The Neocron Support Team has just released the April Development update. It includes news on:-

• SPARTA! - The forthcoming balance test server
• Soullight System updates
• And explosive news on the current storyline!

You can read it here on the official forums.

Another patch very quickly on the heels on 182. This patch was released late in the evening on Monday 6th May 2013. You can continue to discuss the patch in this thread .

LAW ENFORCER

• City Administration have re-enabled the Law Enforcer tax in order to raise funds to increase the security of the Inner City (cash gain reduction). Due to the extra computational strain on the Law Enforcer, Runners may experience a sensation of light headedness while engaging in mentally stimulating activities (XP reduction)
  
• A malus has been activated reducing the amount of experience and money earned by players with a Law Enforcer.
  • A reduction in earned experience becomes active once a runner reaches a base rank of /30, beyond this level the reduction increases to a maximum of 25% at a base rank of /60 and above.
  • A reduction in earned cash becomes active once a Runner reaches a combat rank of 30/, beyond this level the reduction increases to 50% at a combat rank of 60 and above.

• ALL SECTORS
  
  • Snow has been removed from all weather patterns. Missing weather patterns, such as thunder storms, have been restored.
  
  
• PLAZA DISTRICT
  
  • Additional CopBots have been stationed at zone lines and in other important locations in Plaza Sector 1, 2, 3 & 4
  • A STORMbot is now on duty in Plaza 3 at the zone line to Pepper Park.
  • City Administration guards are stationed outside of City Administration HQ. Enemy runners will be shot on sight.
  • Windows in Archer & Wesson in Plaza Sector 2 are now solid.
  • Preventative measures have been installed to prevent CopBots falling into the pool in Plaza Sector 2.
  
  
• PEPPER PARK DISTRICT
  
  • CopBots have been removed from Pepper Park Sectors 1, 2 & 3. At the request of NExT, CopBots in the Subway entrances will stay at their posts a little while longer.
  • Apartment smuggler's position has been fixed.
  
  
• OUTZONE DISTRICT
  
  • Duplicate epic NPCs have been removed from Outzone Sector 8.
  • Position of some NPCs have been improved/fixed in Outzone Sector 8.

• New replacement sound effects have been added for Laser Cannons, Plasma Cannons, Ionic Rifles and Apartment Access Interfaces.
• A new RPOS color scheme is available with /set gfx_hudcolor 10
• Further additional changes were made to assist with the implementation of new features in the future.

Patch 182 is out, along with a double XP week.

SOUL LIGHT SYSTEM

• Access to the Gene Replication Network now requires Runners to have -31 Soul Light or higher.
• Access to the Venture Warp Network now requires Runners to have -31 Soul Light or higher.
• Access to vendors in safe zones requires Runners to have -31 Soul Light or higher.
• Access to Apartment Access Interfaces in safe zones requires Runners to have -31 Soul Light or higher.
• Automatic Soul Light regeneration has been disabled.

• Damage output of the TL115 Disruptor lowered by 25% to compensate for aggressive burst bonus.
• Damage output of the TL113 Ceres Assault Rifle CAR-47 and the TL108 Infiltration Assault Rifle IAR-47 lowered by 20% to compensate for aggressive burst bonus.
• Speed malus when equipping a heavy weapon has been reduced from 20% to 10%.
• Switching weapons while reloading has been disabled.

• New hit box colouring has been added to more easily identify clan mates. (Customise BBClanMate in rposcolor.ini)
• Gamemasters are now able to set zones to safezones while the server is running.
• Gamemasters are now able to set zones to automatically log out players after a certain time of idling.
• Gamemasters are now able to set zones to spawn players at the reset point after logging out.

You can discuss the patch notes here.

Today I did a cleanup of the User pages within the THN Neocron Wiki . I have removed any empty pages within the UserTalk namespace or the User namespace. Only pages that had a few edit on them with messages on the lines of “Welcome to the wiki” have been removed, and nothing of value has been lost.

However you may have received an email to say the page has been changed, and when you click to view the page, you get a message saying the page is missing. You can safely ignore this email and my apologies for the emails being sent.

If you want to view the deleted pages, you can by login into the wiki and going to your user page. The link to view or restore deleted pages will be there, and you can choose to restore them if you want.

Thanks goes to wiki user Ashrid for flagging up the emails being sent. Any questions or issues leave a message on my Talk Page.

NeoCast is organising a PvP Tournament at BattleDome on Saturday 27th of April, starting at 17:00BST (18:00CEST)

There are two tournaments you can enter 1 vs 1 and Free Fight. Entry is 100k and you need to be of a certain base rank to enter.

Full details can be found on the official forums in this thread .