California 2 Guide [EN]

This guide is designed to help players get acquainted with the new California map.
The map is a remaster of the old California - it features new objects, weapons, and vehicles, basically everything that’s currently trending in our favorite game

• The map size is “Insane” (effectively “Large+”)—somewhere between Arid and slightly larger
  
• You lose 10% of your experience upon death
  
• The map features several biomes (Standard Forest, Coniferous Forest, Burnt Coniferous Forest, Redwood Forest, Swamp, Desert, Radioactive Desert, and a somewhat developed underwater world)
  
• There are many hidden biomes and locations outside the map
  
• The map features bunkers for construction (like on Elver, A6 Polaris)
  
• There are several safe zones, quests, and trading
  
• There is a map travel system due to the map’s size (travel is free)

All screenshots are taken from my original Russian guide, so all screenshots include Russian translations

Guide not full
If u wanna check full guide
U can checl my RU version
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3601169147

By default, the map is available immediately

• Bus stops
  
• Mortars for launching airdrops (Launch point and drop location)
  
• Safe zone
  
• Standard Level 1 dead zone
  
• Level 2 dead zone (Bio-protection required)
  
• There is a coordinate grid for easy information sharing

• The red triangle on the water is the Horde zone; the Horde beacon can only be placed there
  GPS version
  
  It doesn’t provide any information; it just shows a detailed landscape and more accurate representation of biomes and depths
  Map of locations by type
  
  
  
  • Blue - standard civilian locations (hospitals, police stations, fire stations, etc.)
    
  • Orange - construction sites
    
  • Purple - Locations with Mafia loot
    
  • Yellow - Locations with mixed civilian and military loot
    
  • Green - Military locations
    
  • Red - Locations related to the Dead Zone

This section contains information that will be particularly useful for new players

Let's start with food
We have carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms

Carrots and potatoes are usually found near towns, villages, farms, or simply in the woods by the road
Mushrooms are found under trees; some may be inedible Edible mushrooms
Completely safe Edible mushrooms
will only remove 5% of radiation and provide an effect Non-edible mushrooms
Don’t even think about touching them—immediately -100 radiation and an effect
Most items like trash cans, filing cabinets, and boxes yield some kind of loot when broken (mostly building materials or trash)
You can also break computers or data centers; they drop 2 important components that will come in handy in the future

The map features a rich variety of wildlife; you may encounter deer, foxes, raccoons, coyotes, scorpions, rabbits, mountain goats, black bears, and even grizzlies
They are good hunting targets, and with a knife we can skin them for their hides and meat
The hides can be sold or used to craft clothing
You can stand on geysers, and they’ll launch you in the direction you’re facing—be careful, one of the geysers might be a trap :) There aren’t any particularly important items on the map; the axe and chainsaw are used for harvesting wood/coal, while the pickaxe and drill are used for mining ore


There are many mines and caves on the map where you can find plenty of iron ore, which is necessary for construction and other purposes

The map is quite large, so there are 7 fast-travel points on the map that allow you to quickly travel between locations; each point looks like a bus stop

Traveling on the map is free; get on the bus, look at the seat, and select

The 7th teleportation point will appear after the fisherman's quest; teleportation is only possible directly through an NPC There is a bulletin board near every stop or bus station where you can pick up a quest

There are 3 safe zones on the map

I won’t go into detail about every NPC; I’ll just mention the main ones, as this is also the main location where you’ll complete quests Mateo - he’s a fisherman; he has fishing-related quests. By completing these quests, you’ll level up your fishing rods and the fish you sell; he also unlocks the 3rd safe zone

Ernest -sells weapons; after the first quest, he opens a shop.
Shops level up depending on the dead zone you visit (each dead zone unlocks its own shop level).

Sarah - mechanic sells blowtorch, carjacks, wheels, and jerry cans; buys car parts

Julia - a farmer who sells seeds for farming and baking ingredients, and buys cooking and farming products

Frank - a hunter who buys animal hides and parts

There are many other NPCs that exist and will appear as you complete quests, but I don’t find them interesting There are ATMs in the safe zones where you can convert experience points into cash or vice versa

Bare Man

This location is just as significant; it also has its own quests, and there are a couple of NPCs you’ll interact with frequently Piglet – the main NPC in this location; he mostly sells junk, but there’s a day-night barter system: the more you spend during the day, the more you can buy at night (For example, if you spend 20,000 during the day, items worth 40,000 experience points become available at night; in other words, if you don’t buy anything during the day, nothing will unlock at night.) It’s a strange mechanic, but the items are worth it

Warthog - the same mechanic as in Oasis, but with unique quests where we can unlock new vehicles to purchase

Safezone River

No name, just a safe zone intended exclusively for fishing; there’s a river here and Mateo, who will buy all the fish

To start fishing (i.e., leveling up your rods and unlocking more expensive trades), you need to complete the first quest from Mateo (he’s near the pickup truck in
The Oasis)

For the quest, we need to find a fishing spot (go to the right corner of the map, simply visit the location, and return to turn in the quest)

Next, we’ll be able to travel to this safe zone for free, where we can fish and immediately sell our catch to a merchant The shop’s Level 1 allows us to sell the most common types of fish caught with a standard fishing rod

Then we can take on quests to upgrade his shop

After completing the quest, a Level 2 shop will unlock

We may also receive items to upgrade our fishing rod (Each rod is unique and has an increased chance of catching a specific type of fish or item

Upgrade the fishing rod, complete the 2nd quest, and unlock the Tier 3 shop

For more effective fishing, collect upgraded parts (they are already red) and choose a fishing rod that suits your style (the description of each rod specifies what it catches most effectively; for example, the Magnetic rod will catch items more often)
And if you really love fishing, you can combine all your rods into one to have a chance to catch whales

There’s a small chance the rod will catch one of three crates (Wooden, Iron, Gold). When opened, they often contain junk, but valuable items like filters can also drop.

There are 4 building materials on the map

• Wood
  
• Stone (Sandstone)
  
• Metal
  
• Concrete

The very first material we’ll use to build a house is easily obtained with an axe or chainsaw
Wood can be stacked into piles of 20 units

Appearance of wooden structures
Wood durability - 450 HP
Sandstone can only be found in the desert biome (or purchased from an NPC in Bare Man)

Mined with a pickaxe/drill and stacks in 15 units Appearance of sandstone structures
Sandstone durability - 900 HP
To craft metal structures, we need metal ore and coal to craft ingots or metal scrap/b]
Scrap metal can be obtained by dismantling items, mining it from ore, or purchasing it from an NPC in the location (Bare Man)
(Dust that drops from weapons can also be converted into metal using a blowtorch) Appearance of metal structures
Metal durability - 2250 HP

Concrete

Concrete is currently the best material on the map; it is required to upgrade metal structures to their concrete versions
To upgrade, you must use an metal structure, steel, and concrete
To make concrete, you need to find two components: cement and mortar
Concrete Bag can be found everywhere on construction sites, Concrete Harder can be found in level 2 and higher dead zones
Concrete Bag and Concrete Harder also drop from Horde Beacon Appearance of concrete structures
Concrete durability - 3375 HP

You can use any material to build a barricade in the form of a fence or gate; sometimes this is more useful than constructing a regular building

Material

HP

Resources Required

Wood

450

3 wood

Sandstone

900

3 stones

Metal

2250

2 steel and 6 scrap

Concrete

3375

2 steel, 3 concrete, structure

Disables the spawning of zombies and items within a specified radius; requires a generator to function Standard Generator - Runtime of 11 hours when fully fueled Upgraded generator, has a larger operational radius, runtime: 222 hours
When destroyed, it explodes, dealing significant damage to surrounding structures and barricades A standard oil pump so you don’t have to run around locations looking for fuel, since cities and safe zones often simply don’t have any Sentry parts spawn at military bases and also drop from military mega zombies
As for its weapon, it’s best to equip it with a special sentry gun called Arachnid Sentry Mount; this weapon spawns in civilian locations

This is the best turret on the map. To craft it, you need to destroy the turrets located in Fort Mojave (there are 3 of them there) or in Whitney or Mesadyne (the third-tier dead zones, with one each)

To destroy them, you must either use explosives or craft Raufoss rounds for large-caliber sniper rifles and try to shoot them down; it usually takes 3–5 shots, after which you’ll drop either a part for crafting a turret weapon or the turret’s body itself, the odds are 50/50

Durability: 1,500 HP (Crafted version)

There are oil deposits on the map that you can collect.
Particularly large oil deposits are visible directly on the map, but most of them are hidden in caves.
To reach an underwater deposit, you will most likely need diving gear

It’s slippery and has an ice effect; each “Deposit” contains 3–6 oil spawn points—you just need to approach the bubbles and collect the contents

When collected, we get Tar; from this, we can choose to make Glue, Tape, or Rubber

Rubber is more valuable here; it can be used to make polymer, which is needed to craft many items

It is used both in crafting homemade useful items and in basic items such as filters or explosives

The map shows arrows and circles, which represent the airdrop launch and arrival points.
Circle – launch location
Arrow – arrival location

The launch process involves using Airdrop core to call in the airdrop
We need to use Airdrop Core on a special mortar

Airdrop Core drops at the Fort Mojave Reactor location, which is the lower level of the Fort Mojave dead zone and features mega zombies on the surface of the dead zone itself

As soon as we use the Airdrop core, all players near alert stations will immediately know that an airdrop has been called and where it will land

Airdrops contain basic gear (weapons, modules, ammo, food, gas masks, filters, 1-2 tier keycards, building components) and a military radio that announces the start of the airdrop and the Horde generator

The weakest explosive—deals 160 damage to barricades/structures (uses a detonator)

An alternative to the Pipe Bomb, but can be thrown; deals 160 damage to barricades/structures

A more powerful explosive, used for both raids and destroying vehicles; deals 300 damage to barricades/structures (uses a detonator)

Well, our favorite little bomb—deals 950 damage to barricades/structures (uses a detonator)

Thermite Charge, has increased damage but a small splash radius—deals 1500 damage to barricades/structures (Uses a detonator)