New Player Guide: Finding Hunting Areas (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
S P O I L E R _ W A R N I N G
If a big part of the fun of a game like this is doing your own exploring, finding things on your own, do not read this guide! This guide is meant only for people who feel frustrated because they can't find the right places for their character to hunt in, to get good experience and loot.
- - - SPOILERS BEGIN HERE - - -
In the Beginning: A MC5 Area
When you create a new character, you will wake up in MC5. If you're pro-Neocron, you'll be told that you're an accident victim who's received experimental head surgery. If you're not, you'll be shoved out the door, and the cleaning crew outside (who are infiltrators) will recruit you for their side, telling you that MC5 is a mind control experiment that they've managed to sabotage, and that's why people with Law Enforcement chips still have most of their free will.
This area is still being fine tuned some (as of patch 130), but is intended to be the perfect place for you to start out your character. There are basically three kinds of hunting areas here so far, not counting the low level HackNet access (which doesn't work yet as of patch 130): the surface, Strange Cave at the north end of the sector, and the Energy Cores. Surface: The farther you go from the building, the higher level the mobs get. Until you get pretty far out and see deranged MC5 victims with submachineguns, nothing will attack you until you attack it, and ranged attacks are pretty rare. This is designed to be super-easy hunting. Strange Cave: This has some fairly difficult hunting in it, but it's not too bad, especially if you have help. Things in here will mostly attack you if you get close enough for them to notice you, and for some of them that's pretty far away. If you hack, there are two locked boxes that sometimes contain loot. Energy Cores: These buildings contain the level 9 Malfunctioning Sentrybots that you have to hunt to complete the mission given to you by the administrator or the cleaning crew supervisor. If you're careful, you never have to fight more than one of them at a time, and if you have even 2 points in energy resistance or in energy armor, they're actually pretty easy. Every time you loot a stack of 4 of the specific chip they send you after, take it back to the right NPC to get big cash.
When are you done? You're done whenever you get bored with being outdoors, since you can level up in either city (although if you're CityMerc, strongly consider staying longer). You're done when the level 12 mobs in the corners of the outdoor map no longer pose any challenge. You're done when you need tools or items that aren't sold in MC5. You're almost certainly done when either number of your rank hits 10.
Starting Out in Neocron City
If you skip out of MC5 as fast as possible, there is a set of "training wheels" hunting areas where you'll be pretty safe getting familiar with the user interface and your weapon: Sewer Level 1. Look for hatches on the ground in any of the Plaza or Via Rosso sectors. As long as you stay above the grate, nothing will attack you unless you attack it. Your best bet for "quickjob" missions is the Small Sewer Rat, a level 6 critter that's always available in level 1 sewers; if that's too tough, try Small Spiders. Once you get familiar with your weapons, really at all, the best lowest-level hunting in the City is in Pepper Park, in the Abandoned Basements. When that gets too easy, try either the level 2 sewers under the level 1 sewers, or the level 3 sewers in Pepper Park, or the lowest level Abandoned Cellars under the Plaza. When you get comfortable with that, graduate as quickly as possible to the best lower-mid level hunting in the City, the Abandoned Cellar near the HQ of Neocron Magazine in Plaza sector 2. There's almost always a group there, doing quickjob missions for the Aggressor Captains that reliably spawn 2 to a room. (If you need to fall back slightly, the abandoned cellar under the genreps in Plaza 3 spawns lower level beggars who are pretty easy to hunt.)
When you get too comfortable doing group Aggie Captain missions and want to explore solo, you have basically three options. You can go back to Pepper Park and hunt the level 3 to 5 sewers there, including the vast Main Sewer which is about the same level. You can take the subway to the Outzone and explore the abandoned parts of the city, which are roughly levels 1 to 5 in difficulty, with some level 6 and 7 storage areas through clearly marked hatches. Or you can head out into the Wastelands to hunt. In particular, the Cliff Line and Grassland sectors A06 to A11 and B06 to B10 are pretty safe if you're careful to avoid the larger Anarchy Breed or mutant encampments. One important warning, though: you are NOT ready for the mountainous sectors of C10 and C11, which are a death trap full of some of the deadliest mobs in the game, the Y Replicants. Anyway, when you've outgrown the Outzone, and/or the Pepper Park sewers, and/or the Grasslands, see Mid-Level Hunting, below.
Starting Out in the Dome of York
If you skip out of MC5 as fast as possible, there is a set of "training wheels" hunting areas where you'll be pretty safe getting familiar with the user interface and your weapon: Abandoned Sidestreet level 1. You can find one or two of these in every faction-HQ sector. Nothing in this hunting area will attack you until you attack it. If you're looking to do quickjobs, your most reliable bet is Poisonous Fierce Spiders, a level 5 critter that's very common there. Once you get comfortable with combat, graduate to the level 1 Storage, level 1 Sewer, or Water Cleaning areas that are in the same sectors, which are much more lucrative.
When you outgrow those areas, follow the signs to City Center. At ground level near the mall is Abandoned Sidestreet 4, the single most popular spot to level up in the Dome; you'll almost always be able to find a team there. (If you'd rather solo the same map, there are also level 4 sidestreets in sectors 4 and 10.) The same sectors also have level 4 versions of the storage areas, and a smallish level 4 tunnel complex called a level 4 Bunker.
When you outgrow this, your best bet is to see Mid-Level Hunting, below. If, however, you'd rather keep leveling up in the Dome, there are level 8 storage and bunker areas in sectors 5 and 9. The level 8 storage area in sector 5 is the one more likely to have a group in it; most people don't even know about the hunting areas in sector 9.
Starting Out in the Military Base
Don't. OK, if you're a CityMerc and you skipped MC5, now what do you do? Well, there are two level 1 storage areas, but 90% of one of them is locked where you can't hunt there without a hacker to open doors for you. Neither of them is a "training wheels" area, everything in there will attack you on sight. Hunting areas in the base go up to its level 3, which is a bit tougher than a level 3 elsewhere, closer to level 4 or 5. There aren't very many of them. By choosing to do your leveling up as a CityMerc, you're basically volunteering for the difficult job of going almost straight from MC5 to Mid-Level Hunting.
In the Wastelands: Mid-Level Hunting
If you're a new and low-level character in the Wastelands, here are some essential travel tips that will make it safe for you to travel the several miles it takes to go between cities in almost perfect safety. First, if you're not sure if you can outrun everything where you're at, stick to the edge of the zone. That way if you see something you need to avoid, a quick run to the edge of the zone will put you in the next zone over. Almost everything in the game needs to see you for at least 3 seconds to even notice you're there, so most things are pretty easy to detour around. Activate the genrep in every sector you pass through; if the security code (on the world map) is set to GRA (genrep open to all) or it's controlled by your side and set to GRFR (genrep open to all friends), you can use it if you get killed or to teleport cheaply from your apartment.
As soon as you can stand to do so, travel north by northwest from Neocron City, southwest from the Dome of York, or southeast from the Military Base to Tech Haven. When you get there, follow the signs that say Genetic Replication (or use your NavRay, F9, to find a Genetic Replicator) in sector 2, and activate one of those two genreps. This particular (boring looking) safe zone is the most reliable place to find people to make blueprints for you, construct weapons, research your rare parts, or poke your cybernetic implants back into you.
In the Grasslands sectors, as mentioned above, the main risks to give a wide berth are the Anarchy Breed camps (unless you're TS or BD), which are crowded with level 60 enemies, and the various StormBots around communications antennae (if you're anti-Neocron). In the Mountain sectors, the main risk to avoid are flying robots overhead called HoverBots (and variations thereon); go around them. (And in fact, unless you're high level enough to hunt those bots, the hunting sucks in the Mountains.) In the Steppe and Wasteland sectors, the main risk is from Warbots, and the Steppes also have some fairly high level fire-breating lizards and bulls to go around. The Desert sectors' main risk is from Dome of York security robots (if you're pro-Neocron), which can be tough to avoid because there are so many of them. In the lower mid levels, avoid the Canyon sectors altogether.
There are basically three perfect areas for lower-mid-level hunting. The most popular is what most players just call "the bunker." There are bunkers everywhere, but "the bunker" is the one in sector J01, just north of the Military Base, because it spawns a steady stream of level 50 Launcher Cyclopses. There is nearly always a team, sometimes two teams, hunting there. If you'd rather solo, and have even a few points in poison resistance, the Swamps of sectors I02 to I04 and H03 to H05 are absolutely full of amazingly easy things to hunt from level 35 to 60. At El Farid Village in sector I10 there's an underground city infested with level 50+ scorpions that throw flaming darts; wear fire armor and bring area effect weapons, but there's almost always a group there you can join.
From there, graduate to one of the following areas. If you have at least 50 (and preferably closer to 80) levels in Hacking and a long range weapon, you can hunt level 80 and 85 Warbots in the Wastelands from about J01 to J06. There are level 60 to 75 "mauler" fire-breating bipeds and lower level cyborg mutant psi monks in the desert sector around "the graves," marked on your map as Ancient Yucida Village in sector I13; if you're pro-City, beware the DoY bots that are everywhere. Warbots spawn pretty reliably in the Steppes from about I09 to G10; those sectors also contain giant fire-breating lizards and bulls (that don't have to be hacked to loot them) level 40 to 100, not a problem for small groups, especially with longer-range weapons and/or a PPU. Your other basic bet is the Canyon sectors, roughly H10 to H16 and G10 to E13. However, bring a PPU, and wear the best fire-resistance armor you can, because the fire-throwing creatures here range all the way up to level 120, and those mobs spawn whole swarms of level 60 to 80 assistants. If you'd rather avoid the highest level ones, stick to the northern Canyon sectors, from up around Syncon labs down to Tezla factory. (Additional warning: Old Canyon, accessable from E13, is a death trap of hundreds of level 50 to 100 fire-throwing creatures in a small space; bring a maxed PPU. Unfortunately, this is also where the only high-tech pistol smuggler in the game is, too.) In particular, if you have access to Cycrow sector, sector F12, the most popular upper-mid-level hunting area in the game is Outdoor Cave 3 next to Canyon Reloading Point (CRP on your map), also known as one of the "chaos caves," which is a fairly easy to hunt and very predictable source of level 50 to 90 creatures.
Highest Level Hunting
If you've got an anti-aircraft rocket launcher, you can try hunting hoverbots in the mountains, but they take a fairly high level hacker to open and even with one they are a pain in the neck to loot, because once they crash they're almost never "really" (according to the server) where they look like they are (according to your client). There are level 60 to 90 Ceres War mutants with rocket launchers in the basement under Point Red; they sometimes drop a very valuable rocket launcher. If you can take a lot of poison hits and have an area effect weapon (or are an upper-mid-level droner), you can hunt level 90 to 110 giant poison snakes in "the graves" under Ancient Yucida Village in sector K13. More dangerous and not terribly lucrative but very challenging, you can hunt Y Replicants in sectors C10 and C11. If you're pro-City, you can bring a group and farm high level Dome of York security bots in the Desert; if you're anti-City, you can bring a high level PPU and hunt StormBots in the Grassland and Cliff Line sectors. The Worm Tunnels scattered around the desert spawn high level soul clusters and are pretty challenging. The Swamp Caves scattered around the Swamp sectors require a lot of poison resistance, but are good upper-mid to high level hunting and a source of some very valuable drugs. But hands down, the three most lucrative and challenging hunting areas are the Juggernaut Facility, the Dome of York Tunnels and ... MC5 again.
The Juggernaut Facility under sector I09 is basically the same map as Point Red and the level 6-7 Storage Areas in the Outzone; it's full of level 80 to 120 Warbots. If you stop by the Twister Club in the same sector you can get a mission into there that rewards you with the "crossbow" high tech pistol that is a remarkably good weapon. The Dome of York Tunnels are a maze of increasingly difficult "sewer-type" narrow corridor maps full of high level robots that do mostly radiation damage; they will attack everybody, including people from the Dome of York. These are the only source of some very expensive loot, including the famous "ultima" weapon modification parts that add to your weapon's stats across the board. And if you re-enter MC5 in sector H14 from the outside, you can fight the level 120 guards and base commander; if you win, which pretty much takes a good sized team with multiple PPU monks unless you're VERY good, you occasionally get as loot rare parts to the famously expensive "MC5 chips," the rarest and best brain implants in the game.
