Neocron:
A Complete Guide
for Beginners
Preface
This guide is intended for new players and will not cover advanced topics in great detail. It will however clarify some of the most confusing aspects of the game. This is loosely based on a player guide I wrote in 2008. I decided to overhaul it since there has been a recent surge in new players. The guide will assume you are familiar with the basic concepts and terminology used in FPSs and MMOs. If you are already familiar with most of the game you may wish to just read the FAQ section at the end.
Introduction
Character Creation
The most important choice you make here is your character class. There are four available in Neocron. A summary of each is provided below. NOTE: Your choice of profession has minimal bearing on the progression of your character. In fact, the only significant effect is the Jone's mission that will be made available to you. Due to this, many players simply choose whichever mission gives the best reward. A popular choice is the 'Driver' profession as the reward from the starter mission is a very useful quad.
GenTank (Tank)
The GenTank is the archetypal tank class. They are both tough and capable of dealing significant damage. Their weakness is that they cannot develop high level skills in anything related to intelligence or psionic ability. This class is intended to be primarily combat oriented although tanks can develop low level skills in utilities such as recycling, driving etc. Their primary combat skills are either HC (heavy combat) or Melee. Many people chose this class as their first character and it is indeed a good way to learn the game.
Spy
The spy is much weaker than the GenTank but has the advantage of high intelligence and dexterity. This gives a spy the choice of specialising in many different areas. Tradeskilling is mainly carried out by spies and only spies can use the really high end rare pistols and rifles.
Psionicist
These are the mages of Neocron. They can either be APUs (damage dealers) or PPUs (healers). It is worth noting however that leveling up as a PPU is extremely slow/difficult. It is recommended to always level up as an APU and then if required LoM to PPU (more on this later).
Private Eye (PE)
PEs are the Jack of all trades type characters. Although not as strong in any particular area as the three pure classes, they do have a lot of flexibility in their setups and can make very good PvPers. They also are the quickest to reach cap since their attribute distribution isn't as skewed into one area as the other classes (the total XP required to reach cap is lower).
Please see http://www.techhaven.org/resources/n...r-classes.html for more detailed information on each class's maximum attributes.
Early Game
All runners (players) in Neocron will initially find themselves in the MC5 processing unit. This is intended as a starter area although it is recommended by most players to skip this area entirely and proceed directly to Neocron City proper. Outside of the MC5 building will be your first encounter with a GenRep. Use this to 'teleport' to your primary appartment. Once at your appartment I suggest you speak to 'Mr Jones'. He will provide a series of simple missions designed to ease you into the game and also provides a reward on completion that is unique to your profession.
HEALTH WARNING: You may find yourself using the NavRay to locate quest locations or vendors. Although it often functions flawlessly there are limitations. There are several known bugs in the NavRay which may lead you to the wrong location. If you find yourself in this situation check what sector you need to go to or ask for directions on the help channel.
Attributes & Skills
In Neocron there are attributes like Strength & Intelligence and then there are skills such as Construction or Agility. Attribute levels indicate your overall level in this area. Each time you increase an attribute's level you will gain 5 skill points to spend as you wish. Be warned however that the only way to return spent skill points is to use LoM pills which refund the skill points but also deduct a portion of XP. Do this too often and you may find yourself losing levels.
It is worth remembering that although you can use any item as long as you meet the requirements, the damage, frequency etc. achieved will be higher the more points you have in the relevant skills. Hence it is a good idea to 'overspec' points into areas such as pistol combat or melee. Most high level characters have many more points in their combat skill than is strictly required.
Notable Skills
There are some skills in Neocron whose purpose is immediately obvious. It is clear that the 'Health' skill increases the size of your health pool. On the other hand there are many skills whose purpose is more opaque to the beginner as they often aren't referenced in any item's requirements.
Barter
This skill gives a reduction in the prices offered by vendors in the game. It is somewhat useful if you spend a lot of money on raw materials (some tradeskillers have another character who specialises in barter) but for the majority of players the skill is not worth the wasted intelligence points.
Weapon Lore
This skill is essential for weapon users. It has a beneficial effect on most weapon factors and in particular helps aiming (it increases the speed at which the reticule locks on to targets).
Transport
This simply increases the amount of stuff you can hold in your inventory before your movement becomes encumbered. It is worth noting that inventory capacity is determined by weight not quantity (A HC cannon weighs more than 10 blueprints for example).
Athletics & Agility
These two skills are often overlooked by new players. Your runspeed is determined by these two factors. Although they aren't necessary for PvE, the base runspeed is horribly slow, so it is worth spending some points in these areas. It is, however, crucial in PvP and much thought will be given to the tradeoff between speed and damage/resistance when allocating points here. A competitive PvP setup may have 100 or more points in agility (before drugs).
Hacking
I refer you to this guide http://www.techhaven.org/resources/n...ing-guide.html
Resists
One, quite complicated, aspect of the game is the resistance system. There are types six of damage; Pierce, Force, Fire, Energy, X-Ray and Poison. The percentage reduction in damage you receive from these damage types depends on how many skill points you have in these areas and the armour points provided by armour & belts.
In the beginning you may wish to avoid speccing points in these areas, but it becomes increasingly important as the game goes on and is absolutely vital in PvP. If you know you will be fighting a certain mob for a prolonged period, it may be a good idea to find out what damage types they do and then spec points/armour accordingly.
Runner Level
On your skills page you will find a number xx/yy. The first number 'xx' indicates your combat level. This is calculated from your equipment primarily. The second number 'yy' is your overall level. It is the total of all your attributes divided by 5. Each class has 300 attribute points total and thus the level cap is 60 (before implants/drugs/armour).
It is worth noting that when in a team, you will only share XP if you are within 10 combat levels of the other members.
Implants, Armour and Drugs
Implants
On the implants page you will notice there are a multitude of available slots for various implants. Broadly speaking these are either brain implants, bone implants, eye implants, heart implants, spine implants or gloves. Implants provide various bonuses in attributes and subskills. Be warned though that often implants will detract points from other areas. In general if an implant improves e.g. Pistol Combat, it will also have the effect of reducing e.g. Rifle Combat. This is part of the reason why 'hybrid' setups are so unfeasible.
LE Chip
The LE chip is simply a PvP disabler. It is installed by default in all new characters and is usually kept in until high level. In the past runners could gain XP faster if they took their LE out. Although I preferred this game mechanic, it did mean new players would often suffer greatly at the hands of griefers who took it upon themselves to seek out 'noobies' for easy kills.
The only current benefit to removing the LE chip (other than to engage in PvP) is to free up the implant slot.
Armour
There is a screen dedicated to armour that is similar in function to the skills page. Here you can place armour in the slots as long as you meet the requirements.
Power Armour
In general armour does not alter your appearance (with the exception of Holovests), however, a high level category of armour called PAs does do this. These items are generally very expensive but increase skills & attributes as well as providing armour resists. There is a wide variety of them and they are usually restricted by class.
Drugs
Drugs are single use items that improve one or many skills & attributes. Their effects in general last for between 180 and 300 seconds. They are rarely necessary for PvE (with the exception perhaps of resist drugs) but they see widespread use in PvP. Particularly popular are drugs such as Redflash which temporarily increase agility and thus runspeed.
Most drugs can be purchased at a Medcare although high end drugs may need to be purchased at the Black Dragon FSM.
Tradeskills & Items
Research
Researchers generate blueprints of items. Blueprints are the foremost requirement when you wish to have an item constructed. To make a blueprint you require the item you wish to make a blueprint of, an empty datacube, a research tool, some research substance in your inventory and finally research skill at least as high as the tech level of the item. Upon completion of research you will obtain a datacube with a list of ingredients to make the item.
NOTE: Research skill = TL is the MINIMUM requirement. Research can fail and sometimes critically fail whereupon the item being researched is destroyed. It is thus important to have much more research skill than the TL of the item to ensure success. A good rule of thumb is 2x the TL.
NOTE: Datacubes can be copied. It is therefore a good idea to keep a copy of an items BP so that you can make copies of it in the future without requiring the item.
NOTE: Datacubes are destroyed upon constructing an item. Therefore you need one blueprint for every copy of the item you wish to make.
Construction
Construction is similar to research in that you may need many more skill points than the TL of the item to ensure success. Unlike researching, construction is not a simple binary success/failure procedure.
You may have noticed that items have various associated numeric qualities. They are as follows:
Condition
This is simply how near the item is to breaking in the form of a xx/yy number. The 'xx' indicates current condition. The 'yy' indicates max condition. Upon 'xx' reaching zero the item becomes 'wrecked' and cannot be used. It can be repaired, although every repair reduces the maximum condition 'yy'. There is, therefore, a maximum number of times you can repair an item before it is totally destroyed.
Handling
This determines how rapidly the crosshair locks onto the target
Damage
Does what it says on the tin.
Frequency
Determines the rate at which the weapon fires.
Range
Determines the maximum range at which the crosshair will still attempt to focus.
NOTE: For ordinary weapons, the stats on shop bought items will be roughly between 40-80% depending on the vendor. Player made items will reach 99% every time with sufficient construction skill. The exception to this is rare weapons. They can reach 120% although this is rarely guaranteed.
The required items to construct somthing are a blueprint of the item, a construction tool, the parts (listed in the BP) and some construction lube in your inventory.
Slots
There is a chance upon building a weapon to obtain empty slots. These slots can be filled with ammo mods and other mods such as laser pointers and silencers.
The maximum number of slots is 5. Getting 5 slots is very rare and as such, 5 slot weapons are much sought after.
Rares
These items are constructed like normal weapons however they don't require a blueprint and instead required 5 to 6 rareparts. These parts are dropped in an unknown form from high level mobs and their form (ie.g. Hull of Cursed Soul or Frame of Particle Nemesis) is determined upon research. These are the most commonly seen weapons used in PvP. As mentioned above, their stats can reach 120%. This is part of the reason why they are so powerful.
NOTE: You can tell that a player has a rare weapon equipped by the 'swirly' seen at the end of the weapons barrel. This is a coloured, rotating particle effect.
NOTE: Rare weapons will have the name of the player who constructed them tagged on the end of the item title.
Please see this guide for more detailed information on tradeskilling http://wiki.techhaven.org/Construction
Neocron: A Complete Guide for Beginners
Originally Posted by Deno
I'm stuck! How can I fix this!?
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"
[Terra] Jake Armitage / Scott Grathius
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