Old droner returning to NC, got some questions.

[wavesonics]

Well I'm back and it has been a long time I see now, forgotten a lot and a lot has changed... A LOT. Like the city getting BITCHED on pluto! Any way heres my questions.

1. To Pluto players: I am NExT (fac symp 55) and am looking for a clan (I'm in 1 but its a 3 man clan :( ) I tried to get a hold of the Majestic 12 guys but no 1 is getting back to me. Besides them NExT doesnt seem to have ANY good clans! NExT seems all be dead... and I hear its a reall bitch to switch facs now. So any NExT Clans out there willing to take me? Rank 47 Researcher / Hacker / Droner

2. What is Neocron Launcher Pro? Why should I use it or not use it and where can I get it?

3. How can I get on the test server!

4. To Droners: Did KK really improve droning enough that I should stick w\ it? I'm kinda sick of my drones sucking so much. I just got to the Dex 90 drones and they suck worse then the dex 85 drones i was using b4 i quite! They only do a few more points of damage (some times) and they don't hit NEARLY as often! THEY SUCK! So heres my questions: Is it me or the drones? Maybe I should be using different drones for different things? Could you tell me what for what? Which do you use and when? Also does Remote Control affect the damage delt by a drone? I know will power is distance but what level should I pump it too? I think its something like 90 w\ imps right now. The reason I ask is I need to start putting some in research again. I can only ress rares w\ all my imps in for ressing and a psi boost and i still fail A LOT then.

5. Lastly is there any thing you can think of thats new or has changed I should know about?

Anyway I'm really bored so if ur on plluto and feel like doing something besides sitting out side the MB and killing the same damn thing OVER AND OVER, email me in game or something...

Damn wouldn't it be cool if u could check your ingame mail from a web site or something? And maybe even send in game mail from out of game web sites? shit that would rock... any way... srry for making this so unnessisarily long.

[Agent L]

- Only good drones are PB-20 and rares (rare can be bped and csted, but then normal quality cap apply, while built from rareparts will have all above 100%)

- "Researcher / Hacker / Droner"
That won't lead you anywhere, you need all WPW and especially all RCL you can get. You can leave HCK, coz RCL helps HCK a bit but get rid of RES.
There are many nice implants for droners now, and all shop-bought.

Read test server forum for detailed instructions how to get on TS.

[wavesonics]

Uh 1 other thing, I'd, love to actualy go deep into the wastes, I've done it a few times but my droner was also so weak it didn't end well... I can drive any vehicle and have a Tank, APC, and Hover Bike. So if any one wants to go do something other then hit the normal same old hunting spots I'm game. I'm so damn bored w\ the freaking MB hunting... I want to get out there and do something cool w\ a group of people!!! (SYN/ACK 47 Droner/Hacker/Researcher - Pluto)

[wavesonics]

Ya, I was getting bored of ressing any way... Guese I should LOM it all... Didn't see that forum must have just been temp blind... or stupid... thx though.

[wavesonics]

one mroe thing, I keep hearing something about MC5 I thought this was teh zone you started in w\ a new char now but some peoplea re talking about rare drones from MC5s, what are they talking about? Also what rares do I need for a rare drone and what and where should I hunt to get them?

[Agent L]

Try poison mobs, thay can't hurt drone much (but meatsack will die *very* fast).
Graves are excelent for droners if you manage to reach safespot behind pillars. Drone teamexp fix allow you to team up now, so Chaos Caves are nice option for TG nonhostiles.
If you're sick of MB try outzone storage, hurlers and cyclops there too :D

[wavesonics]

hey are u on pluto? want to hunt some time? Also what Drone Should I use at this level? The rocket drone (MR-1000 i think its call, advanced support drone any way dex85) PB-1, FC-1000

[wavesonics]

o 1 MORE thing, (sorry) I have all my spi points to use (31 or something) what should I get? are there any psi things worth it for a droner / hacker? (dropping res). Also I quit right b4 the epic runs started, 1 where do i get them, are they worth it/fun? and 2 how do I get the spy PA it looking fucking BAD ASS (whats the str req for it? im really really weak.)

[Strych9]

Since you are levelling, your main drone will NOT be a PB20- instead, you should focus on getting the RG1000 at Dex 95 (and the FC1000 which you get sometime before it). Those are the RGC/Fusion drones, and they do great AOE damage which rocks for the El Farid pits or snake graves. Was your Dex up to 90 with imps? If so, then you can still get great exp out at El Farid, and there is a genrep 20ft from the dungeon entrance, and the genrep is always open. If your Dex is Natural 90, then you will definitely want the graves, as the pits wont do too much for ya.

But I suspect you meant 90 with imps, so El Farid is the spot. Wear the med fire belt, and take a fire resist potion with you. Add that to basic resist 1 and deflector... start a heal and run inside to the pits.

Only problem with droning in the good areas to drone is that all it takes is one monk to spend 3 minutes killing every mob in the place (which you could have spent hours levelling off of yourself). Hehe. But dems da breaks.

[wavesonics]

damn thank you so much, um 1 thing though, where are these places? Gid plz?

[Drexel]

You want / need 100 natural in both Remote Control & Willpower.

Then the best Imps money can buy, forget MC5, no drones come for there, there is a rare droners brain chip you can get from there, but that wont be for a LONG time.

& yer, level in poison caves, but feel free to jump on your hovertech & experement, fire mobs in the Eastern Canyons can be a blast & they drop rares without needing to hack them.

Drones are definatly worth it, just get your numbers higher, & lose the research & welcome back. :D

[Cyphor]

graves is the best place for a droner its one sector east of tescom, if you head due east from tescom gr you should find a building with a ent in it, put up heal sanct and heal and run straight down the first corridor and jump behind the pillars as quick as poss and take some anti-dote incase get too many poison stacks, then just keep droning till all your drones are wrecked :)

Depending on the funds / support you have available it might be costly to get a big batch of drones built, but it can be worth it in the long run, take as many as you can, so you have less down time if they wreck/get destroyed when the snakes bite.

edit: take fc1000 or rg1000 drones at your lvl, and the best thing about the graves is drones have an amazing resistance to poison.

[wavesonics]

rg1000 waht dex is that? i have 91 i believe (w\ imps)

[Strych9]

rg1000 is 95 Dex.

Oh and in graves, dont go to the location that Cyphor named. Instead, do I what I said to do for El Farid but with poison (med poison belt, poison resist potion, buff, and run) and once you go in, run to the first intersection, go left... take the next right, and you will find yourself in another room of columns. Put your body behind one and drone.

Difference between that room and the one Cyphor named, is THAT room allows your drones (with high enough stats) to fly to the room the Viper King is located in. :) The VK room is in the same direction you were going- just follow the path (with your drone, not your body).

And as far as rares, the VK DOES drop rares- just maybe... 1 in every 3 VK kills I have found. Otherwise it usually drops Viper King armor (1 or 2 suits, and that is even if it drops rare parts).

Also- in El Farid and Graves- the mobs do NOT respawn. Once you kill off enough, you need to zone out and back in to reset them OR just log out, wait, and log back in. But in both places as long as there is someone in the level, the mobs wont respawn. So dont go AFK in there. ;)

[Cyphor]

Originally posted by Strych9
Oh and in graves, dont go to the location that Cyphor named. Instead, do I what I said to do for El Farid but with poison (med poison belt, poison resist potion, buff, and run) and once you go in, run to the first intersection, go left... take the next right, and you will find yourself in another room of columns. Put your body behind one and drone.

only prob with that is that corridor can have alot of snakes which could be deadly at lower lvls, norm when i was lower lvl i would start in the first room and clear my way to a position closer to the vk, guarentees no mistakes ;)

Oh and once your in the graves just relog to save yourself running out all the time...and pray no monks come to get exp, as they'll kill everything in the time it takes for you to get your drone to the snakes :p
And the only reason i would advise against elfarid is a) the majority of the mobs are lower lvl than the graves and b) drones have a very weak fire resist in comparison to poison. But its up to yourself, the game is about enjoyment so you should try it all out for yourself and see what you enjoy the most, hell droners get good team exp now so the chaos caves can be good, and if you want a challenge the crystal caves are still mainly poison mobs (just tiny and hard to hit). Dont think a droner would survive in the worm caves with the boss though as once you've swam through the watter you would be dead before you can launch a drone :( The swamp caves can also be good for a droner as pure poison, however less groups of mobs so you dont benefit from aew in there.

Experiment with the lvling areas and see what suits you best, theres alot of good places out there.

Edit: oh and it can also be beneficial for a droner to drug for the next drone up as you'll get better exp and you dont get drug flash when in droning mode so theres no real downside. The rg1000 is a tl95 raygun drone wit a larger area of effect than the fc1000 but slightly less dmg, its good when you have a large collection of enemies to make sure your hitting them all at the same time, thus gaining the exp alot faster than if you kill them one at a time.

[Strych9]

To add to what Cyphor said-

1. Yeah, that route is more dangerous. Just take the poison resist potion, get buffed (self cast basic resist 1 or a better foreign cast), cast deflector, and then start a heal going. As soon as the heal starts, take off and run. Now, my heal is a 4 slotted heal and is at 500 something %. My agility and athletics are also both VERY high (as a pure droner, no worries about resists and such) so I can run through all of the snakes before my heal wears off. You could also take an antidote down there.

I would say its worth the extra effort and risk, because the throne room is where the action is.

But yes, you could always clear it out as you go- no need to run to the good spot right away. :) I just prefer to go straight for the viper king- the quicker I pound on him, the lest time for a monk to come in and barrell everything to death.

2. El Farid- the lowest level mobs there are 50/50 * scorpions. Basically same exp as launchers. It is worth levelling at El Farid as long as you are getting full experience off the mobs. You should get 1015 credits from the 50/50 mobs if you do 100% of the damage. As soon as that number starts dipping, its time to leave El Farid. but until it dips, El Farid is real nice cause

A. Gogo right by dungeon entrance
B. Genrep right by dungeon entrance

And those two things are huge.

Also, regarding the fire hurting drones more- yeah, you will losemore drones in El Farid than the graves, but as long as you use AOE drones, you can keep them out of harms way pretty well by never directly attacking a mob, and only using the AOE damage. I have had time before at El Farid when I had 6 90/90 scorpions in a pit all spawning several 50/50 scorpions at once. Thats some sweet experience any way you slice it. At least until your combat rank gets too high.

3. Worm Tunnels- not all of them have a lake you must swim across- the ones at Yutano Mine dont. For those, I found that the single fire rocket drone (sorry forget the name) works great because the rockets are homing, and the worm tunnel mobs move around pretty quick. Their attacks also dont hurt drones much. I was able to clear out the Yutano worm tunnels in about 30 minutes. Launch drone, kill mobs, slowly move body forward and explore cave. Mobs are decent level (lowest is 70/70 that I saw). But the tunnels with the lake would be a lot trickier.

4. Drugs- yeah, you can have awful drug flash and launch a drone and its crystal clear. Thats why when first attempting the graves run, I would use redlfash as well: +5 Dex and it increased your speed drastically. Helpful for the run from Tescom or Escador TO the graves, and then the run inside the graves to the column room.

[-=z=-]

Graves is a good place to level a droner, but being a Pro-city faction you will have to avoid the DoY bots. Best advice I can give you is to take a hoverbike, keep moving, and scan the horizon. My spy can't handle two burst from one without a free genrep trip.