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  1. #1

    Default Advice on solo sniper Warbot hunter build

    So trying to make a spy sniper to solo hunt warbots/howerbots. So far taking down howerbots is not a problem, often can snipe them from huge distance, kite, shoot from cover without much risk as their damage does not kill you in one second and you can hide between shots/heal if needed. This is from standpoint of new midrange character trying things out yet to figure out the effectivity.

    Warbots on other hand.. with rare exception from shoting them from top of tower and getting lucky not getting one shot, all attemptes ended up with me being dead.
    - their range seems insane, so sniper range does not seem to give that big advantage, especially as it is hard to gauge their effective range and kite them
    - their damage is huge, with most cases me ending being oneshot


    So any tips how to build spy character to hunt them, or how to hunt them without getting shot in responce? I read on TH thier damage is Energy/Xray/Force.
    -How relevant is each type, do i need Force ressists or just Xray/Energy?
    -Should i just wear crahn armor for additional energy ressists?
    -Do i NEED to use ressist drugs?
    -How much Bodyhealth is advisable to not get oneshot by them.


    In addition:
    -How much hacking is needed for unlocking them without struggle. How much for Howerbots, how much for Warbots.

    Question about pve:
    -Is hunting DoY bots, mad copbots, etc. worth it or only warbots drop rareparts?
    -Do i need fire ressists to hunt firemobs as sniper, or is their range less than WBs so possible to kite them?
    -Is it worth putting points into Driving skill to get Glider, as to be able to access high sniping positions on map inaccssisable by foot?
    -Is there a way to increase range of render of mobs in config file? (as far i checked not, as client resets it to default values)


    Question about damage mechanics:
    - Is this data still relevant?
    Hightech Rifle Combat
    Damage (100): Base 10 %, R-C 70 %, WEP 20 %
    Aim Speed (110): Base 30 %, R-C 40 %, T-C 20 %, WEP 20 %
    Aim Precision (110): Base 30 %, R-C 40 %, T-C 20 %, WEP 20 %
    Frequency (100): Base 20 %, R-C 30 %, T-C 30 %, WEP 20 %
    Range (100): Base 20 %, R-C 20 %, T-C 30 %, WEP 30 %
    Handling (110): Base 20 %, R-C 30 %, T-C 20 %, WEP 20 %, AGL 20 %

    In that case, how much weaponlore/TC is advised for sniper?

    Thanks in advance. If you have any tips how to effectively play PvE sniper, feel free to share them.

  2. #2
    Xpertz William Antrim's Avatar
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    I will try to respond to some of your questions but have to caveat that my knowledge is probably old and out of date. There was a recent patch which reduced mob health significantly but the problem with PVE in general is we dont actually know any numbers. The best real advice I can give you is test it for yourself and see what feels right.

    I realise this not the answer you wanted so I will give you a bit of insight into why I say it. The whole thing depends on what you want to do with the char other than farm warbots. If you want to pvp then you need to spec resists. If you have an LE in and want to build a dedicated farmer then thats easy.

    All you need is a pulse laser rifle/laser rifle (insert preference) and a heavy energy protection belt - TH vendor last time I played.

    Hacking - 50+ provided you have loot rights you should get favourable results in the hacking game. I have heard people do it with less than 50 hack (as low as 40) but truthfully as a spy you have tonnes of int, so why would you make life harder on yourself.

    In terms of range, if they can see you they can shoot you. It seems this way with all mobs. Kiting can be fun but if you back into another group as a spy its going to be difficult to survive. You need to be more sneaky.

    Terrain/geography - there arent too many "sniping" spots in NC unfortunately and you will need to go down and hack the corpses anyway so anywhere you go up high is going to be tough to get back to without your glider and if youre killing multiple bots at once you need to be straight in there to hack them asap after.

    Resists = more energy is better. The force damage comes from the rockets (like the launcher cyclops fires) and if you can avoid these you dont need to worry too much about force resist. If the odd one catches you then make sure you can heal through it but understand this will limit the amount of transport you have.

    Everything in this game is built around ratios. The higher tech combat and weapon lore you have the more damage you will do which will mean theoretically the less health you need to survive the hits they dish out to you. The more damage you can put out in a short space of time the better, with the new mob health changes this will become even more apparent. Your survivability has already gone up just because their health went down.

    All of the above is based on "old" experience of playing the game. Some may not be completely relevant today.

    As for hoverbots - historically over 80-90 hack was recommended but nobody hunted them because their hit box could/would get stuck on trees and it became a pain in the rear to hack them. You got the same drop rate as warbots for the most part and so because they were easier to hunt the vast majority of players used to go for warbots instead. Occasionally you would see people have a go with the hovers for variety, not sure if thats still the case. It is different now that there are hoverbot trophies etc to collect but again due to current PVE being more difficult than historically I do not know relevant this information is.

    Crahn armour is recommended for the energy resist, although it is only a small amount - compare it to Kevlar 3/battle vest 3 and see if the energy you gain is worth the force you lost from the other, or wear a mix obviously.

    Resist drugs - i dislike drug flash, especially as you know murphys law says you will run into someone aggressive the minute you get a DF.

    Fire mobs - fire rapes spies. There is no way around it. Years ago I experimented with using as many strength imps as I could to get up to INQ 1 levels of fire resist (45-49 str) as a spy to try to cap out my first char. However I found that all I was doing was turning it into a PE who had no psi. I quickly gave up.

    In modern times I honestly have no idea how spies will match up to grim chasers, i suspect badly considering many tank players have trouble with them but again I would say perfect your strategy with warbotting and go from there. Mob AI is much the same, its just the damage they hit you with that will make things end faster.

    Unfortunately PVE is difficult to balance and a very different beast from pvp. If you make it too easy for spies then tanks will have a field day and if you make it difficult for tanks then spies will be non-existant. It is due to mob AI/damage/resists etc. I know work is ongoing to even out this issue but I think it depends on the individual and what they want out of it to honestly give an accurate conclusion.

    In short: If you want to play a spy stoically then hunt the warbots for techs, but if you want a tech farmer char then choose the spy last.
    "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"

  3. #3

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    Why Laser/Pulselaser over Sniper/Fusion rifles?

    This char is specifically for pve warbot farming and i dont intend to use it in pvp, as i just respeced by other pistol spy char to constructor, intend to leave this for rare parts farm and then make a new char to level for pvp.

    So basically just need to boost my energy ressits high enough to not get oneshotted between shots. (this is the main issue for me really, as in scope mode cant see HP and spoing in/out takes too long)

    Are nanites worth it for additional Energy resists?

  4. #4

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    Tryed testing some weapons ingame, no rares.

    The only "sniper" weapon seems to be sniper rifle, as scope/precision on distance on others is abysmall.
    Plasma rifle seems best dps for close quarter combat, sniper rifle best for sniper from 1km away. Did not quite got the point of Fusion/Raygun. Fusion seemed interesting with concept with damage increasing with range, and it work, "kinda. But still feels inferior to sniper because less distance/accuracy and doing headshots with sniper is just more comfortable than landing multiple shots with Fusio, plus as said - greater range. Raygun seems to be close quarters weapon, but still less effective than plasma.

  5. #5
    Xpertz William Antrim's Avatar
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    You hit the nail on the head.

    The scope is bad for me, due to lack of HUD.

    Raygun rifles - think high tech shotgun. Its close range (similar to the plasma rifle). Not ideal for the spy due to his lack of resists.

    Fusion rifles - honestly I rarely ever used them as the redeemer was crap way back. I heard theyre ok but as you rightly said, youre not a fan.

    Headshots should be easy on warbots anyway as its a big silver can!

    I always religiously stick to the pulse laser and laser rifle as theyre lasers. Simple to use, ammo costs nothing, low tech level to recycle. Light weight. Accurate. The benefits go on. It is just a reliable solid weapon line.

    With regards to resists - If youre just warbot farming are you LE'd? If you are then yes just use all energy armour as youre never going to lose it. Dump all of your spare con points into it and have a ball. On the subject of nannites - yes they give additional resists but I found them to be a cost I didnt want to incur. I couldnt recycle them (this may have changed) and I couldnt carry a lot of them either. I didnt want to be endlessly rebuffing them when i could be fighting more warbots and I was ultimately careful without them.

    All of that said I did most of my warbot farming pre-nc2 and the nannite addition so I already developed my strategy without them. This may well influence my dislike but i found them generally a bit "clunky" and annoying. Many years ago spies used to be able (with some drugging) use the shelter spell. Its not in game any more as its been split into absorber and protector but if you have spare brain slots you might want to consider the low level psi chips to see if they can elevate you up to a higher level of crahn armour possibly? I have no idea if this is even worth it, its just a thought that kind of popped in my head as I write this.
    "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"

  6. #6

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    Thank you for the responce, it is helpful. It is a lot of fun to play with Neocron builds and stuff.

    Tryed to compile stats in basic sense, but in reality turned out that still need to test every weapon separately to see how they work, real rate of fire etc. Mostly need to update proper rates of fire for multishot weapons and add skill influence formulas. Nskill is nice, but it gives % not actual damage/dps numbers
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...A4Q/edit#gid=0

    I.e. plasma rifle doing not 1 shot, but 4x per shot. Gatling doing 5 etc with other weapons screwing all calculations. Plus weapons tend to "miss". In the end seems, will just have to make chars able equipping all basic weapons, skill requirements/influence, test actual rate of fire.

    Given current low pop, PvP is not really a goal, so mainly having fun testing and figuring stuff out.

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