for a hand-in item. Read the task's exact item and condition requirements, then reserve the completed output for the handover. Using the last required kit in your next raid can undo the time you saved.

A quest craft does not need to beat every market option on raw profit. If it lets you complete a troublesome objective while you raid elsewhere, the time saved is part of its value. For routine healing, however, compare the inputs and fuel with buying an equivalent usable supply. Crafting medicine at a loss merely because the station is idle is not automatically economical.

Advance to later Medstation levels when a specific medicine, hand-in, or prerequisite justifies them. An expensive medical component may also have another progression use. Check that conflict before committing it to construction, especially if replacing the item would require raids you are not yet comfortable running.

Build Workbench for crafts you can actually use

Workbench deserves an early place for its production options and its role in other construction paths. Look through its available component and ammunition recipes before choosing the next level. A cheap component craft can be useful even when you are not ready to manufacture ammunition regularly, particularly when the output completes another project.

Do not rush it solely to unlock Weapon Build: Battlestate removed that requirement in 1.1.0.0. The practical question is which recipe or dependency the station opens for you. Pick an ammunition craft by the exact cartridge you use, not just the caliber. Two rounds that fit the same weapon can serve very different purposes, and a large batch of an unwanted cartridge is still a poor use of your resources.

Before upgrading for a recipe, check the station level, any task lock, batch size, full input cost, and completion time. Then compare that output with your consumption. If one batch supplies only a fraction of an evening's raids, you still need a reliable way to obtain the rest. If the ingredients cost more than your accessible alternative, the craft may be worth reserving for a hand-in or an ammunition type you otherwise cannot obtain.

Schedule production around play. Start a useful longer batch before leaving, collect it when you return, and protect enough supplies for that session. The production calculation matters more than keeping every slot busy. For deeper costing, see /guides/hideout-crafting-and-profit.

Bring Lavatory forward and give Nutrition Unit a purpose

Lavatory belongs among the early working stations. Its first construction uses toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, an awl, and a small rouble payment. Its fuel-independent crafting is particularly useful when money is tight. Check its available fabric, equipment, and construction-component recipes whenever a missing item is delaying your next project.

A corrugated-hose craft is a good example of how to evaluate that value. Compare the ingredients you would consume with obtaining the finished hoses another way, and include the wait. If those ingredients are also reserved for an immediately useful building, crafting the hoses can merely move the shortage. If the craft converts surplus items into your last missing construction component, it can move progression forward while you raid.

Nutrition Unit earns an earlier position when you need a named food item or a dependable source of provisions. The level-one references include Iskra ration packs and small cans of beef stew. Confirm your active task and the exact output before starting: similar names and different can sizes can make an apparently suitable item useless for the hand-in.

Once your food supply is stable, its later levels should serve a concrete dependency or production plan. A player who regularly extracts with spare provisions may get more immediate benefit from Workbench or Intelligence Center. A player working toward Booze Generator has a clear reason to keep advancing Nutrition Unit, because its third level is part of that route.

Upgrade Stash when space or progression is blocked

Stash priority depends heavily on your starting account configuration and what you retain. Inspect the module level you already have rather than following a Standard-account shopping list blindly. Extra space can be a major quality-of-life improvement, but the urgency is different for someone keeping a few working kits and someone storing months of speculative materials.

Before paying for another level, conduct a deliberate clear-out. Keep your current loadouts, protected task items, and materials assigned to the next projects. Sell equipment you repeatedly choose not to use. Where available and affordable, suitable containers can improve storage efficiency, but they do not replace a Stash module level required by another building.

Move Stash upward in the order when lack of room prevents you from unloading successful raids or accepting useful output. That friction can cost more playtime than a modest crafting improvement saves. Also move it upward when the construction screen names it as the next missing prerequisite; Workbench 3 is one such planning landmark in the current references.

Otherwise, avoid using an expansion to postpone decisions about surplus loot. Buying more room for distant Solar Power materials while lacking everyday ammunition can leave you with a larger stash and a weaker character. Space should support the progression plan you are actually following.

Use Intelligence Center to support your Scav and quest routine

Intelligence Center 1 offers Scav cooldown and task-money bonuses. That makes it attractive once the basic stations are functioning, especially if you alternate PMC and Scav raids. Keep an intelligence folder and examine the other required items before selling technical loot. Check the actual prerequisite levels in your client; community references do not agree on every early Security requirement.

The cooldown bonus is valuable only when it changes your schedule. If you often finish a PMC raid and wait for the Scav timer, shortening it can create more scavenging opportunities. If you run one Scav every few days, that benefit is much smaller. Likewise, a task-money bonus supports an active questing routine but does not justify any purchase price by itself.

Intelligence Center 2 is a larger decision because Bitcoin Farm 1 and Scav Case sit behind it in the module references. Price the route into level two together with whichever destination you intend to use. Building intelligence infrastructure, then discovering you cannot afford cards or repeated Scav Case payments, leaves the intended return postponed.

Evaluate level three separately. More advanced production and market-related bonuses can suit a mature economy, but they are not a prerequisite for every earlier intelligence benefit. If you want more out of regular Scav play, combine the module decision with the habits in /guides/scav-run-guide.

Keep materials for the next projects, not the entire hideout

Create a short shopping list before each session: one primary upgrade, one follow-up, and the exact missing quantities for both. Cross off items already reserved. This keeps a bag of ordinary hardware useful without turning every extraction into a storage problem. Revisit the list after construction, because yesterday's essential item may now be surplus.

Separate task items from construction materials and craft inputs. A found-in-raid item needed for a handover deserves protection even when the same item can be consumed by a module. If construction accepts a non-FIR substitute, compare the cost of that substitute with the difficulty of replacing your hand-in. Check the selected items in any confirmation screen before committing.

Found loot has a cost even when you paid nothing for it: you give up whatever you could have received by selling it. Keeping an expensive item for a distant project can be sensible if it is hard to replace, but do not call that future construction free. A sellable surplus component may fund several upgrades you will use sooner.

Loot with an exit plan. Once you have the rare missing part that completes your current objective, reconsider optional detours. The value of extracting includes the module you can now build, not just the item's sale price. A familiar route through ordinary technical loot can be more productive than repeatedly dying at a contested high-value spawn.

Handle skill, trader, and recipe gates without wasting money

When the next upgrade is locked, identify the requirement that actually determines its earliest completion. Owning every material does not help if a skill or trader condition remains unmet. Check all requirements before setting a purchase deadline, then make the next raids serve the missing progression condition as well as your loot list.

For a trader gate, inspect your character's current loyalty requirements and available tasks. For a skill gate, check the relevant skill and how your normal raids advance it. Avoid planning around an old player-level milestone merely because a guide once treated that level as the moment a station became available. Your account's reputation, task history, and module state may be different.

Separate building access from recipe access. A completed high-level Workbench or Medstation can still lack the particular craft you wanted if it has another unlock condition. Verify that condition first. When the remaining task is several sessions away, spending everything on the module now may have less value than finishing another affordable station you can use immediately.

Choose construction timing deliberately, too. Begin longer projects before a period when you expect to be away, once their budget is secure. Keep enough ingredients for your existing production while the upgrade runs. Your objective is to return to a usable new function, rather than an upgraded room followed by another shopping session.

Develop Water Collector and moonshine as separate investments

Early Water Collector levels support recovery and available water recipes, but level three is the key landmark for producing canisters of purified water from water filters. That output creates a new decision: sell it, use it elsewhere, or process it into moonshine. You do not need to build the entire chain before the collector has a purpose.

Booze Generator requires Water Collector 3 and Nutrition Unit 3. Its listed moonshine recipe combines one purified-water canister with two packs of sugar. Budget those inputs as recurring expenses, along with the construction route and power needed to operate production. A stash full of sugar is not a reason to commit if the remaining stations are still unaffordable.

Compare the value of selling the ingredients with the net value of the finished bottle. Purified water you made yourself still has an alternative use or sale value. If processing it adds too little after costs, stop at water for now. If moonshine provides a useful return and you can reliably restart production, the still becomes a reasonable next investment.

Treat selling moonshine and spending moonshine in Scav Case as different decisions. Manufacturing a valuable bottle does not make sacrificing it costless. You may prefer the predictable cash from a sale, particularly while rebuilding your reserve. Keep a small working stock for the next production cycle, and expand that stock only after the routine proves useful.

Calculate Bitcoin Farm payback before buying graphics cards

Bitcoin Farm turns installed graphics cards and operating time into physical bitcoins. It needs power, and collection capacity limits how long you can leave output unattended. Its first level sits behind Intelligence Center 2; the references list ten card slots at level one, twenty-five at level two, and fifty at level three. Available slots are capacity, not an instruction to fill all of them immediately.

The investment includes construction, any prerequisites built solely for the farm, and the opportunity cost of the cards you install. A graphics card found in a raid is not economically free if you could sell it or need it for a task. Protect required hand-ins before assigning cards to income production.

Use a simple payback estimate: total new investment divided by expected net daily income. Estimate daily income from the bitcoins you will actually collect at a conservative sale value, then subtract the extra fuel expense caused by keeping the farm running. If the Generator would already run for other production, count only the added fuel cost when comparing the farm decision; when reviewing the whole hideout, still account for the entire fuel bill.

Suppose a proposed farm costs 3,000,000 roubles in total and is expected to return 120,000 per day after its added operating costs. Its simple payback is 25 productive days. If missed collections or lower sale values reduce that to 80,000, payback becomes 37.5 days. These are invented examples to show the arithmetic, not current returns. Construction time and days without fuel delay the calendar date further.

Then evaluate the next card or expansion on its own: extra investment divided by extra daily net income. An existing profitable farm does not automatically make its next upgrade worthwhile. This matters most for seasonal characters or players planning a break. If you expect only twenty more productive days, a project needing thirty-eight days to repay itself is unlikely to help your remaining progression.

Treat Scav Case and Cultist Circle as optional item hunting

Scav Case exchanges payments for variable item returns. It can be appealing when you have spare money and want additional chances at useful loot, but it should follow dependable raid funding. Its construction also consumes valuable materials, including a Lucky Scav Junk box in the referenced requirements. Arrange storage and inspect the selected container before committing to the build.

You can operate Scav Case with its available payment options without owning a Booze Generator. Buying a payment item and producing it yourself are alternative ways to fund the same activity. Neither guarantees a positive result. Set a limit for what you can spend over several attempts and judge the results against the value you gave up, including the sale value of homemade moonshine.

Do not schedule a critical quest around receiving a particular random item. Continue its reliable acquisition route or use a relevant unlocked craft while treating random returns as extra opportunities. A lucky result can accelerate progression; a run of poor returns should not make it impossible to afford the next raid.

Apply the same budget discipline to Cultist Circle sacrifices. Keep task items, rare construction components, and your raid reserve out of experimental offerings. A cheap build is not the same as cheap operation, and screenshots of exceptional rewards do not establish typical returns. Move these facilities forward because you enjoy the mechanic or can afford the item hunt, not because your economy depends on a jackpot.

Consider Library, Gym, and Air Filtering before the final money upgrades

Library deserves a separate evaluation from production facilities. Its listed bonuses include additional raid experience and skill-group leveling, so its value depends on how much character progression remains. If you expect many PMC raids after construction, progressing toward Library can be more useful than adding another marginal income upgrade. Its Rest Space dependency also gives that branch a specific purpose.

The Gym provides Strength and Endurance training after the Defective Wall construction sequence and supporting infrastructure. Review the wall's active penalties while working through it, and use the training function when it fits your routine. Finishing a room you never visit gives you little practical benefit. Let the game's workout feedback and debuffs determine when another session is useful.

Air Filtering Unit supports physical-skill leveling and brings its own operating requirements. Compare the construction and filter budget with the amount of relevant PMC activity you intend to do. A player raiding frequently has more opportunity to benefit than someone primarily managing crafts or running occasional Scavs. Check that the unit is actually operating before budgeting around its bonus.

These modules illustrate why profit alone cannot determine the order. A station that helps you reach an important character goal earlier may be a better investment than a machine whose payback arrives after you stop playing. Define the goal first, estimate the remaining sessions, and spend on the benefit those sessions can use.

Leave Solar Power and optional comforts until their benefit is clear

Solar Power reduces fuel consumption; the module reference lists a 50 percent reduction. It is most attractive when your hideout spends a substantial amount of time powered. Estimate its standalone payback by dividing its full acquisition cost by your expected daily fuel savings. Use the cost of the fuel you actually buy and the hours you actually operate, not an assumption that every account runs the Generator continuously.

For an illustrative example, a 6,000,000-rouble project saving 40,000 per day takes 150 operating days to recover its cost through fuel savings alone. That is a long commitment for someone nearing the end of a play period. Solar also sits on the route to Bitcoin Farm 3, so a player pursuing that expansion should evaluate both projects together. Do not count the same fuel saving twice when estimating their combined return.

Shooting Range can justify an earlier exception if you will use it to compare weapons, optics, and handling before raids. Start with the level that serves your practice needs. Treat storage displays, Hall of Fame, and other utility facilities similarly: identify the usable space, bonus, or convenience before paying for another level.

There is no need to finish every facility to have a successful hideout. Stop expanding when the next purchase adds less value than equipment, task preparation, or money kept available for your next objective.

Turn the build order into a repeatable session plan

For a fresh character short on cash, the immediate target is a small working setup: power where needed, one useful medical craft, Workbench, and fuel-free Lavatory production. Buy missing common parts only after preserving the raid reserve. Let an active hand-in move the relevant station to the front instead of stockpiling expensive materials for a distant farm.

For an established character who relies on Scav income, examine Intelligence Center and the next practical crafting level. Check whether reduced Scav waiting would actually give you another run during a normal session. If storage interrupts every successful extraction, solve that problem before adding more output to collect.

For someone playing a few evenings a week, prioritize crafts and collections that fit those visits. A spreadsheet based on constant restarts overstates what you will earn. For a frequent player with stable funds, water, moonshine, a small Bitcoin Farm, and progression bonuses can all be sensible; compare one complete project at a time.

Finish each session by setting up the next one. Collect finished items, protect task outputs, check operating supplies, and start the next useful job. Then update your material list. A hideout that consistently supports your raids is doing its job even while several expensive modules remain unbuilt.