Fallout 76 How to Claim a Workshop & Get Resources

Camping in Fallout 76 is just the beginning of surviving the Applachian Wastelands.  If you really want to thrive, you’re going to want to get a hold of one of the game’s 22 Workshop Outposts.  If you’re having trouble finding one this Workshop Location Guide can show you where each one is.

But once you’ve found an Outpost, what are you supposed to do?  Outposts feature a big red workbench in the middle of them.  This allows you to construct a fully operation home away from your camp.  The real reason that you’ll want to claim a Workshop in Fallout 76 is because of the unique resources that each one has.  When you find a workshop site you can walk right up to it and claim it if it is unclaimed by any other player.  It’ll cost you a number of caps to do this.

Some offer bountiful amounts of Food and Water.  Others offer rare resources like Titanium, Silver, Copper, Oil, and more depending on which plot you take.  So now that you’ve found a plot and also have the resources on that plot… how do you get them?

You’ll need to go into the building tools to build excavators for them.  Depending on the Workshop site you’ll have different resource excavator options available to you.  These can be accessed through the build menu.  Once in the building tools you can then slide over to the “Resource” tab where you’ll have a few different options to choose from. Select the excavator that you would like to use and then you’ll need to find the correct plot for that machine.  A green outline will appear where that excavator is supposed to go and the game will not allow you to place it where it shouldn’t be.

How to Get Resources from Workshop

These excavators will need power to run, so you’ll also need to feed them energy through a generator if you want them to produce anything.  Once you get them up and running they’ll start pumping out resources that you can use to stockpile in your Stash or use to craft more items.  To get the resources from your excavator you’ll just go to the back part of it and it will give you an option to take or transfer any of the resources that it has made.  The excavator will stop storing resources once it reaches a certain capacity so check back on them regularly and transfer the resources to your Stash for safe keeping.

Be warned though, the Workshop aspect of Fallout 76 opens you up to PvP combat.  After you claim a workshop you’ll need to be ready to battle if someone tries to contest it and take it from you.   There are some tricks you can use though to keep enemies away.  You can use turrets and other defenses to deter intruders.  You can also build an entire fortress around the workshop bench so that noone ever gets close enough to take it from you.

Put a lock on your Excavator

If someone does get into your Workshop area you’re going to want to have things locked up so they can’t just steal your resources.  Or you could be a nice person and not mind if someone takes it, it’s your world.  If you want to protect your stuff, you’ll want to go the lock route.  To put a lock on your Excavator just open the builder tools and then open the modify section.  You can then follow the prompt on the bottom left hand side of the menu to lock the excavator.  You can choose a Level 0 – 3 lock.  Each higher level lock will cost a few more resources, but with a level 3 lock anyone who doesn’t have all three lockpicking perk cards won’t be able to get your stuff.