Should i raid the NW airport? If so how!

[-MadTommy 367]

Ok... I'm a survivor! Been in the wilderness for a few days, have everything essential to survive. Hatchet, matches, hunting knife, water bottles, ghillie suit, binoculars, Glock 17 & AKS-74 Kobra. I found myself quite close to the NW airport.. and am tempted to pay it a visit... but not sure if that is a good idea.

I've never been to the airport before.. i know its a very dangerous place.

What i'd like to really have is a better rifle, either a M4A1 SD or M16A4 ACOG, compass & bigger backpack.

What can i get at the airport i cant get elsewhere? And what strategy should i use (apart from being bloody careful). I wont be doing any exploiting/server hopping type stuff.

Thanks for any help for this new survivor.

[Knautscher 4]

For potential loot check dayzdb.com/map

[stover1985@rogers.com 0]

Carefully...

[BossFi 90]

Go to the forest NE of the airfield opposite the barracks.

Then make your way to the barracks. Dont walk in open areas or you'll get sniped.

Once your in the barracks, close the doors, watch out for players spawning behind you. And watch the windows. And don't stay there too long!

When coming out it's safer to sprint all the way back to the forest, then kill any zeds still following. It's always more dangerous coming out as someone may have spotted you as you went in.

[VLG Castiel 3]

Check the map, you're looking for the barracks. Use the binoculars to look for zombie spawns far away, they let you know if there are players nearby. Scout the treelines for snipers and move to the barracks from the woods, crouch-run in zig-zags when you're in open areas, prone when you're in the grass. Get in, get out.

Don't recommend looting the airfield without a partner.

[-MadTommy 367]

Thanks for the tips... I am alone. So if i do it it'll be alone.

Is it better done at night? And there seem to be two high yield military buildings.. one in the SW corner and one on the NE side (near the tower). Which is better and how do they differ?

Thanks

I know at some point i'll do it.. just for the challenge!

[VLG Castiel 3]

They are the same, the northern one is more contested: It's within range of the ATC Tower and the Fire Station. The southern one is easier to snipe. Take your pick.

I'd recommend doing it during the day. The odds of getting killed by bandits with NVGs is quite high otherwise given many join night servers just to do that (myself included for a while).

[-MadTommy 367]

Cheers mate.

[smithy0815 6]

-Go daylight full server (they can see you you can see them, night youre fucked against night vision googles its more luck then)

-take southwest barracks (much better cover)

-observe airport for a while from a hill hiding in a tree (binocs, hear for gunfire)

-going in trough the woods

-sneak up from tanned tree which provides soft view cover to next

-going between the building to barracks

-clear building first before collect things (check all rooms close maindoor)

-escape through woods fast but covered

-go to overwatch position and log out for eat smoke whatever, later next try

OR

-fall back and go for helicopter crashsites (my fav)

[Dreamseller 0]

I would have to advise against raiding the NW Airfield if you are alone. All the loot you mentioned can be found elsewhere.

Backpacks - For an ALICE, try supermarkets, they spawn quite frequently there

New Weapon - Deer Stands / Heli's.

Compass - Same place as the Backpack

Getting a M4A1 SD is going to be quite difficult, especially for a solo player. I've farmed the tents at Stary quite frequently with a group of 6-8 players and haven't seen one yet. I've also been to ~10 crashed helis and haven't seen them there either. Good luck finding one!

[-MadTommy 367]

Why full server? I'd have thought that would make it more dangerous? Curious?

I tend to play on the same server.. no matter the numbers.

[smithy0815 6]

trust me

[Mitcholas 0]

I would think of it this way:

Bandit checks servers. Sees an unpopulated one. Gets on it and chills in popular areas (like the airfield) while waiting on people that think unpopulated ones won't have bandits and would be clear.

Essentially just because it's nearly empty, doesn't mean there is an A-hole waiting at that location. I would think the larger the server, the less bandits would want to chill in fear of being killed by other bandits. (Then again, I could be completely wrong. Don't quote me on that)

[CommodoreFrank 13]

Getting a M4A1 SD is going to be quite difficult' date=' especially for a solo player. I've farmed the tents at Stary quite frequently with a group of 6-8 players and haven't seen one yet. I've also been to ~10 crashed helis and haven't seen them there either. Good luck finding one!

[/quote']

That's because they only spawn in the barracks. There's a couple weapons 100% exclusive to them.

[iSayNo 0]

all i can say about that place is this. i was on a server that only had 2 people in it. myself and a random person. so i thought it was safe to go to the airfield. go into the south barracks and find alot of good stuff. then i get to the last room and the door is closed. didnt think anything of it because there was ONE person in the server that wasnt me. and open the door and there he is with a m249

[-MadTommy 367]

LOL.. the sneaky bastards... cheers for the heads up and the experience.

[smithy0815 6]

bizon sd is so much better than the m4sd and you can find it on crashsites

[coolboynaked 0]

Ideally you want a sniper rifle. A scoped assault rifle won't cut it. If you play carefully which, with your loadout, i'm sure you've been doing, you will probably only see enemies too far away for the effective range of an assault rifle. The airfield has huge wide open spaces and at some point everyone is gonna have to make the run across, so having a sniper rifle is a huge advantage.

Other than that, approach from the north. Ideally, from Stary, head NW to the top barracks. The 2 barracks have the best loot in my experience (i've seen 2-3 weapons spawned at once multiple times) and if you goto the northernmost one the chance of someone else being there is much less than the south.

The hangars can have loot, but they are incredibly exposed, the chance is lower, and you have nowhere good to run if you get zombies on you, so it's best to avoid them. There are 2 buildings on the north side, a control tower and a multi story residential building - they're worth looting but you need to make sure you have the area scoped out before you do, especially the residential building since you will be exposed by windows from 2 directions.

If you're careful, approach using the cover of the wilderness and use binoculars well to make 100% sure you're clear before you make any attempt to loot anything in the airfield, there's no reason you can't get some loot solo. Just stay away from the Hangars, stay on the north side, and do not cross the runway under any circumstances.

[Hetstaine 10852]

Only been to the NW field twice since i have been playing. The first time i was shot by a dude with nvgs while i cowered in the southern hangars, second time i slow crouched and proned the length of the airstrip - in broad daylight on a half full server and survived. For that i want a nice shiny badge. And not a plastic one either..i'm talking genuine Chinese tin.

Never found a high tier weapon either, i left with a Mak and my ak74s that i had grabbed at Balota. I even got a transfusion by a dude my second visit and transfused him in return.

[S1ippery Jim 139]

There are only two reasons to go to the NW Airfield:

1. NVGs

2. Thrills

If you simply want military gear you should probably go to Stary instead where you can do a quick in and out and find a lot of stuff quicker and safer.

However if you go to the NW airfield I recommend you visit both Barracks and the fire station. The air traffic control tower is a little exposed I tend to avoid it.

When hitting the barracks, approach from cover eg pine trees are ideal. If you don't know which building is the barracks you can check pics and locations on the DayZ wiki or similar places.

Go slow and don't run straight in the front door, go along the side of the building and check in each window and room for players before entering. If you see a player my preference is to kill them through the window, any players you see in the NW airfield will probably have better gear on them than you will find at the loot spawns anyway.

If you do choose to hit the Air traffic control tower, I would recommend going up the ladder and down the stairs rather than up the stairs as you will have an advantage if there is someone inside it already.

Make sure you check for dead zombies (killed rather than the 'window dressing' ones). This would indicate players in the area. The same goes for recently killed players (although they may have been killed by zombies).

Scope it out from a distance first with binoculars (don't need to overdo it as players can spawn in at any time and scoping it out won't keep you safe from this).

Know exactly where you want to go beforehand, and avoid unnecessary side trips or exploration.

Check the main runway for downed helis you might get lucky.

Prone a lot. If you aggro any zombies you put yourself at risk both from the zombies and from any players that hear your gunshots and see you running around.

Carry smoke grenades, if you do get swarmed throw one to distract the zombies and move quietly away from the area to shake the attention of the undead.

Don't get greedy. If you have found what you want already simply looting further will increase the risk of getting killed.

Don't loot at night with a flashlight (unless it is a military flashlight as these are very dim and can't be seen easily from a distance) or flares. This should be obvious but the amount of times I have seen it at Balota and Stary always amazes me.

[xscottyt 4]

honestly you are better off trying to find randomly spawned crashed heli's. i tend to find a lot better loot on crashed heli's than NWAF. best thing i found at NWAF was the rocket launcher which i then used to destroy a bus in which 5 people were inside of. sad part is i got no loot from doing so :(.

and crashed heli's can get light machine guns, the best snipers, bisons, fn fal/fn fal w/NV ect.

only real reason to loot nw would be for a pair of nv goggles and when heli's get spawned back into servers again.

[S1ippery Jim 139]

Only been to the NW field twice since i have been playing. The first time i was shot by a dude with nvgs while i cowered in the southern hangars' date=' second time i slow crouched and proned the length of the airstrip - in broad daylight on a half full server and survived. For that i want a nice shiny badge. And not a plastic one either..i'm talking genuine Chinese tin.

Never found a high tier weapon either, i left with a Mak and my ak74s that i had grabbed at Balota. I even got a transfusion by a dude my second visit and transfused him in return.

[/quote']

I've been many times, most recently a friend and I rode our bicycles the length of the runway ringing our bells...luckily it seemed no bandits were camping it at the time :)

On my most recent trip I went in with a hatchet and a pistol as my weapons and found literally 6 primary guns (mostly AKs and shotguns)with ammo in one barracks alone, a downed heli with silenced PP19s and a whole bunch of other guns in the fire station and barracks. Also a dead guy but his body disappeared before I could loot it (this seems to happen a lot).

[SupaFly1983 52]

Also heli crash sites have weapons like the BAF AS50 which you can't get anywhere else. Even the barracks.

I have had a good run with the airfield, only ran into one person who I saw in the ATC.

I was in a bush with binoculars, and saw he only had a hatchet so I left him alone.

I got NV and a GPS from the barracks, but still looking for a good gun.

[zHDFXz 1]

i advice going in it at a night server because ive got messed up there plenty of times just craw ur way to it and be ready

[Orillion (DayZ) 0]

Also heli crash sites have weapons like the BAF AS50 which you can't get anywhere else. Even the barracks.

I have had a good run with the airfield' date=' only ran into one person who I saw in the ATC.

I was in a bush with binoculars, and saw he only had a hatchet so I left him alone.

I got NV and a GPS from the barracks, but still looking for a good gun.

[/quote']

I'm a sniper, myself, so when I raid NWAF I look for NVGs and a Rangefinder. I've got a double-monitor setup, so I can navigate almost perfectly with just a compass.

There are a few weapons that you can't find at barracks, like the PP-19, FAL, L85, and AS50, but there are also a couple you can't find anywhere but the barracks like the M4SD and I think the 249.