Points of Interest and Discovering Locations

The global map isn’t an empty screen between locations — it’s a separate layer of the expedition, where your group moves across the world, uncovers its surroundings, and constantly weighs a choice: enter here now, mark it for later, or pass it by. This article is about points of interest (POIs) and how a “blank spot” turns into your own personal map of the world.

What a point of interest is

A point of interest is any marker on the global map near which your group can do something: enter a location, run into a camp or an encounter, or spot another squad. A point is a promise of opportunity, not a guarantee of reward: a good POI always poses a simple question — enter now, mark it for later, or pass it by — weighing your character’s health, your group’s condition, your ammo supply, and the trip back.

The list of points is recalculated personally for each member of the group as the squad moves. Some places are already known and stay on the map permanently, others show up as unknown directions, and temporary events appear only when the group gets close enough.

The kinds of points

• Your own group — the center of the current expedition; your immediate surroundings and field of view are measured from this point.
• Unknown places — public locations the character hasn’t discovered yet.
• Known places — locations already discovered, which you can return to later.
• Camps and encounters — active temporary points; they appear within view range and vanish when conditions change.
• Other groups — rival squads on the global map, visible only when close enough.
• Quest-giver return points — markers for active encounter quests: on entry, the location with the quest-giver is recreated from scratch.
• Death points — private markers tied to your account; on entry, the lost loot returns straight to your inventory, with no need to enter the location.

What happens when you enter a point

The result depends on the type of point:

• A known place moves the group into the location (through a chosen entrance or the default one).
• A camp or encounter opens the corresponding temporary map.
• Your own group — an attempt to make camp at your current position.
• Another group — clashing interests between two squads can lead to a separate encounter between them.
• A death point — the loot returns to your inventory immediately, with no transition to a map.

Scouting: how the map opens up

The map is revealed gradually, not all at once. As the squad moves, squares of the fog of war open up around its position, and visible points of interest begin to emerge nearby. This works through the group’s field of view — it’s used both for the picture you see and for detecting places, camps, encounters, and rival groups.

The group’s field of view is calculated from its members’ sight range. The better the squad can orient itself, the sooner it notices what matters around it. Sight range is affected by the characters’ perception, the state of their eyes, their equipment, and active bonuses — an attentive guide reveals the surroundings earlier, while a wound or blindness narrows the safe picture of the world right when the route has already begun.

Discovering locations and experience for discovery

A location becomes known when a group member gets close enough: the distance to it must be no greater than the sum of the group’s field of view and the location’s own radius. After that, the place is added to the list of known places and saved on the character — it doesn’t just flash on the screen for a moment.

For the first discovery of a public location, the character receives one-time experience (25 by default). Re-entering an already discovered point gives no experience: exploration experience is finite and tied to the number of public locations — you can’t “farm” it by running around familiar tiles.

Fog of war

Territory isn’t revealed instantly across the whole area, but square by square — a square is uncovered when its center falls inside the view circle around the group’s position. That’s why it’s sometimes worth going a little farther for visibility rather than diving straight into the first place you find.

Visibility of temporary points

Camps, encounters, and rival groups are moving targets: they appear and disappear as their position changes relative to you.

• A camp or encounter is visible as long as the distance to it is no greater than the point’s own radius plus the group’s field of view.
• A rival group is visible as long as the distance to it is no greater than the group’s field of view plus the base detection radius of squads.

Known places are always shown with the standard marker. If a discovered known place is a faction headquarters, its faction emblem appears on the marker; until you’ve discovered the location, that icon isn’t shown.

Markers from quests and NPCs

Quest hints are a separate layer of points. A dialog can give you not only a text objective but also a marker on the global map: a point, a search area, or a direction that becomes part of the character’s personal route. Such a marker doesn’t replace scouting and preparation — you still have to reach it, assess the risk, and decide whether to enter now. Quest-giver return points remain visible as a separate type of POI, and the location with the quest-giver itself is restored on entry.

What matters to the player

• Scouting pays off. Your field of view opens the map gradually, and points appear and disappear as you move. The map is your character’s memory: uncovered areas and familiar places help you come back prepared.
• Don’t enter every point automatically. A known place, a camp, an encounter, and a rival group are all different decisions. Before entering, it’s worth assessing your condition, your load, your ammo, and the way back.
• Discovery is progress. Even a short outing is worthwhile if it uncovers a new landmark: a location’s first discovery grants experience and stays on your map forever.