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Player vs Player
The Basics
Player vs Player combat is what, to many people, the endgame of Neocron is all about. The four classes can each be potentially devastating if used correctly, awful if used incorrectly. PvP is not possible with a Law Enforcer installed.
You see somebody, you shoot them. They shoot you back. Repeat until one of you dies, or runs away (see zone whoring or stealth whoring). Expect shit-talk - even if you don't indulge yourself, you need a thick skin - Neocron PvP isn't really for the faint of heart - it has been known for some to suffer from uncontrollable shakes whilst PvPing.
This page is intended as a place for new and returning players to learn what PvP in Neocron entails, as well as some concepts that will help you help you hit the ground running.
Being Prepared
There are several criteria when considering if you are ready to PvP. These include;
- Is your character fully levelled?
- Do you have a solid character setup?
- Do you have the right gear to PvP?
- Do you understand PvP concepts / tactics?
- Are you skilled enough to compete?
- Practise fighting other players
Removing Your LE
Some veterans may suggest removing your LE as soon as possible, but I would suggest it’s different per player – if you decide to do so at all. I would suggest new players complete at least the first 3 points above, the more skilled and knowledgeable you are, the earlier I’d consider it “sensible” to remove your LE.
If you want a real rush, you can remove you LE upon character creation to experience the game to it's fullest - this will mean that you are vulnerable for others to pray on you though.
Removing the LE implant takes about 10 minutes, you can cancel this at any time during the process – but once it’s out there’s no putting it back in if you are rank 30+. Once the implant is out you will be PvP enabled, and the fun can begin.
 Law Enforcer Tip:
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| Taking your Law Enforcer implant out changes the colour of your name within the local player list. |
Death
Upon dying, assuming there is no resurrection available, you are forced to GR either to your apartment, or any other GR that is both pre-tagged by you, and open to your faction. You will have to wait off 42% synaptic impairment (SI) and most likely have to get several implants poked back in. Also, some items of armour will be moved to your inventory. You do not drop implanted implants, though other non-epic items can be dropped, with the exception being an item in your safe-slot. Good soul light assumed.
Any item dropped with be dropped in your quick-access belt, which you drop upon dying. People skilled in hacking can gain unauthorized access to this item, the level of difficulty in hacking is determined by how high your soul light is. Also, teamed runners can access you quick-access belt, to pilfer your goodies.
| Dog Tags Tip:
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| You'll also drop a dog-tag if killed by another player. This is like a mini trophy, to show that someone has killed you, although not many people seriously bother in collecting dog tags. |
Soulight
Whilst PvP is encouraged, indiscriminate killing can be punished, through loss of Soul Light (SL) and faction sympathy. These consequences are governed by the Sector that you kill within. The next section covers these in more detail.
If your soul light gets too low (below -32) then you will lose your safe-slot and drop several items when you die. Also, your belt will be easier to hack, meaning the dropped items are likely to be taken before you get the chance to retrieve them.
Low faction sympathy can mean you cannot join a faction, or even run standard missions for a faction to increase your faction sympathy, instead of having to run other longer, more difficult missions for little reward.
Sectors
Each location you travel to will be defined as different sector types (this is shown as a console message when you enter a sector). Each sector has it's own consequences for killing others.
| Sector Type | Friendlies | Neutral | Enemy | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | Punished | Punished | Punished | |
| City | Punished | Punished | Rewarded | There are likely to be guards who will fire upon those with a weapon draw |
| Dungeon | Punished | Punished | Punished | |
| Outskirt | Punished | Punished | Rewarded | |
| War Zone | No Consequence | No Consequence | No Consequence | Quick belts will not drop in these zones |
| Wasteland / Hacknet | Punished | No Consequence | No Consequence |
Common PvP Scenarios
City PvP
Generally, ad hoc casual fighting which takes place in City sectors when players stumble across each other. Fights often occur near a zoneline with a safe sector. Numbers involved are generally on the lower end (less than 10 people).
Over the years the popular sectors have changed but popular sectors from the past were Military Base & Plaza 2. Currently favored zones are Plaza 3 & Pepper Park 1.
| City PvP Tip:
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| Tradeskill & low level characters without an LE should take extra care when moving through these dangerous sectors. |
Wasteland PvP
Generally, ad hoc casual fighting which takes place in Wasteland sectors when players stumble across each other. Fights often occur near to Points of Interest such as Dungeons or public GenReps. Numbers involved are generally on the lower end (less than 10 people).
| Wasteland PvP Tip:
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| This is the biggest danger for an unprepared character who removed their LE whilst levelling. Beware Spy ambushes! |
Outpost Fights
Somewhat structured fights between at least 2 clans. This involves a clan attempting capture an Outpost from another clan by hacking several layers and fighting off the defending clan whilst they do so.
Attackers require 4 hackers to hack 4 layers, therefore at least 4 characters are required to take an outpost. Numbers involved are generally are on the higher end (more than 10 people).
These fights take place in Battlefield sectors, in these sectors you do not drop a belt or lose SL. This encourages fighting as there is no lasting consequence to death.
This is considered the end game goal of many PvP players, fighting for the glory of their clan by defeating others.
| Hacking an Outpost Tip:
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| More information on hacking an Outpost can be found on the Outpost page. |
Ganking
Generally, a capped & prepared player praying on unsuspecting vulnerable player to get an easy kill. That vulnerability could come in many forms;
- Being a low level
- Already being hurt from PvE
- Attacked whilst hacking
- Having SI from a GenRep
- etc
NeoFrag
NeoFrag allows for quick paced fights where death loses all consequences. In these special sectors the game evolves into a Free For All deathmatch where you can instantly respawn with no SI, no implant loss, no item loss, meaning you are instantly ready to fight again.
Upon entering the NeoFrag a snapshot of your character is saved, when you leave NeoFrag you return as the snapshot and any changes made within NeoFrag are forgotten. This makes it useful for testing builds as you can take LoM pills within and when you leave your character, items, xp, skills, money, everything is restored to exactly how they were when you entered.
NeoFrag arenas are located in Pepper Park Sector 1 and Pepper Park 2.
| Neofrag Tip:
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| These zones come with a kill count stat to keep track of who’s the deadliest. |
Events
From time to time GM’s or players will host PvP events with a variety of flavors. Some are chaos filled Free For Alls, organised team fights, tournaments, and anything in between.
These events have sometimes had rewards attached such as Gold PAs for the Masters of the Universe tournaments and Last Man Standing tournaments.
The official discord in the best place to keep informed of these.
General Concepts
Well Stocked
Ensure when you leave a safe zone you have what you require to protect yourself;
- Medkits
- Stam / PSI boosters
- Ammo for each weapon you are carrying
- Armor (which is not about to break)
- Heal / resist nanites (if required)
- Drugs
| v4 Booster Tip:
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| Medkits, PSI boosters, Stam boosters, Hack boosters come in V4 editions which have higher usage counts. These can be gained from Job Center First Floor missions. |
Keeping Your Guard Up
Monks, Private Eyes & Spies all have ways to apply a “shield” to themselves; either through use of PSI shields or resist nanites. Ensure your setup includes either, and that you have the necessary equipment and skills to use them. Keep those sheilds active at all times to prevent an opportunist taking advantage.
Walking Armory
Try to carry at least 2 weapons which have differing damage types, this will enable you to be effective against a range of setups. These weapons could be a high-tech Energy & Xray weapon and a low-tech Piercing & Poison weapon.
If you think you might face a Spy, you will also want some sort of Area of Effect weapon in order to sustain damage / finish them whilst they stealth. In their stealth they cannot damage you, but you certainly can still damage them. You'll be more effective if that Area of Effect weapon applies a Damage over Time effect which makes the stealthed player more visible and easier to follow.
| Weapon Tip:
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| Consider your weapons and their strengths when thinking about engagements. For instance, if you are carrying a sniper you want as much range as possible between yourself and the target. If you are an APU, you will generally want to be in close proximity, so all your module types are effective. |
Hit Zones
Players & NPCs are split into 3 hit zones (head, torso & legs). Attacking each of these zones will have different slightly different results and understanding these will improve your tactic knowledge. Some situations may call for headshots for extra damage, some situations might call for leg shots to slow your target, sometimes you may want the consistency of torso shots.
- Attacking the head will do 120% weapon damage
- Attacking the torso will do 100% weapon damage
- Attacking the legs will do 80% weapon damage + cause an increasing amount of speed reduction (to a point)
Most ways of adding resistance to your character equally apply that resistance across all hit zones, armour pieces however apply protection to only a specific hit zones (excluding the Power Armor slot).
- Power Armor / Underwear = protects all hit zones
- Helmet = protects head hit zone
- Neck = protects head hit zone
- Vest = protects torso hit zone
- Belt = protects torso hit zone
- Pants = protects legs hit zone
- Boots = protects legs hit zone
| Headshots Tip:
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| Whilst it's obvious to aim for the head for most damage, some players will periodically crouch and this could result in your shots firing over them instead. |
Counter the player setup
You can use the armour you see an opponent wearing to determine possible resist weaknesses. Bear in mind that some may balance their resists to fill this weakness, or even overcompensate to bluff you. Tanks and Private Eyes are more effective at doing this as they have more Strength and Constitution points in order to do this effectively.
As you play you will get an instinct for how high your damage numbers should be and whether your weapon is being effective.
For instance;
- Underwear wearing Monks commonly have a Piercing weakness
- Power Armor wearing Monks commonly have a Poison weakness
- Holovest wearing Spies commonly have a Force weakness
- Regant Power Armor wearing Spies commonly have an Energy weakness
Drug Addict
Drugs play a big part in enhancing your character. The most popular drugs give positive benefits for all PvP setups, these are:
There are also more situational drugs, where their usefulness depends on your build and situation, these are:
When these drugs wear off you will experience a drugflash which impairs your vision, taking a drug of a different type will temporarily lessen your impairment – at the cost of a heavier impairment when that runs out.
| Drugflash Tip:
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| Common work-arounds to drugflash is to either get a drug rez or continue taking more varied drugs. |
Team Fight Concepts
Coordination
The number one contributor to a successful team fight is team coordination. A group of semi-skilled players can beat a group of skilled players if they have better coordination.
Following these guidelines will improve your teams chance of success:
- Having a designated player who calls a target and having the team remain focused on removing the shields from & damaging that target until they are out of the fight
- Communicating opportunities where opponents are particularly vulnerable, for example resurrecting, hacking, unbuffed without support
- Communicating when your own heals / shields are expiring so your PPU can refresh them – try to stand still if possible so they can headshot your shields!
- Communicating when your own hacks are taking place and covering your hacker
- Controlling where the fighting takes places in the Outpost (away from Underground entrances / Hackterms to suit your needs)
- Moving as a group as to not let individuals be ambushed
High Priority Targets
Target Priority can be quite fluid to reflect the changing situation of the fight and can change from one moment to the next. The below can used as a general framework though:
- The highest priority target should almost always be an enemy APU. They are fragile, deal big damage and can remove your shields.
- Spies are usually a good second target (especially if you have Area of Effect weapons to secure the kill)
- PPUs performing a resurrection / Players hacking at the hack term
- Private Eye / Tanks (largely depending on which you think can secure a kill against)
Team Composition
Depending on the skill of your PPU, and the intensity of the fight, you'll need 1 PPU for every 3-5 damage dealers. A mix of damage dealers between glass cannon APUs / Spies & sturdier Private Eyes / Tanks.
The ultimate support character is the PPU Monk, every OP fight team want at least one. In an emergency a Blessed PSI Private Eye / Hybrid Monk could fill in, to a lesser effect but it’s not standard practice.
Glossary of Terms
Zone Whoring
A term used when a player "hugs" a zone entrance, in order to quickly escape death and deny the opponent a killing blow. Commonly seen as cowardly act, instead of taking the death.
Stealth Whoring
Similar to zone whoring, but instead using the stealth tool. This also extends to playstyles where a player spends most of their time in stealth with only brief moments of visibility, in order to harass and then hide within stealth. Again, seen as a cowardly act for those who can’t face a straight fight.
Zerging
When one clan has more players then their opposing clan and they use these numbers to overwhelm, making it difficult to compete.
Clipping
Using objects in the world to break LoS (Line of Sight) so that projectiles are blocked and therefore do no damage. Certain weapons such as lasers, APU beams and Area of Effect weapons can counter this.
Ganking
Praying on vulnerable players to get easy kills. This has several subdivisions;
Noob ganking
Killing players who are considerably lower level then you and therefore will struggle to compete
Ally ganking
Taking advantage of an implied trust of friendly factions or teaming to gain an advantage
Ninja Hacking
Capturing an Outpost outside of peak hours, when the Outpost owners are not online to defend
Drug Rez
Committing suicide in order to have a friendly PPU rez you and reset your drug flash state.
