Lockpick or Hacking/Science ?

[Oblivion]

A very simple thread to determine weather most people lick lockpick or hacking better.

Both can be used to gain access to safes, lockpick can access a bit more then hacking can.
Lockpick can also be used to open locked crates, ammo boxes and doors.
Hacking however can also gain access to some doors, can always shut down hostile robot npcs, and get information from locked terminals.

I prefer science/hacking. I always have a high science due to having intelligence 10 and i will usually upgrade it to 100. I usually upgrade lockpick too, to around 75 to gain access to most crates and some dlc items locked in closets.

But which do you prefer?

[Incunabulum]

Anything that is mostly used for getting loot is pretty much worthless. Hacking is the way to go.

[Belanos]

I'm not sure why it has to be one or the other, both of them have their place.

[Haxel Haze]

Originally posted by cat bot fan #304:

I like lockpicking better, as hacking, at least for me, feels like a guessing game.

With lockpicking, you can actually get a feel for where the right place to press is.

lmao brackets exist

[talgaby]

You mean you didn't know that brackets in the hacking minigame eliminate wrong passwords form the list?

At any rate, I don't like to lick lockpicks, but I consider that skill a lot better, whether the weather is good or bad in the game. Science in general is useful as it can pop up as a random challenge during many quests, but mechanical locks hide way more and better loot.

[MannsOverMeta]

Originally posted by cat bot fan #304:

Originally posted by TopDatTopHat:

lmao brackets exist

Why, yes, they do. []. What's so major about brackets?

In hacking minigames, if you see [], {}, or <>, no matter the space inbetween them, you can select the first one to delete an incorect guess or reset your guessing count.
Makes hacking easier, more engaging and less of a chore.

[E.P.D. Gaffney]

The hacking game is a puzzle. You don't need to guess. As for which of the two skills, I do usually choose one or the other, but you don't need to, and it doesn't really matter in the end. I'd go with science as slightly more versatile, but if you don't have one of them levelled, you're sure to miss out on something somewhere. Which is great because you get one more reason to play again with a new build. The one I choose is generally dependent on the story I give my character and what I think they would probably have a background or interest in.

[Akasaki]

I personally feel enjoy lock picking more than hacking puzzle. Yes i somehow can manage by look at the matching hint but still...

But many unique gun was locked behind the safe tho. Some can open by terminal if player can do it better.

[[OFN] Red Eye]

Go for both if you want the extra XP in the instances where you can do "one or the other" as in reality, you can pick the lock and still hack the terminal (even though you don't need the "unlock" option it contains). Double the XP for one lock.

[ꑭCaliph of Hyperboreaꑭ]

Lockpicking.

[ThatGuyYouknow522]

I normally spec in lockpicking first because the easy loot at the beggining is good, although both are neccesary to get the full value out of all the locations visited.

[Mooselamb]

If it's a choice between hacking a door or manually picking it then I usually do both for the extra xp. What I dislike about hacking is that even if you've had much practice in working out patterns, it can still often come down to a game of luck because many words can fit the pattern without being correct and you'll end up doing multiple retries.

[Bansheebutt]

A lockpicking character may occasionally need some science, A science character generally doesn't need lockpick.

[| TajMahBalls |]

Both are good. Both are used in certain points and both can
Do different things. Lock picking is simple and even a toddler can figure it out(but vey hard lock picks do require a bit of patience) and Hacking is just get all the brackets and then guess and check.

[Driftkel]

Both are great for several situations. But honestly, there will be cabinets and safes that are locked without a terminal, so this is where lockpicking comes in handy.

[Hugh Jazz]

I lick lockpicking