So, bit late on the bandwagon, but very recently started playing this. REALLY good game.
BUT
How the frick do you hack the terminals? I've tried to do it, and tried to google how to do it and I just do not understand it. After reading stuff on google, I thought I knew how to do it, tried it in-game and then it just made no sense again. So what the frick?
Can anyone explain this in VERY SIMPLE terms (Or ELI5 for you redditors) ?!
Thanks in advance and apologies for my stupidity.
if I remember correctly, it's just word game.
You choose a word you think is the password.
The feedback will tell you how many letters you got correctly if that word is not the password.
for example, password is SMOKE.
I'm facing the terminal, I have no idea what the password is so I choose a random word BACK.
In this case, I only got one letter right, so the feedback would say 1/5 (one letter out of five correct).
You keep choosing different words and deduce the password from the feedbacks.
That's about it I believe.
Damn, I always get it wrong xD
I must admit I usually saved just before hacking terminals, so I could reload if I pooched it.
Another unrelated tip- pick up everything you can, most locations have lots of boxes, lockers etc, so you can "bank" kit and come back to get it later, just don't forget where you left it!. I used to fill 1 locker with weapons, 1 with armor etc, for repairs later on. (Some items you just carry can take damage.)
Enjoy it
I can deal with 5 letter words but when it gets more than that it is just frustrating than fun for me.
And that's where mods prove useful with this :)
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/2333/?
lol I started to watch a stream (northernlion) getting into FO:NV - he said similar issues to you, but as said it's a word game more or less - try for "ing" first off, if it matches 3 or more then it's likely to end in ing which lowers the number of options i can be - also quit when you have one option left and retry until complete.
Here is a
helpful tutorial in understanding how computer hacking works.
Welcome to the would of Fallout, enjoy your stay.
Fallout 4 is just on the horizon ;)
Never-fail Tactic:
1. Pick the first word in the top left of the grid as your first guess.
2. If it's wrong, the terminal will tell you how many letters in it are right. So, starting at the next word in the grid, see if each is a possibility or not. If not, move on to the next word on the 'page' and eliminate it so you know everything up to that point is wrong. If yes, then choose that word.
3. Repeat step two, but now you have more incorrect words to check against each possibility.
4. If you get to your last choice, start checking the grid for open and closed brackets of any type ( ), [ ], < >, { } in the same line. Clicking these will either remove a 'dud' from the list or refill your guesses.
5. If you run out of guesses and there are no brackets to choose, Cancel and start over from the top. Even on hard terminals, this only happens once or twice in 10 tries.
That's the basic idea, you can maybe get answers using less guesses if you look at all the words before each choice and try to choose based on the number that it could eliminate if it was wrong, but in my experience taking the time to do that just extends the mini game unnecessarily. I can do some screenshots for you if it's still confusing.
Thanks to all.
One of the things I was struggling with on the online tutorials is that some seem to say that when the terminal states a word has 1/5 correct, then this is the position of the letter that is correct and not the actual letter?
That's not right, thankfully. It is the total number of letters that are in the correct position. "smoke" and "clock" would be 1/5 because the o's are both in the same position. No other matches. "clock" and "cloak" would be 4/5.
Okay, thanks. I think I understand a little more now. Managed to unlock one of the terminals yesterday xD
It´s been awhile since I played the game. But consider investing some points into... I think it was the science ability. It´ll reduce the number of keywords to choose from and thus making it easier to hack the terminals.
Haven't played it in years, but you're meant to look for little brackets that are next to each other, and it'll delete a random word, or refresh your chances or something like that.
So if you find a pair of brackets next to each other like (), you click it. Same with pointed tit brackets, <>.
Its better to improve the lockpick skill over science since most terminals in the game you will find open doors and locked safes that can be lockpick anyway or is likely to have password written on a holotap inside a desk somewhere.
Plus there is way more locks to find than terminals e.g. i picked 234 locks but only 52 hacks mostly private computers in random towns than quests for 50 Hacks Award.