Q: Why has the cost of my Vehicle Hacks has gone up suddenly?

[PXL]

When I first got Vehicle Hacks, it would cost me 5 RAM when stood next to a car to hack it.

Now it costs me 1 more RAM each time and I don't know what has changed.

It actually says on the screen - "RAM cost has increased by 1" ... but damned if I know why.

Any ideas?

[PXL]

I've removed ALL of my Perks except Vehicle Hacks and now it says:

RAM cost increased by 4

Any ideas?

[PXL]

Why has it increased for no reason? Or at least, what is the reason for it saying "cost increased by" ... ?

[jodnus]

It may be proximate propagation, the perk that reduces costs the closer you are.

While I don't know about your specific case, it would explain variable and inconsistent ram costs in general.

Or, and I can't confirm if this is a thing, certain vehicles being more difficult to hack in the same ways some NPCs take more ram for the same hack.

Or some combination of the two above could be at play

[JanaSzar]

Had the same question the past few days.
From what I can tell, vehicle hack ram costs are also level-scaled. I was seeing 20 ram cost, leveled up, and it went to 22.

No idea why though... I mean, it's not like you gain better explosions or control from higher ram costs like normal quickhack improvements.

[Rhapsody]

It's a scaling thing. If you aim hacks at elite/skull enemies, you can often see the same prompt about increased hack costs.