Getting ahead in No Man's Land

The Area 51 starting area of the zombies map 'Moon' is called "No Man's Land", according to the Leaderboard (which says I'm in the top 10000 ranked players).

As mentioned in my previous entry, "No Man's Land" (Area 51) is the key to unlocking heaps of points, so long as you have a good, preferably automatic gun with lots of spare ammo, or a Bowie Knife plus Ballistic Knife combo (if before round 10/14).

In No Man's Land, the zombies don't drop Max Ammo or anything, so you only have what you take in with you.

At the start of the game, you only have 40 bullets in your M1911, and a knife; before the 1st 'nuke' siren, the zombies are a one-hit slash, then afterwards a 5-bullets plus slash to kill, then progressively tougher with each nuke siren. Incidentally, the 1st and 2nd dogs are one-slash kills also, but not so the next one, so two dogs is my cue to get out, or at least keep away from zombies...

Anyhow, here's how to get a good start.

Bear in mind that after you reach the Receiving Hall at the Moon, you need 6,500 points to unlock all the doors, via Tunnel 6, to reach the teleporter and get back to No Man's Land for more points. So you'll also need 950-1200 points for a decent gun and maybe 500 points for Quick Revive (if playing Solo).

I figure it is best to aim for 3,500 points in solo, or 4,000 points total between two players, before starting round 1. This way, you might have enough points to get back to No Man's Land as early as Round 2 (leave a crawler).

Solo: I first slash (slash-only) as many zombies that spawn in the two mud puddles. An unlucky start is less than 9 zombies giving a total less than 1,800 points before the 1st nuke siren. A really good start is 14 zombies for more than 2,000 points on 1st nuke siren. No matter, the next step is to work the horde into a tight bunch - just running around the large central puddle works reasonably well; slash the 1st/2nd dogs if it gets to that.

By the third siren, zombie crawlers and armless runners can be killed with a slash, so making this happen is what you want to do. Here's how: get a medium-lead on the herd and take them up the stairs to the teleporter. [At this location, any kills will be replaced by new spawns in No Man's Land, so you have room to finish off the zombies.] Immediately at the top of the stairs, before the zombies catch up, you hang a left and stand next to the drink machine & pull the pin on a grenade, cook it a second or two and slam it on the ground, straight down-ish but pointing almost towards the adjacent corner on the other side of the stairs, or to the middle of the stairs; then walk sideways in a half-circle around the grenade; this should land the grenade right in the middle of the herd, and your walking should keep them trained on the grenade. The explosion should leave you with dead zombies, a few crawlers and maybe some armless runners. Slash what remains and you should have 3,500+ points and new spawns breaking in.

At this point, you probably still have one grenade and some bullets. Maybe throw another grenade or shoot bullets for more points because you really don't need either once Round 1 starts (they're all one-slash kills again, then 2-slashes in round 2). You could make another herd and finish off your grenades and ammo for extra points - maybe even rack up enough to Pack-a-Punch the M1911 to Mustang and Sally, although you are very vulnerable to the explosive splash (believe me, I did just that). Just be sure to get out of No Man's Land before you die, and don't buy the drink - even if it is Juggernog.

Instead, save the points to get back to No Man's Land as soon as possible. You should have 32 or so zombies to kill in rounds 1, 2 and 3, for an extra 3,000 to 5,000 points, depending how you go with the zombies and the timing of any Max Ammo and/or X2 points; Here's what I suggest you do next, assuming you haven't left the Receiving Area (adjust depending on how many doors/guns you have bought):
6,500 points + a Max Ammo replenishing your M1911 & grenades, if by round 2, just go to NML and work it for a few extra points as safely as possible.
7,000 points + a Max Ammo replenishing your M1911 & grenades, if by round 2, get Quick Revive and go to NML - be safe.
7,500 points - get all the doors but before going to NML, check the two Mystery Box spots on the way too and either have a go, or get a wall gun SMG, M16 or Stakeout on the way, then go to NML
8,000 points - as before, but get Quick Revive before going to NML as well.
10,000 points - you must be in Round 4+ already; so get to NML for points soon, and maybe get Juggs while you're there.

Now, the teleporter has an entrace 'gateway' with four lights that are green or red; after teleporting, they all alight red. I think that the first light (leftmost) doesn't change to green until after you kill some number of zombies, but maybe the last one is on a timer after the 3rd light changes... so it is not unlimited: I can't get 200k points before round 5 by rerunning to NML again and again, but here's what you can get by using...

• M1911 + 2 grenades = 3,000 points
• AUG/Commando/Galil, full ammo = 7,500 points
• AK74u/MP5k/MPL, full ammo = 5,000 points
• RPK/HK21 = you can probably guess.
• Ballistic Knife + Gersch Device = accumulate zombies, throw the Gersch, equip Ballistic knife = 130 points per zombie sucked into the black hole. If also holding the Bowie Knife before Round 10, or it is before Round 14 and already Pack-a-Punched the Ballistic Knife,  then slash what you can for 130 points per kill.

So, don't worry about about the Bowie Knife or flicking the power so quickly; get back to No Man's Land as soon as possible to get more points, then go for Juggs, Bowie Knife, other drinks or work the box.

Also, No Man's Land changes the dynamics of what guns work best. Gaming in Solo, any shotgun is great to give you some safety while waiting for the teleporter from start to go. Gaming in multiplayer, the zombie-herding thing works best with just one guy running around as the bait in No Man's Land, so all the other players should camp at the Teleporter station - perhaps with Sniper Rifles to take down zombies from the herd just one at a time, and shotguns in case the herd goes to the Teleporter instead of the bait. This would be a very interesting strategy with four players, 3 on the sniping and myself with the Ballistic+Bowie combo.

And, the Biodome has the Claymores on some pile of crates. In solo or in multiplayer, these are also good for providing a little safety prior to teleport. I recommend planting them a few steps away from the teleporter, back to back, although some hellhound dog usually spawns on the teleporter platform and may destroy a claymore as it runs past; maybe equip and place them just before leaving?

From what I read about the Quantum Entanglement Device, it can cause a total loss of all points on all players; I guess that NML balances this out by giving an option to get more points without affecting the round number you are in.

No Man's Land really will change the meaning of how many kills and points and to what round you survive; then again, it has it's own leaderboard for Solo.

Moon - getting started

Moon; just out on PS3 since a few days ago and...whoa - big map, different setup from the start and seems to have a lot more variables to consider.

First, you start outside Hangar 18 in Area 51, with Pack-a-Punch and either SpeedCola/Juggernog available, and the power is on! There is a teleporter that works when all players (alive or downed) are waiting on top of it.
Also, there are two shallow pools of water where zombies crawl out of the ground (like Call of the Dead) for quick, 1-slash kills. And other zombies will get to you from the 'platforms' on either side, 4x entry ways , so watch out. I recommend slashing every zombie you can before teleporting to the Moon.
Upon spawning the new game, a siren goes off, and about 20s later another siren is your 'warning'. Then at ~30s you hear a sound from MW2 for 'tactical nuke inbound'; immediately the zombies are now a 4x shots of M1911 pistol + slash to kill, and the zombies 'run' rather than walk; they are not as fast as after the George effect (Call of the Dead). You can possibly lead them in a circle around the big puddle, sort-of, as long as you play solo, and if you empty your ammo at the horde (as per my previous notes), then doing so may net you more than 2500 points so you can get Juggernog just before you teleport out.


Moon: straight away on arrival, it is Round 1 and you need to get the PES equipment (space helmet) and then equip it. There is one right in front of you upon arrival; alternatively, there are heaps of airlocks, one on either side of this room, and throughout the rest of the map, so just look for an identical locker in every airlock.
The map is a bit like a circle with a 'Y' on top, and you start at the bottom of the circle. Either you take Tunnel 6 or Tunnel 11 to get to the top of the circle, where is the power switch and a Pyramid, and stairs to the laboratories (the bottom of the Y) and at the top of the lab are two doors that go to the PaPmachine teleporter (left) and the biodome (right).

Space man - astronaut suit with any red name. A bit like George, you can basically stay away from him. You can't run past him up/down a stairs, nor an airlock; he will get you every time.

Anyhow, my recommendation for a good start is:
1. don't put your team in danger at Area51; just kill what you can and get out. If solo, practice until you can get 2500 points + Juggernog.
2. as soon as you have ~2000 points for doors and 1000 points per player for a wall gun, open two doors and buy the wall gun, either MPL or PM63, depending which doors you open. I recommend MPL because it has a bigger clip. Then camp around in the open space between Tunnel 6 and Tunnel 11, on the surface of the moon until you have about 4000 points for doors and 3000 points each for the Bowie Knife.
3. Play a round until you can 'leave a crawler', then open doors on one side all the way to the Pyramid and DO NOT TURN ON THE POWER YET. Instead, head up to the laboratories and figure out how to buy the Bowie Knife; this requires buying a few more doors, but not the door at the top of a stairwell after walking through the laboratories.
*Basically, from the top of the stairs within the laboratories, look back and high up the wall, there is the Bowie Knife for 3000 points. To reach it you need to use the low-gravity setup to jump sideways rather than up (hence, don't turn on the power just yet) and from close to the top, run/jump towards the inner corner of the stairwell; this should bounce you off the wall and give you a moment that, holding the square button, should get you the Bowie Knife.
4. Now, with the Bowie Knife, do not hang out in the laboratories; it's a tight space that fills with teleporting gas zombies; instead, head back to the open surface to camp for more points, or proceed through the doors to either teleporter or biodome. If you have 2500 points (or nearly as much) and Juggernog is downstairs, then i recommend teleporter, just go stand on it a moment and head to Area 51 again, maybe go one at a time...
5. The biodome looks like an open space suitable for running circles with a horde of zombies behind you. The only weapon here is the Claymore, and the gravity lift things don't exactly throw you to land on the next platform, so you need to watch + adjust where you land very carefully. Apparently there is some sort of perpetual power up available that changes like the monkeys do in Shangri-La, but you need to work out how to get to it via the gravity lifts.

A new POINTS strategy?
You can use the usual Bowie Knife and/or a Bullets-for-points strategy, but on this map the Area 51/Hangar 18 creates a new situation.
In Area 51, the zombies count for points and kills, but they don't count towards zombie spawns for the the round, at least before round 1 they don't. They serve as the time limit for the Pack a punch machine. So, if players left a crawler then go to the Pack a Punch machine, and I think it is necessary that everyone do this at once (not sure yet), it is possible to rack up more kills and points by hitting Area 51 for some bonus zombies. For this I recommend getting an Assault Rifle or LMG, but any SMG or anything else will do.
It looks like this, when you get to Area 51, the zombies are as tough to start as the zombies on the Moon (depends on which Round you are playing), but they get tougher with each sound of the nuke siren. These zombies never seem to drop any bonuses, so you will only be there as long as you survive and have ammo, although I wonder whether you can get an Instakill or DeathMachine just before teleporting, and use it while you are there? Anyhow, when you teleport back, you finish the round where you left it, except that there is a fence around the teleporter that stays up until...I'm not sure: it doesn't seem to fall down at the start of the next round, so maybe it is time limited - in which case you just need to leave the last crawler for long enough to go back to Area 51 again.
In Area 51, you have ample time to PaP a gun and get Juggs or SpeedCola, but you can hang around and shoot zombies in Area 51 and new spawns just keep on coming. If you got good at the zombie concentrator manouvre in KDT or similarly in Ascension, you can keep a horde behind you until you empty all of your ammo and grenades on them, just for extra points. So long as you have ammo, you can get more points in Area 51, but be warned that the teleporter takes a little while between your standing on it to initiate and the actual teleportation, so you need to keep well clear of them as you run to the teleporter, and/or you need to have some way to fight back while the teleporter does its thing: maybe Claymores, RayGun, DG-2 or Wave Gun.

So, my thinking is: put all your points into one set of doors to get the teleporter as a priority; I managed this before the end of Round 3 by scoring ~3000 points before Round 1 and buying only the M14 at first (1 bullet per Round Number to kill a zombie) and a little luck with the Max Ammo and x2 points; then if you have any points to spare, try to get an SMG off the wall, or the M16 or something similar via the Mystery Box, then get 3000+ points back at Area 51 to put towards something like Juggs or save it for later...
Using this, I got ~7000 points from a Galil in Area 51, Round 6; and similarly using RPK - even upgraded it next time. Having a Ray Gun or Wave Gun helped when the ammo was low / Pack-a-Punching...

There are obvious circuits:
A. Open Tunnel 6 and Tunnel 11, walk slowly around them as a circle
B. Open either Tunnel, the Laboratories and teleporter and/or teleporter-via-Biodome, use the teleporter to complete the circuit.
Then again, there are wide spaces in the tunnels, around the biodome, around the pyramid, between the two tunnel entrances, which can be used effectively as mini-circles. Mr Space Man may make it difficult, if present.