On Day 1 of Escape from Tarkov, you’ll be told to go to Ground Zero and given four quests to complete to familiarize yourself with the game’s controls and objectives. The Ground Zero map contains the Saving the Mole, Burning Rubber, First in Line, and Shooting Cans quests.
Burning Rubber is the easiest of the four Ground Zero quests in Escape from Tarkov, but the others require a bit of knowledge of the area, as well as some pre-planning to avoid an untimely death.
How to complete the Ground Zero quests in Escape from Tarkov
Saving the Mole
Below are the objectives for the Saving the Mole quest:
- Locate the USEC PMC group at the parking lot of the TerraGroup complex on Ground Zero
- Locate the lab scientist on Ground Zero
- Access the scientist’s office
- Locate and obtain the scientist’s hard drive
The USEC PMC group and the scientist are both found inside the Terragroup building. Head to the parking lot to the left side of the main entrance and look for the white TerraGroup van, then go behind to trigger the task.
Once complete, head inside and turn right to the main lobby area. You’ll be looking for a passageway at the back right, then follow the corner round to the left and find the scientist buried under the rubble. Loot him to get the key.
Make your way back to the main lobby and loop around to go up the staircase, then immediately take a right. Look for the room with the number ‘4’ on it. Find the hard drive that’s usually stored on the center desk with the purple galaxy screensaver on the monitor, then extract to complete the quest.
Burning Rubber
There’s only one objective for the Burning Rubber quest:
- Use the paid vehicle extraction on Ground Zero
The Burning Rubber quest is the simplest of the four, as it only requires you to go to one location. Located to the right of the main Terragroup building, you’ll find a black car with the license plate ’TAO002.’ That’s the extraction vehicle, so you’ll want to get close to that to trigger a pop-up, and then extract.
First in Line
Below are the objectives for the First in Line quest:
- Locate the Emerson station on Ground Zero
- Hand over 3 medical items
For this one, you’ll want to get your bearings by standing in front of the Terragroup headquarters. Look to your left and follow the road all the way down. Take a left at the number ‘1’ sign (the Emercom Checkpoint), and you’ll stumble upon an area with a yellow medical tent—identifiable by the wheelchair on the outside—and a car parked nearby with its trunk open.
Go inside the tent to hand over the medical items straight from your stash, then extract.
Note: Do not turn in Salewas for First in Line, as you’ll want to keep them handy for a future quest.
Shooting Cans
Below are the objectives for the Shooting Cans quest:
- Locate the Utyos machine gun on Grond Zero
- Locate the AGS grenade launcher on Ground Zero
- Eliminate any five targets on Ground Zero
Shooting Cans is objectively the toughest of the four quests, but don’t let it intimidate you. The machine gun is located in a building with blue-tinted windows and a black strip of windows directly underneath. Head into the building and go immediately behind the desk to find a door to the right. Take an immediate left and go up the stairs past the barbed wire.
At the top of the stairs, take a left followed by an immediate right. Go straight into the office, and you’ll see the machine gun positioned dead ahead.
As for the grenade launcher, that’s in the skyscraper building near a parked ambulance. Head inside the door to the right to find the escalators and ascend to find the stairs to the right. At the top of the stairs, run straight forward to the door on the left and find the grenade launcher aimed out the window.
Note: Make sure you dispatch at least five enemies on Ground Zero, otherwise you won’t be able to extract.
When extracting to complete quests, it’s important to know where your extract locations are in case you need to make a quick escape. Ground Zero has five main extracts: the Emercom Checkpoint, the co-op Scav Checkpoint, the Mira Prospect, the Nakatani Basement, and the Police Checkpoint. These are available to use at any time, so it’s only a matter of which one you’re closest to after ticking off your objectives.
Using the map as a reference, the Emerson Checkpoint is the bottom left exit, the co-op Scav is top left, Mira Prospect is at the bottom, Nakatani Basement is top right, and the Police Checkpoint is in the middle.
Note: Proceed with caution to Mira Prospect, as this extract requires you to shoot a flare into the extract point. If not, you’ll be ambushed by snipers.
