Although Far Cry New Dawn looks a lot like Far Cry 5, Ubisoft has added a few wrinkles to make the latest foray into Hope County just different enough.
Outside of Expeditions, upgrading your home base of Prosperity and its many Facilities is one of the most obvious new mechanics in New Dawn. In fact, many of the game’s progression systems are specifically built around upgrading Prosperity.
While there may be better Facilities than others, there are a few upgrade paths that are more efficient than others, especially when considering different play styles. In the guide below, we’ll look at the two essential Facility upgrades all players should prioritize, as well as a few optimal upgrade paths for specific playstyles.
As with any best/worst list, it’s worth acknowledging that this isn’t a definitive guide for every playstyle. Instead, it’s more of a set of guidelines to help you plan your upgrade path more efficiently.
Increasing Prosperity’s Base Level
Prosperity’s base level and Facility levels are closely entwined.
In order to level some Facilities, Prosperity must first reach Level 2. However, for Prosperity to reach Level 2, a number of Facilities must first be upgraded from Level 1 to Level 2. The same is true for Prosperity Level 3.
You’ll gain the ability to upgrade Prosperity’s base level from one to two during the game’s second mission, aptly titled “Upgrading Prosperity”. You’ll then be able to it from two to three after completing the mission “The Siege”.
Essential Prosperity Upgrades
As mentioned above, there are two essential Prosperity upgrades all players should focus on early in Far Cry New Dawn: the workbench and Expeditions.
Leveling the Workbench
In Far Cry New Dawn, there are two ways to get weapons: picking them up off of dead highwaymen and crafting them. While the weapons you pick up from highwaymen can most certainly cause damage, they’re nowhere near as powerful as some of the guns you get by crafting.
What’s more, crafted weapons are graded by three different Ranks, with Rank 3 being the highest, most powerful tier.
- Rank 1 weapons can easily get your through New Dawn‘s first act.
- Rank 2 weapons can easily get you through Act 2 and Act 3.
- Rank 3 and Elite guns and weapons are vital for completing high-level Outposts and Expeditions.
All in all, you’ll need 1,350 Ethanol to fully upgrade the workbench:
- Level 1: 150 Ethanol
- Level 2: 500 Ethanol
- Level 3: 700 Ethanol
Leveling Expeditions
Although Expeditions are some of New Dawn‘s best content, and they’re great ways to get more titanium for weapon and vehicle upgrades, unlocking new Expedition ranks is important for another reason: fast travel.
- Level 1 allows you to fast travel to liberated Outposts.
- Level 2 allows you to fast travel to discovered locations.
- Level 3 allows you to fast travel to supply drop locations and unlocks airdrop, which is fantastic for dropping in from the sky and using your wingsuit to get to undiscovered locations quickly.
Spending the time to upgrade Expeditions to Level 3 is more beneficial than building a helicopter and slowly traveling to different map locations.
All in all, you’ll need 450 Ethanol to fully upgrade Expeditions:
- Level 1: 75 Ethanol
- Level 2: 125 Ethanol
- Level 3: 250 Ethanol
Other Prosperity Upgrades
This is where things can get a little muddy in terms of Facility upgrades.
For the most part, these will be predicated on your specific playstyle and highly subject to conjecture. Below, we’ll loosely rank them (if that’s possible), providing pros and cons for each and the types of playstyles they best benefit.
Note: Some facilities have base level benefits, meaning they provide you with something prior to upgrading. For example, the Explosives lab automatically gives you access to molotov cocktails, smoke grenades, and throwing knives. Other facilities, such as the Infirmary, must be upgraded to Level 1 before they begin providing benefits.
Explosives Lab
Outside of weapons, explosives might be the most important items for players that like to go in guns blazing. However, if that’s not your playstyle, it’s worth paying at least some attention to the Explosives Lab.
While you can pick explosives up from highwaymen and stashes, relying on those erratic pickups later in the game is highly inefficient. Once you start going up against Rank 3 baddies and Elite enforcers, even Rank 3 weapons will only deal average damage.
Having explosives in your inventory, and being able to readily buy/craft their more powerful variants, becomes increasingly important as you get deeper into New Dawn. What’s more, an upgraded Explosives lab also gives you access to more powerful ammo, such as piercing and fire ammo.
Here’s what you can make at each new Explosives Lab rank:
- Base Level: Molotovs, smoke grenades, throwing knives
- Level 1: Dynamite, piercing ammo
- Level 2: Remote explosive, fire ammo
- Level 3: Proximity explosive, pipe bomb, explosive ammo
All in all, you’ll need 850 Ethanol to fully upgrade the Explosives Lab:
- Level 1: 100 Ethanol
- Level 2: 300 Ethanol
- Level 3: 450 Ethanol
Infirmary
Don’t overlook the Infirmary, especially if you play more Rambo than 007. It’s not immediately obvious, and it’s very easy to overlook, but the Infirmary is where you upgrade your overall health bar. Of course, this means you can take more damage before having to retreat or use a medkit.
As you get deeper into New Dawn‘s third act, scavenge more Outposts, and play more Expeditions, this is simply something you can’t ignore. Even if you’re a stealth player, Expeditions force you into combat at the very end of each gameplay loop, rendering stealth almost entirely moot.
Here’s what each new Infirmary rank gives you:
- Level 1: 150% health
- Level 2: 200% health
- Level 3: 250% health
All in all, you’ll need 1,350 Ethanol to fully upgrade the Infirmary:
- Level 1: 150 Ethanol
- Level 2: 500 Ethanol
- Level 3: 700 Ethanol
Healing Garden
The Healing Garden can be misleading. That’s because when you pick up plants and healing herbs in New Dawn‘s open-world, they are used to revive fallen Guns for Hire. The confusion comes in when you look at the Healing Garden and see the same plants and herbs. If you don’t use Guns for Hire much, then it’s likely you might skip right over the Healing Garden.
However, do so at your own peril. While not as necessary as the Infirmary, the Healing Garden pulls in at a close second. That’s because this is where you can upgrade the effectiveness of your medkits. This is where both aggressive and stealthy players both can benefit.
Aggressive players will, of course, need more efficient healthpacks and a larger healthbar for firefights. However, stealthy players could potentially benefit more from the Healing Garden because it gives them the benefit of increased health as well as the ability to spend precious upgrading resources on things like The Explosives Lab and Expeditions.
Here’s what each new Health Garden level gives you:
- Level 1: Medkits regen health for a solid 5 seconds
- Level 2: Medkits regen health for a solid 10 seconds
- Level 3: Medkits regen health for a solid 20 seconds
All in all, you’ll need 450 Ethanol to fully upgrade the Healing Garden:
- Level 1: 75 Ethanol
- Level 2: 125 Ethanol
- Level 3: 250 Ethanol
Training Camp
Word to the wise: Only upgrade the Training Camp if you consistently use Guns for Hire. Stealthy players should most likely steer clear of this upgrade.
However, aggressive players will most likely want to invest in this Facility sooner as Guns for Hire can certainly turn the tide of battle in Outpost takeovers and Expeditions.
Here’s what each new Training Camp level gives you:
- Base Level: Rank 1 Guns for Hire
- Level 1: Rank 2 Guns for Hire
- Level 2: Rank 3 Guns for Hire
- Level 3: Elite Guns for Hire
All in all, you’ll need 850 Ethanol to fully upgrade the Training Camp:
- Level 1: 100 Ethanol
- Level 2: 300 Ethanol
- Level 3: 450 Ethanol
Cartography
Unless you’re after specific animals, loot, or collectibles, there’s very little reason to upgrade Cartography at all. Even if you are searching for specific things, such as prepper stashes and monstrous animals, we’ve got guides for both here and here respectively, meaning you won’t need to needless spend ethanol on this Facility.
However, if you’d rather experience Far Cry New Dawn blind and not use the locations guides above, here’s what each new Cartography level gives you:
- Level 1: Unlocks maps for gears, springs, fish, and birds
- Level 2: Unlocks maps for treasure hunts, photographs, and music players
- Level 3: Unlocks maps for predators and monstrous animals
All in all, you’ll need 450 Ethanol to fully upgrade Cartography:
- Level 1: 75 Ethanol
- Level 2: 125 Ethanol
- Level 3: 250 Ethanol
Garage
For all intents and purposes, you could completely skip the Garage and not know the difference. You don’t need the helicopter since it’s slow and you have fast travel via upgraded Expeditions. You don’t need cars either; not just because of fast travel but because vehicles are strewn all of the world.
The only reasons you would conceivably want to spend Ethanol upgrading this Facility is because A.) You’d rather fly, drive, or pilot a boat; B.) You’d rather look cool; or C.) You want to shoot things with a vehicle-mounted .50 caliber heavy machine gun.
If any of that applies to you, here’s what each new Garage level gives you:
- Base Level: Rank 1 vehicles, helicopters, and boats
- Level 1: Rank 2 vehicles, helicopters, and boats
- Level 2: Rank 3 vehicles, helicopters, and boats
- Level 3: Elite vehicles, helicopters, and boats
All in all, you’ll need 850 Ethanol to fully upgrade the Garage:
- Level 1: 100 Ethanol
- Level 2: 300 Ethanol
- Level 3: 450 Ethanol
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Ultimately, it’s up to you how and when you upgrade each Facility in Prosperity. Some are better earlier in the game, while some aren’t subjectively upgrading at all. Depending on your playstyle, it’s probably you might re-order this list.
Regardless, you now know what each Facility provides at what level, as well as how much Ethanol you need to invest in each. Visit our Far Cry New Dawn guides hub for more tips and walkthroughs.
