Namalsk: survival guide. [UPD3]

[Gordon Axeman 191]

FOR FORUM MODS:

The topic was created a time ago, and there was no rule about private hives discussion.

Just asking you to move it without deleting, thanks.

If you like the guide, give me some beanz ;) If not, reply here and I'll correct.

Hello there. I personally like the map very much, it's great. But I have noticed that first steps here piss many off. This is my Namalsk survival guide.

Let's begin.

----First Steps----

You have downloaded the map via DZC and logged in. Hmm... Tundra. Isn't like that warm cosy Chernarus...

So, several important points about the map (basics):

1. Food and water are gold priced, as the map lacks many residential loot spawns.

2. Cold means danger. You need heatpacks, as catching a cold is very easy.

3. Nearly no animals.

4. Tons of military/industrial stuff.

Weapons here can be found on every corner. Nearly every settlement has military standpoints which provide medium-tier military loot. It's easier to get a silenced weapon than a can of beans. Several spawns even put ya 100-200m away from a military base. For example, there are two barracks in Lubyansk Bay, where players often spawn. Not bad, huh?

Always prioritize food and heatpacks over ANYTHING. These are essential, the others are not. Try to get morphine ASAP, as the there is only a single hospital (morph also spawns in barracks).

Choose medium-ranged and rather strong weapons (M14, VSS, AK-107, M16). Most encounters happen at 100-200m range, except for the cities. Binoculars won't be useless too, as plain terrain without many woodlands allows to scan horizon.

----Other Players----

You will find more friendlies here. But bandits are much more cunning too. Most players coming to this map are already experienced ones and they know something about the game.

Some servers have side chat enabled, so if you see someone asking for help, go. Blood on this map is easy to lose, and a transfusion is always good for you. If someone asks for help, try to get his Skype etc., because giving out your position into side chat can be rewarded (with a bullet, lol). Then go.

Also, if you see a man, try to avoid him. If you can't, run up to him, stop at about 30 m and watch his reaction. If he crouches/falls back and aims at you - use your arms. If not, say "friendly" and wait for response. All further events depend on you - do whatever you count better, just try not to catch a shot.

----Loot----

Loot here is the upside down version of Chernarus. Here we have mostly industrial and military spawns, while only few residential and farms.

Most of the residential loot is situated north of the map (Vorkuta, Jalovisko, Lubjansk), also see Norinsk and Brensk. All these places are a tasty pie for survivors, so take them just as Cherno/Elektro in Chernarus (Vorkuta even more).

Military bases are scattered throughout the map. The best loot like gauss rifle spawns at Object AII, in the bunker. My advice is: always throw a grenade down there before you press "Climb ladder down". It helps from nasty campers, but even such a premeasure can't give 100%. Better don't visit that place, seriously. It isn't worth it, unless you want some DM really hard.

Industrials are mainly harbors and cities. Nothing more to say.

Farms are very hard to find and thus mostly useless. Most are located in the north along with industrials.

Hospital in Namalsk is only one. This is the Old Hospital, where a school, a supermarket and two hospitals are located. If you spawn there, don't miss your chance. You can spot it by its high yellow crane. But be careful, everyone needs meds! There is also less loot in medboxes.

Search whatever you see (if only this is not a large military base and you don't need a weapon badly). The things you need are hatchet, knife and matches (hunting set). You can do a fire to warm up, and cook meat. Also try to find a water bottle, but as of my experience, the water bodies in Namalsk are rather buggy about filling a bottle. Matches are the hardest thing to look for, as you may have guessed. Also the needed thing is map or compass to orientate yourself using the Internet map or ingame one.

Personal advice: as soon as you find weapons, go to industrial places, then to some city or Old Hospital. Industrials will most likely give you a heatpack and some cola, hatchet/knife and residentials - all the other listed above.

About food: you can find some at plane crashes (along with other residential loot), and MRE spawns in the industrial/military areas sometimes.

Broken equipment can be repaired as follows: toolbox+soller+broken NVG/GPS x2.

From 0.7.3 no equipment spawns in good condition, only broken (this is about nvg/gps only).

----Weapons----

M14 AIM/DMR combo

A very good combo. The rifles use same mags, so allow you to economy space. The first can be used for close/middle distance combat, while the second is the best at long/middle ranges. A good "sniper" PvP build when man can hit targets at any distance effectively and do not waste much inventory/backpack capacity.

M4A3 CCO/ M16A4 ACOG

The same principle as above works here too. But M4 is more effective at close range than M14, while M16 is less usable than DMR. A good city combat build, allowing you to fight in/out the cities and other structures.

AK-107/AK-107 PSO

Look the M4/M16 build. The same in AK variant.

MK48 or M240

These guns have 4x the damage of m249 (8k blood per hit). Good against bloodsuckers and groups of zombies, also an usable build in clans. No second weapon because of lacking space.

FN FAL/any sniper rifle (M24 preferrable).

Reliable, universal build suitable for any distance. The only minus is loudance.

G36 (not all models).

The sights can be switched between optical and CCO. A very good gun, eats STANAGS and its own mags => no ammo problems.

Gauss rifle

Just pure domination with bullets reaching the target immediately.

----Cars----

Most Namalsk servers have custom car spawns. I can say the only permanent thing: if you see someone driving a car - shoot. The driver will most likely crush you or even shoot you first. A vehicle is valuable on this map, because it gives heat and cover from bloodsuckers. Even a friendly player which finds one becomes hostile, as he tries to protect it.

Also another advice: most naval vehicles are useless, and only situationally useful. If you find one, think if you need it. If you're near some bay, etc. that you need to cross, use it, then abandon. If not, don't even bother to do something, it's not worth it.

From 0.741 they do not drain temperature, so naval stuff has more uses, especially the fast PBX. From DayZ hotfix 1.7.7.1 Fishing Boat's speed has been x3 upgraded.

----Bloodsuckers----

WARNING: THEY ARE DISABLED ON SOME SERVERS.

We've come to the most interesting part. The bloodsuckers are about 2m high, brown creatures, who have tentacles instead of mouth. These are very dangerous ones roaming crash sites and woodland mostly, though they may follow you into a city.

The main danger is invisibility. You can see them only when they are near you/another player preparing for attack. But their roars and extremely fast footsteps (much faster than human when he is running) can still be heard. Bloodsuckers have tracking algorithms simular to zeds, and you can lose them in cities or woods, but with much more effort. They can sometimes run in the buldings and climb ladders. At night their red glowing eyes can be seen.

They have about 1,5 human lives (16-18k blood). This means a full mag from m4/ak rifles or 4-5 hatchet strikes. If a bloodsucker is with zombies, kill them first.

Tip: run back forward or around the bloodsucker for him to become visible so you can shoot. It takes him a second to prepare for attack, he can't do it instantly, like zombies do. Use it to run away and keep shooting. Headshots have little to no effect, so aim for the body to get most hits before running again. If you have a hatchet, attack after he swings his arms trying to attack you.

If you encounter multiple bloodsuckers alone, run away unless you have an LMG or high-damage rifle (like FN FAL). Grenades are useless, because they are too fast and you most likely will blow your own ass up.

Killing them can yield you a Mutant Heart (they say it scares bloodsuckers off) or Blood Bag.

----Blowouts(EVR)----

WARNING: THEY ARE DISABLED ON SOME SERVERS.

The EVR events happen every 1,5 hours by default, but the settings on servers may vary.

The Blowout has a nearly 3 min preparation phase. It starts with some postprocess effects (shaking and color blurs at the bottom of the screen) and distant, low explosion sounds. As the time passes, the effects' intensivity grows. 20 seconds before the Blowout several lightings occur and everything begins getting orange.

When it occurs, everyone in the open loses about 7k blood and falls down for 40 sec. Everyone in the buildings are simply knocked out for 40 secs without any damage.

The Blowout doesn't affect zeds, so be sure to clean your hideout before the event.

Also it now triggers combat mode.

The end.

Resourses: http://dayzdb.com/map/namalsk

Official Namalsk thread: http://dayzmod.com/f...1-dayz-namalsk/

---[Guide updates]---

03.04.2013

-Updated with Namalsk version 0.741

-Small addings and fixes

04.05.2013 (2)

-Fixing some points to better fit the real gameplay. To be continued.

05.05.2013 (2.1)

-Fix ended. More readable now.

-Large update incoming...

30.06.2013

-Guide slightly updated for new DayZ/Namalsk versions.

-Weapons section added in.

Leave your replies and correct me where I am wrong.

Thank you!

Edited June 30, 2013 by Gordon Axeman

[MOS182 63]

Very good. Never played on this map, never seen it on Play withSIX

[Erik (DayZ) 61]

Thank you very much, this can be very useful!

[TruckingBucket 10]

I needed some advice, thanks.

[smore98 225]

This is a well-done survival guide for those who are prepared to face the S.T.A.L.K.E.R conditions of Namalsk.

Good job, my friend!

[kingfury4 65]

I'm going to try Namalsk now :D

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Thanks everyone!

[colekern 1364]

Great guide. Do I have to have post processing enabled in the options to see the blowout warnings?

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Great guide. Do I have to have post processing enabled in the options to see the blowout warnings?

I think yes. But there are also some very weird rumble sound and you can use them too.

[GiesBeans 7]

Good guide mate.

Namalsk really is a challenge now. Loving it. Adds a new dimension when you have to keep you wits about you even when travelling across seemingly quiet areas.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Good guide mate.

Namalsk really is a challenge now. Loving it. Adds a new dimension when you have to keep you wits about you even when travelling across seemingly quiet areas.

Yes. Even a bit too much I think.

[GiesBeans 7]

Yes. Even a bit too much I think.

I think with the most recent update it has got the balance just about right. When the new features were introduced it was too hard, but I'm finding that bloodsuckers aren't too common now (on first attempt after the initial update I was chased by 6 of the buggers).

When I play In Chernarus now I find myself easily bored when playing alone. Namalsk is where true survival is at.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

The main danger is the same: people. And Namalsk has more hotspots where you have to go. Never gets boring :)

[Gator Biggs 22]

gameplay mechanics look similar to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, think i'll give it a go.

[Deetwo 69]

OP, I think your post requires one last cheer of encouragement before new players can take on Namalsk:

[Guest]

bout to play on this map, after reading your guide I have to say good job mate, rally useful.

NOW TAKE MY BEANS

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Thanks Everyone, I worked on this.

OP, I think your post requires one last cheer of encouragement before new players can take on Namalsk:

LOL.

[dgeesio 1034]

basically namalsk survival is spawn if you in snow area die respawn until on a good path above middle then dodge sebjan dam as snipers are there every time run upto 5 towers get good gun then go in vorkuta sorted takes about twenty minutes and youll have everything you need roughly

down the mine most people just camp the loot so avoid

old hospital is often camped to due to close loot and numerous spawns.

so stick to main island and head up near vorkuta

[Parasprite 35]

Great guide. Do I have to have post processing enabled in the options to see the blowout warnings?

Yes, I play with no postprocess effects and I've never seen any visual warnings. The rumbling and streaking sounds are pretty easy to hear, though.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

basically namalsk survival is spawn if you in snow area die respawn until on a good path above middle then dodge sebjan dam as snipers are there every time run upto 5 towers get good gun then go in vorkuta sorted takes about twenty minutes and youll have everything you need roughly

down the mine most people just camp the loot so avoid

old hospital is often camped to due to close loot and numerous spawns.

so stick to main island and head up near vorkuta

I made a survival guide. Not how to respawn. I consider this an unfair play. This guide is about how to adapt to Namalsk, and how to best dodge its hazards.

I can disagree with several positions.

Sticking to Vorkuta is very dangerous. Area around it is heavily trafficed. Old Hospital is rarely camped, most tend to quickly loot the place and leave, and I will advice the same. Sticking to main island is useless after you have a hunting set, the right island has many industrial spots where cola isn't hard to find (my experience).

Anyway, thanks for feedback as this allows me to point out probable mistakes.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Guide updated, compatible with latest DayZ and Namalsk versions

[Saethkept 134]

Namalsk ... my favorite "horror" map. In the beginning of my DayZ adventures, I played Namalsk more than any other map. Suffered my first death there after crossing Tara Bridge and eventually wandering into A2, never aware it was PvP central. Now I've run the map on my server on and off, and can never get enough. I would live at Nitija Army Base if I could - I love the terrain there and it is a former Army Combat Engineer's perfect playground. Great guide; wish I had had it to follow when I was a noob.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Saethkept

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Namalsk ... my favorite "horror" map. In the beginning of my DayZ adventures, I played Namalsk more than any other map. Suffered my first death there after crossing Tara Bridge and eventually wandering into A2, never aware it was PvP central. Now I've run the map on my server on and off, and can never get enough. I would live at Nitija Army Base if I could - I love the terrain there and it is a former Army Combat Engineer's perfect playground. Great guide; wish I had had it to follow when I was a noob.

Thank you a lot. This map is my love too! Cant forget my first death, that epic shootout at the Sebjan Dam... ;)

[dgeesio 1034]

namalsk is my favourite map aswell but there is a few floors in buildings and these are on all maps where the buildings are used

in alot of the textures on buildings for eg hospitals and so on you can get inside glitches and not be seen this goes on in vorkuta on roofs aswell. the solid boxes on top you can enter by proning and going inside. alot of snipers do this and camp inside these blocks. same as old hospital. go on roof the first solid blcoks prone and crawl into you are in a solid prefab building you can see enemies but they cant see you ! this is massive exploit.

you can use these exploits on many buildings hospitals, vorkuta roofs , solid type grey buildings.

hopefully this is fixed as it is a very big exploit in many of the places which have high yield.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

Updated. Work in progress, I still must correct something to fit the general text.