Militech Datashard

[ManOWar2]

Should I remove the virus from it or simply make a copy of it ? If I make a copy, what is this used for ?

[Grobut]

You can't copy it. You can crack it, and once it's cracked you can also download the money from it, but you can't copy it.

What you should do depends entirely on what outcome you want to have in the "The pickup" quest, because it will play out differently depending on what you do.

If you want this to be a suprice, then just do what you think best, or else i'd consult a guide to see which actions lead to what outcomes.

[ManOWar2]

There is an option to make a copy of it, why do you say I cannot copy it ?

[Grobut]

Originally posted by ManOWar2:

There is an option to make a copy of it, why do you say I cannot copy it ?

You can't copy the shard (if you could copy the shard, you could make infinate money).

You can learn the hack though, which is just the "synapse burnout" hack, and download the money for yourself if you don't want to pay Maelstrom.

[ManOWar2]

I think you misunderstand me, there is an option in the hacking process to make a copy of the virus, this is what I mean.

[Weaver]

You are copying the daemon, the virus, you get a synapse burnout quickhack from it.

Removing the virus can make things play out differently when dealing with Royce and co when you go to get the Flathead. Depends on you and who you want to eventually piss off.

[Kuja Feralus]

To make this quick and succinct:

This affects your options for The Pickup quest for the Flathead.

Decrypt the shard: Maelstrom hostility determined by if you pay or not, Militech raids Maelstrom and is hostile to you and Maelstrom. Militech Mole kills Meredith Stout. Contents of the decrypted shard is a Synapse Burnout quickhack (Lethal quickhack, does more damage based on how much health the victim is missing).

Don't get the shard from Meredith at all: You can pay Maelstrom for the flathead or kill off Maelstrom, Militech does not raid, you can leave peacefully if you pay.

Pay with intact shard: Malware fries several Maelstrom members, Militech does not enter while you fight Maelstrom to escape. Meredith Stout confirms Militech Mole's identity and kills him.

Note that there's mutually exclusive iconics you can get later down the line. One Iconic Revolver: Doom Doom, is only available if Dum Dum (Maelstrom member who you talk to before Royce shows up) is not turned hostile and survives.

Sir John Phallustiff, a Stun Baton, is only available if you pay with the intact shard and turn Maelstrom hostile, allowing Meredith to survive to later arrange to meet you at the No-Tell Motel for a casual hookup, at which point you can claim the iconic "Stun Baton" off the bed nearby.

[ManOWar2]

Well it turn out that I killed Maelstrom people including Royce and at the end of the quest Militech came in with Gilchrist instead of Stout.

I gave the chip with the virus to Royce, but somehow he did not liked it and pointed his gun at me so I decided to retaliate.

I'm not sure what I did for Stout to not appear, I pretty much followed the guides I read on the net. I gave the chip to Royce to pay but ended up killing him anyway.

Did copying the virus to get the Synapse hack impacted my mission ?

[Kuja Feralus]

Originally posted by ManOWar2:

Well it turn out that I killed Maelstrom people including Royce and at the end of the quest Militech came in with Gilchrist instead of Stout.

I gave the chip with the virus to Royce, but somehow he did not liked it and pointed his gun at me so I decided to retaliate.

I'm not sure what I did for Stout to not appear, I pretty much followed the guides I read on the net. I gave the chip to Royce to pay but ended up killing him anyway.

Did copying the virus to get the Synapse hack impacted my mission ?

This is the kind of game where choices always have consequences.

You could have appeased or talked Royce down, or deescalated by lowering your gun instead of shooting him if you did the interrupt to put your gun in his face, and he would have went and processed the chip.

You did everything right until you committed to killing Royce instead of paying him.

Also, if you decrypted the data shard, then you can't avoid Gilchrist killing Meredith. The only way for Meredith to survive is for you to not decrypt the shard, pay with the shard, and kill Maelstrom as you escape, leading to Meredith killing Gilchrist for being the mole. If you decrypt the shard, the malware is removed and Militech has to raid the base under orders from Gilchrist to tie up loose ends and cover himself, as he's the one who leaked the convoy details to Maelstrom so they could hit it and steal all the hardware. Basically Meredith dies because her ONLY way of confirming the mole was that malware that would fry a bunch of Maelstrom guys and copy files about their deals over to her. When her malware failed to pan out, Militech had Gilchrist's back and he had her killed and then tied up the loose ends with his double dealing, because after all Gilchrist was a corpo who knew what he was doing and Meredith wasn't gonna be able to hold him without evidence for long anyway.

[ManOWar2]

Originally posted by Kuja Feralus:

Originally posted by ManOWar2:

Well it turn out that I killed Maelstrom people including Royce and at the end of the quest Militech came in with Gilchrist instead of Stout.

I gave the chip with the virus to Royce, but somehow he did not liked it and pointed his gun at me so I decided to retaliate.

I'm not sure what I did for Stout to not appear, I pretty much followed the guides I read on the net. I gave the chip to Royce to pay but ended up killing him anyway.

Did copying the virus to get the Synapse hack impacted my mission ?

This is the kind of game where choices always have consequences.

You could have appeased or talked Royce down, or deescalated by lowering your gun instead of shooting him if you did the interrupt to put your gun in his face, and he would have went and processed the chip.

You did everything right until you committed to killing Royce instead of paying him.

Also, if you decrypted the data shard, then you can't avoid Gilchrist killing Meredith. The only way for Meredith to survive is for you to not decrypt the shard, pay with the shard, and kill Maelstrom as you escape, leading to Meredith killing Gilchrist for being the mole. If you decrypt the shard, the malware is removed and Militech has to raid the base under orders from Gilchrist to tie up loose ends and cover himself, as he's the one who leaked the convoy details to Maelstrom so they could hit it and steal all the hardware. Basically Meredith dies because her ONLY way of confirming the mole was that malware that would fry a bunch of Maelstrom guys and copy files about their deals over to her. When her malware failed to pan out, Militech had Gilchrist's back and he had her killed and then tied up the loose ends with his double dealing, because after all Gilchrist was a corpo who knew what he was doing and Meredith wasn't gonna be able to hold him without evidence for long anyway.

I only copied the malware I did not remove the virus on it. But yes I did not let Royce use it, that was my mistake.

I'm gonna reload an earlier save just to test it.

[Grobut]

Originally posted by Kuja Feralus:

The only way for Meredith to survive is for you to not decrypt the shard, pay with the shard, and kill Maelstrom as you escape, leading to Meredith killing Gilchrist for being the mole.

You don't have to pay using the shard for Meredith to survive, just don't tamper with it.

If you want Meredith to live, don't touch the shard, but you can still shoot Royce without paying, learn the identity of the mole from a computer terminal (in an email), and fight your way out. Meredith will then greet you outside, you tell her who the mole is, and she'll thank you.

You can now hack the shard and download the money. So you both get paid, and get Meredith's rewards later on.

[ManOWar2]

But If I only copied the malware without erasing it, it still work ?

[Grobut]

Originally posted by ManOWar2:

But If I only copied the malware without erasing it, it still work ?

I've never put that to the test.

[ManOWar2]

Originally posted by Grobut:

Originally posted by ManOWar2:

But If I only copied the malware without erasing it, it still work ?

I've never put that to the test.

well I've tried it and giving to Royce triggers everything as it should, he say they are ''in'' theirs system and maelstroms guys are dropping. I will complete the mission tomorrow I'll let you know.

[ManOWar2]

I confirm that if you just copy the malware everything will go fine with the shard that still have the virus on it. I completed the mission and Meredith met me after the mission.

[tuxdelux]

I copied the virus, then tried to go back to hack, using the instructions (going to Shards section in the Journal), but did not see any option to continue hacking. I did not see any results of the copy effort, either. Confusing, but from what I read in this forum thread, none of it had any effect, since I did not hack it.