EFT FAQ/Quickstart

/EFT/ - Escape From Tarkov FAQ and quickstart guide

Q:So what kind of game is EFT?
A:
Q:Is it P2W?
A:You got a choice of multiple preorder packages, each giving you more stash storage space and more gear and sometimes even bigger alpha containers(the container that holds items and comes back with you in case you die). It may sound p2w on paper but it doesn't impact much. Default storage space is plenty unless you hoard, with option to unlock bigger stashes and cases later. And all the gear you get is garbage anyway and will be taken away from you by some guy with cheapest edition who knows how the game works. In short only REAL p2w aspect is more stash space(which you can't upgrade through game yet) and arguably bigger safe container(which you can upgrade through game yet)
Q:Are devs bad?
A:The updates are frequent and address issues and add content and they do experiment and try different things a lot while sticking to their vision of the game without caving in to shitters on community but on the other hand it is called a beta when it is clearly an alpha. That and the EULA thing
Q:Which edition to buy?
A:At most Left Behind. Other editions are not worth it that much.

Quickstart guide:
At first the best thing to do is to clean up the inventory a bit. For which I reccomend you sell:
*pistols and pistol accessories and ammo - the pistols are terrible and you're much better off with an AK.
*All the various meds and food items like bandages, waters, splints, AI kits etc. - you can currently buy IFAK's for 60 dollars at peacekeeper which does all healing you really need and takes up one slot. Salewa and car med kit are the same but are inferior due to taking up double the space.
Now that you have sold useless junk, you can accustom yourself to the traders.

TRADERS:
Prapor deals in soviet arms and some accessories. Skier sells some soviet arms and a lot of accessories and Peacekeeper sells NATO arms and accessories and IFAK - the best medkit in game.  Therapist is mostly useless but she pays high price for dogtags, valuable items from safes. Fence is a scam.
At first glance you notice a lot of greyed out "???" items. These are items you haven't examined yet. Right click and use examine. It gives you insignificant amount of XP (which is used to level up traders mostly) but more importantly you can't equip unexamined items in raid so examine them when you find them. The way trader levelling works is simple. The higher the level, the more stuff they sell. Their inventory for some items is limited and it resets each hour.
To level up you have 3 stats:
*Trader relationship - this is the standing, you raise it by doing tasks for the trader (the tabs up top). You need to accept quests, hand over items for the quest, complete quest all in that window by clicking those buttons every time you complete each stage. And to receive rewards you need to go into the messaging window bottom right and get them from the chat with the trader.
*Money spent: this is how much rubles/dollars/euros worth of  stuff you have bought from them/sold from them and insured/repaired using them. It is a lot easier to level up than it appears at first glance.
*Player level - level this up by playing the game.

Gearing up for first raid.
First items you are going to need to buy are your favorite variant of AK74, 5.45 ammo for it (PS is good enough, get around 120 rounds) and one extra magazine.  As you can only use grenades and magazines that are in your vest or pockets, put your magazines in your vest/pockets and loose rounds somewhere nearby. All you need is one magazine in the gun and one in the vest as once you reload, the reloaded magazine can be refilled with loose bullets instantly. Grab a MBSS for now as it is the best price/performance backpack despite being small and go find a map to play. You have a big map screen but since you likely don't have a map(and honestly don't really need it in practice) you will spawn randomly on one side of the map and have to make your way to the other side.
At first you should select singleplayer and PVE mode and disable "random weather/time" and explore the maps a bit, figure out what parts are the exits and where the loot is. Loot from single player no longer carries over. Once you explored you can enable PVE and try out combat. If you die there you lose no gear so it is great for practice.
Once you feel ready it is time to either spawn in solo and die like a bitch or find a group to play with from one of the discords.

General tips:
Playing with squads:
Unless you're with complete shitters it is recommended you stick together and use basic tactics:
*try and cover all angles: first guy looks ahead, middle guys look to the sides and last guy looks behind
*Keep within eyesight of each other, try and communicate and listen to communications from others so you know at all times where everyone is and what they are doing. That way you can shoot suspicious people without asking and not die because you are doing jump checks at a guy who is not part of your group
*If you think something is not worth losing, insure it and ask others to toss it somewhere. People have better things to do than lug your shitty stock AK around

Gear reccomendations:
Shotguns are not very good as they don't do anything against even cheapest armor, SMG's really only work on Factory and pistols are useless.
Good loadout that doesn't bankrupt you even if you lose it all day every day but still lets you punch up is:
*VEPR KM(the one that shoots 7.62) with PS ammo, one extra magazine and 60 spare rounds, MBSS and scav vest/blackrock/AVS. If you have traders unlocked also get B10M handguard and a pk06 sight and a PACA That gives you just enough storage and a gun that will be able to take down forts with ease. Thanks to that you will have a higher chance of surviving a run and will be able to profit even from one mediocre run, especially now when you can easily get 30k for a dog tag.
Loadout for when you have absolutely nothing tier:
Literally anything is better than just going in with a knife.

Items and what they are used for:
Gas analysers  - therapist quest.
Tuschonka  - therapist quest.
Golden zibbo  - Prapor quest
Half mask - Quest
303 key -  zibbo quest
Portable cabin key - quest and it has a weapon case in it.
Factory key - opens a shortcut on Customs and unlocks extracts on Factory. Very useful.
Marked key - opens door end of hallway on third floor of dorms. Guranteed weapon spawn.
Light bulb - traded for items, mostly grenades.
uv bulb - traded for f1
Roler - traded for cases at Therapist
gold chain - traded for fort armor at skir
tool case - traded for ak74n
hunting knife (brown handle) - traded for mp5  at peacekeeper
MP153(or the auto shotty) - traded for m4


Shoreline Sanitarium Loot info


    EAST WING

Key 	Contains
East Wing 107 	2 Medbags, 1 Duffle, Money Spawn
East wing 206 	2 Slim Weapon Box, 1 Square Weapon Box,AKM Spawn, 1 Gunrack, 1 Duffle Bag, 1 Med Bag, Rare Item
East Wing 222+226 	2 Large Weapon Box,1 Gun Locker, 1 Weapon Rack, VSS Spawn, SMG Spawn, 1 Grenade Crate, 1 Toolbox, Rare Item Spawn
East Wing 306+308 	4 Computer, 2 Square Weapon Box, DVL Spawn 1 Medbag, 1 Weapon Rack, Money
East Wing 310 	Rare Items, Money
East Wing 314 	3 Large Weapon Box, 1 Slim Weapon Box, 1 Medbag, Attachment Spawn, Money
East Wing 328 	1 Computer, 1 Duffle Bag, Attachment Spawn, Money



    WEST WING

Key 	Contains
West Wing 104 	Medical Equipment
West Wing 205 	1 Slim Weapon Box,1 Weapon Rack, 2 Medbags, 1 Duffle Bag, 1 Toolbox, Medical Equipment, Money, Food
West Wing 207 	Unknown
West Wing 216 	2 Slim Weapon Box, 2 Square Weapon Box, M4 Spawn, Grenade Crate, Rare Item, Medical Equipment
West Wing 219 	4 Computer, 2 Square Weapon Box, 1 Medbag, 1 Weapon Rack, Money
West Wing 220 	2 Slim Weapon Box, 1 Green Crate, Rare Item , Money Spawn, Medical Equipment
West Wing 221 	1 Large Weapon Box, 2 Gun Locker, 1 Medbag, 1 Dufflebag,1 Green Crate, Rare Ammo,Medical Equipment, Money
West Wing 301 	1 Large Weapon Box,1 Green Large Weapon Box 2 Computers, Medical Equipment, Money
West Wing 306 	M4 Spawn, 2 Dead Scav, 1 Medbag, Rare Attachments, Medical Equipment, Money



    OTHER KEYS

Key 	Contains
Safe Key 321 	Opens locked safe in Room ???
Cottage 	Opens locked Luxury House
Cottage Safe 	Opens locked safe inside Luxury House
SMV Car Key 	Opens Car, near Luxury House, Weapon and money spawn
Store Safe Key 	Unknown
Sanatorium Key 	Quest Item?
Reference
Large Weapon Box
Green Large Box
Slim Weapon Box
Square Weapon Box
Gun Locker
Weapon Rack
Medbag
Duffle Bag

    WHERE CAN I FIND THESE?

Go onto this subreddit if you would like to trade for these keys /r/takovtrading
Key 	Where?
East Wing 107 	Shoreline, 2nd floor of Health Spa, In Band Hall
East Wing 206 	Shoreline, Near Gazebo on concrete platform, on a box
East Wing 222 	Shoreline, Power station, In room under the stairs
East Wing 226 	Shoreline, Scav Island, In front of the house, On a table
East Wing 306 	Customs, Big Red Office, On desk \\ Gas Station, In Cabinet Room, On desk
East Wing 308 	Unconfirmed
East Wing 310 	Unconfirmed
East Wing 314 	Woods, Checkpoint with SUV, inside bunkhouse, next to filing cabinet \\ Woods, Along the shore, in crashed SUV
East Wing 328 	Shoreline, On Scav Island, On a table with a motor
Key 	Where?
West Wing 104 	Shoreline, Power Station, Outside in one of the sheds, in a locker
West Wing 112 	Shoreline, Depot, In Yellow Bus
West Wing 205 	Shoreline, Pier Extract, In big building at the base of the lockers \\ Shoreline, Pier Extract,on top of a broken box
West Wing 207 	Shoreline, 2nd floor of Health Spa, on a desk
West Wing 216 	Shoreline, 2nd floor of Health Spa, on a desk
West Wing 219 	Shoreline, Towards Boat Pier, In back of 4WD \\ Shoreline, Pier Extract,on top of a broken box
West Wing 220 	Shoreline, Cottage, On Keyrack
West Wing 221 	Unconfirmed
West Wing 301 	Shoreline, In the bus next to tunnel extract
West Wing 306 	Factory, in bathroom, in one of the lockers
Key 	Where?
Safe Key 321 	Shoreline, Top of radar tower, Blue locker/Grenade Box
Cottage 	Shoreline, Next to locked luxury house on blue barrels
Cottage Safe 	Shoreline, Near village, near the tank in the bus
SMV Car Key 	Shoreline, Near Luxury House, on a Box
Store Safe Key 	Unconfirmed
Sanatorium Key 	Keybars