Moon:
Hacker and excavators

Oxygen, gravity, the P.E.S., the Hacker and the three excavators of Moon in Black Ops Zombies: which areas keep their air, every hack and its cost, when the excavators wake up in the Black Ops version, and why a First Room game is played in low gravity.

3 min read
5 chapters
updated 2026-10-08

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Oxygen and gravity

Griffin Station, the base of Moon, has no oxygen anywhere until the power is turned on. Then the indoor areas get air and artificial gravity back, while the outdoor areas keep neither for the whole game. Every place without air also has low gravity: jumps go higher and further, there is no fall damage, and the zombies jump as well.

Always without air

Outside the Receiving Bay, the Power Room, and the outdoor area around the teleporter.

Air after the power

The Receiving Bay, Tunnel 6, Tunnel 11, the Laboratories and the Bio-Dome.

Losing it again

An excavator breaches Tunnel 6, Tunnel 11 or the Bio-Dome for good, and explosives can shatter the windows of the Laboratories and the Receiving Bay. The announcer warns of a “massive decompression”.

P.E.S.

Takeo Masaki taking a P.E.S. space suit from its locker in Moon, Call of Duty Black Ops Zombies

The P.E.S., Pressurized External Suit, is free in a locker of every airlock, and one waits right in front of the players when they first arrive on the Moon. Without it, a player in an airless area goes down after 15 seconds, 20 with Juggernog. The helmet muffles the sounds around the player and the characters’ voices. It also protects from the gas of the phasing zombies in the Laboratories.

The Hacker

The Hacker sits on a yellow card at one of six spots in the Laboratories. It takes the same slot as the P.E.S., so its holder has no suit, and normally only one player can carry it; picking up a P.E.S. sends it back to the Laboratories. After several rounds with it, its holder earns 500 points at the end of each round, rising by 500 a round up to 2500. Speed Cola makes hacking faster.

Target	Cost	Effect
Door	200	Opens it, but takes 32.7 seconds
Window	Free	Repairs it at once for 100 points; from the third window in a round, it costs 300
Player	500	Gives the points to that player, 1000 under Double Points
Mystery Box	600	Re-rolls it; hacking the new weapon turns it into a power-up and gives 950 back
Empty Box spot	1200	One roll of the Box at that spot
Wall weapon	3000	Swaps the prices of regular and Pack-a-Punched ammo
Perk already bought	Free	Takes the perk away and refunds its price
Power-up	5000	Max Ammo becomes a Fire Sale; the others become a Max Ammo
Pack-a-Punch	Free	Raises the gates of its cage for a while; 1000 points the first time
Excavator panel	Free	Stops the excavator; 1000 points each time

The red buttons and green levers of the Laboratories can be hacked too, for Richtofen’s Grand Scheme.

The excavators

A giant bucket-wheel excavator digging towards Griffin Station in Moon, Call of Duty Black Ops Zombies

Three giant bucket-wheel excavators dig around the station. Their three control panels stand in the Receiving Bay: Omicron’s on the left, Pi’s and Epsilon’s on the right, all close to the doors.

Pi

Breaches Tunnel 6 and blocks the door nearest the Power Room, and the M16 with it. The quest needs this breach: it drops the Vril Sphere.

Omicron

Breaches Tunnel 11 and blocks the second door from the Receiving Bay, and the PM63 with it.

Epsilon

Breaches the Bio-Dome, whose gravity lifts then stop causing fall damage.

An excavator is announced at the start of a round, then the players have four minutes, with repeated warnings, to hack its panel, which glows green. Too late, and its area loses air and gravity for the rest of the game. A wheel coming down kills a player without Juggernog outright, with no revive until the next round.

In the Black Ops version, nothing happens before the power: 20 seconds after it is turned on, the game has a 10% chance to start an excavator, then 10% between rounds, and one is certain within two rounds. After that, a new one comes every 3 to 8 rounds before round 10, every 2 to 8 after, never while another one is moving, and never in a round when the teleporter has been used.

First Room

In a First Room game the power switch stays out of reach, so the Receiving Bay never gets its air or its gravity back: the players keep the P.E.S. on and fight in low gravity for the whole game. The Hacker lies in the Laboratories, and the excavators only wake up after the power, so their three panels are never used.