In our first guide for Scum, the Early Access survival game from Croteam, Gamepires, and Devolver Digital, we highlighted some basics, like how to craft a simple (but useful!) wooden spear. But while spearing zombies in the face is effective, you're going to want to get your hands on some real hardware if you want to survive. That means knowing where to look on Scum's map, which is a hefty 144 square kilometers.
Despite the size of Scum's map, there's a shocking amount of good gear—guns, ammo, and body armor—in every single map grid, which means that no matter where you spawn you're always pretty close to a big stash of firepower. It's Early Access, so some of this may change during development, but here's a look at the best locations to gear up.
The map above, created by Suspectlive on Reddit (also check out their Twitch channel here) is extremely useful to have open in a second monitor while you play. Since Scum's map (opened by pressing M) shows your location with a small blue arrow, you can quickly identify where you are in relation to the spots marked on the map.
Underground bunkers
Underground bunkers (marked with yellow dots on the map) are a great spot to loot: the one I visited had several basement levels packed with guns, ammo, body armor, tactical clothing, and even MREs, which were great to eat after subsisting on zombie flesh and mushrooms on my way to find the bunker.
But you can't just mosey on in! Bunkers are typically guarded by two mechs, big stompy robots that issue you a warning the moment they spot you, followed up by a hail of gunfire roughly two seconds later. Bunkers are also pretty heavily populated by soldier zombies, some of whom wear military gear, including helmets, who might be a little harder to take down than your average village zombie.
Stealth is your friend: crouch down, stay in cover, and try to spot the bunker's entrance from outside the fencing (a big clue: one mech is usually stomping around it in a triangular patrol pattern). After luring out and killing a few nearby zeds, I managed to sneak close, open the bunker hatch, and drop inside (the mech shot me just as I got in, but I survived). Then it was being like a kid in a candy store: loot galore in the armory, medical area, offices, and crates littered throughout the bunker.
Police stations and hunting camps
Police stations (light blue on the map) are a sensible place to find guns—provided they haven't been looted yet by other players. If you want to avoid the extremely deadly mechs, head to a town with a police station: there's one in every grid. But in any large town, you're going to run into a bunch of zombies, both on the streets and in the surrounding area. And if you're anything like me, all those buildings will do a number on your framerate.
Hunting camps (marked in green) are a bit harder to reach since there are only a few of them on the map, but those I've visited have contained at least a few guns and a bit of ammo for them. A small handful of zombies are lurching around as well.
Outposts
Currently, there's not much to be found at outposts, which are marked in pink in the map above. The outposts I've visited have been completely unguarded, but there's not much loot there either, aside from some odds and ends and occasionally a weapon. You can't currently get inside the TEC-1 buildings, so search the containers and small office cubes. Outposts are safe, but not terribly fruitful, and if you're in dire need of food or gear, I'd head to a town or bunker instead.
Landmarks
The locations like the airfield, factory, prison, and those marked by a star on the above map are large areas with loot, and sometimes mechs, zombies, and most likely, other players. They're dangerous areas for any number of reasons, in other words, so watch your six. The trenches in C3 don't have mechs, which make it a decent spot to gear up, but you're bound to find both fresh spawns rushing in to find loot and geared players looking for PvP.
There are naturally tons of other spots on the map to find gear—your in-game map marks clusters of buildings in orange, and there are even smaller pockets of one or two buildings you can find while running around. We're sure as the game develops and players find more reliable looting spots, we'll have more to add here.
