I had what might be termed a miserable night last night. I tried to tell myself that I was just shaking it up, but the reality is that I was way off my game.
Where I used to generally get a small cluster of houses to myself, with maybe a 70% chance of being alone, last night I was stuck with neighbors about 80% of the time. Every house was a mad scramble to find
anything to shoot with before the other person came knocking. The only thing that saved me was my hours spent in stealthy stalking. I know how to kill
one other poorly-equipped person, and succeeded about 80% of the time. I even had two instances where I was killed with headpunches when they didn't bother to look for items and instead just charged straight at me. The one time I had the school to myself (it was well out of initial jump range) someone else followed me, we both landed short and ran in, and he headpunched me to death when I got snagged on a pipe in the boiler room.
If I survived the initial drop, it seems I was inevitably on the absolute farthest side of the map from the safe zone and all I could do is run directly for it. The first time I lucked out and found a motorcycle, but in my haste to race against blue death, I dumped it in a river and died well outside safety with two doses of Painkillers and an Energy Drink in me. The speed boost, level 3 armor, and passive regen weren't enough to get to safety. My first blue wall demise. Even if I made the safe zone, it seems I spent every turn being pushed by it - pushed hard. I had to cross open fields way more than I wanted, and most of those crossings led to death.
I think the best I did all night was crack top 30, and I had a few Top 80ish finishes.
Some new things I did try were to visit the Shelter and Ruins. I found both underwhelming. I only bumped into one other person in the Shelter in my four visits, so that's something. I think I *once* found a Level 3 backpack, but everything else was pretty much on par with what I'd find by ripping apart a couple of my favorite compounds. The Ruins was a complete waste. I didn't know where to go when I landed, and by the time I saw something, someone was already chasing me with a shotgun. It didn't end well for me.
If you're looking at the
interactive map, the compound just northwest of the shelter is kind of my favorite place to start. At most, I think I've have one or two others there. It's got good, quick access to the Shelter, people from the Prison might pass you by as they get herded west, and the large open garage (marked in yellow) nearby can sometimes have nice armor or a good backpack. I generally leave here with one or two assault rifles and an SMG or shotgun. I think I need to start expanding. I've really only explored a small portion of the map and might consider dropping into a city tonight, just to see.
I've started throwing away pistols after I get another gun so I wouldn't accidentally cycle to them.
I think the kill of the night was finding myself in a compound with another player and I got a shotgun while they got Level 2 armor, Helmet, and a SCAR. I grazed her as she left a building, sending her back in. I listened outside and heard her run and stop. So she was going to camp me. Instead of playing chicken, I walked around the outside of the house and caught her perfectly in the side through a window. Boom. Headshot at 5 feet away with a shotgun. The helmet was mangled, but wearable after scraping out the bits.
I used the tommy to take out the guy next to us. I think I might have gotten the last guy if I realized. The circle is so quick that I lose track of what I'm doing. 
