Amidst all the complaints about Tarkov lately, it seems there's still a bunch of new players that have started playing and I thought creating a post with some tips for Interchange would help. Why Interchange? It is a pretty easy map to learn with only one main building and three floors and is an easy way for newer players to get money and loot. Interchange is also the map I would recommend whenever a quest needs any kind of FIR item whether it be medical,barter or electronics.
These tips are going to assume that you know the general layout of Interchange and the names of the important landmarks (Store names etc). I will be orientating the map as Idea – North, Oli South, Goshan as East, Scav camp as West.
When I refer to main entrance escalator/stairs, I am referring to the entrance doors that come in from the outside of the mall, which will be located on the west side of the mall.
As a lot of these tips are going to be focused around the carpark, always remember that looking out from inside the carpark is easier than looking in from outside the carpark. Thus, it's going to be greatly beneficial for you to be in the carpark than vice versa.
-Spawns on interchange are rather safe with adequate distance between each spawn. However, depending on your spawn, you can easily catch people entering the mall. If you spawn on the south or south west side of the mall (near the big ultra sign), you can reach the Oli Carpark first before the Scav camp/West spawn. From there, using the container and vehicles as cover, allows you to kill the Scav Camp/West Spawn as they are entering the Oli entrance escalator/stairs.
-If you spawn on the ramp of Oli (South east), just outside the jump up into the back of Oli, you will be the closest spawn to tech light. You can choose to rush tech light for electronic spawns, or you have some other options for PMC kills. There is a spawn at the emercom extract and if you have a scope, you can easily pick them off just crouching by the fence lining the ramp. Alternatively, you could also run into Oli and make a beeline for the Atm’s on the east side of the cashiers in Oli. You are able to jump on top of the cashiers and kill whoever runs up Oli Main entrance escalator/stairs. You are very hard to see when running up the stairs so you are greatly advantaged in doing so.
-If you spawn on the closer spawns to the mall, north west or south west side, you can run to the road that runs parallel to the mall on the west. If you laydown on the road with a high magnification scope, you will be able to see the further spawns run into the 3 main entrances of the mall. This isn’t very practical as it can be quite hard to shoot someone entering Idea Main entrance from Oli Main entrance but it is still something you should keep in mind nonetheless.
-If you spawn near the blue fence on the north-west part of interchange (Idea side with a small shack near the racing track), you can instantly sprint towards railway extract to kill railway spawn. With decent level endurance and strength, and assuming the railway spawns sprints straight towards idea, you will be able to see them around 20 seconds into raid either on the highway or just before they reach the highway. Both you and the railway spawn will not have cover so you probably only want to do this if you are confident in hitting your first few shots.
-If you spawn power station and run straight to Idea office be aware of two spawns, Railway and blue fence. You will reach the office earlier than railway but later than blue fence. There is a chance based on endurance/strength/stim usage that you will see blue fence spawn just before they enter idea office. You can choose to hold an angle from back idea catching them before they enter the office. If they have already entered idea office, you can always hold the angle and wait for them to come out. You will be able to see them come out either side.
Inside of the mall
-Use the stairs in the corners of the mall to rotate. I don’t see people doing this enough. Majority of players solely use the escalators to go to the second floor which are loud as hell and are basically death if someone is watching the escalator on the second floor. There are 2 staircases located at north and south of Goshan that will allow you to go up making less sound and can catch people camping the escalator by surprise. This is especially true on the tech light escalator. Coming up the stairs from goshan leads you into a long hallway with a straight view down into tech light.
-In the same vein, use the carpark to make quick getaways or flank. There are a lot of entrances to the carpark which are very helpful to rotate from one part of the mall to another. Just be wary for rats sitting around in the carpark.
Remember that all these tips can be used vice versa, be on the look out for opportunities to catch people who are doing these. There are plenty more spawn routes that I didn’t cover in this post.
Take into consideration endurance/strength as well as stim usage. All the above routes are assuming both parties are not on stims. The later the wipe is, the more people are going to be using stims so there will be differences.
To end off, BSG please add more cover between spawns.
