Hacking in a brand new game

[Imarion]

Hello,
At the 3rd mission (so at level 2), I pass by a hacking terminal.
I jack in.
While the intermediary can't even touch me, there was no way I could beat the final node, a kind of boss (was green).
He had too much life and was doing to much damage.

There is no way that, at this level you can buy programs or utils to catch up. They are too expansive.

I tried hacking at different subsequent levels and same story, even with slightly better programs.

I think lower levels hacking balance should be reviewed a bit.

I'm now at level 8, have bought few upgrades, I will see how it goes.

[Bishop]

I don't see any gains from hacking in the first place. First I thought it can be used to make more money, but the way it is implemented right now you will waste much more money on decks and repairs.I tried it for a few times but it looks like a time/money sink with no rewards whatsoever.

At the very least the amount of reward you get from datanodes should be vastly increased.

[Atzu]

A Deck is like a racing snail.
It doesn't make any sense and costs a lot to turn into something useful.
But then you have something your Crawlers can betting hackers at the bar that it's faster than the security systems.
It's not really part of the job just a hobby project, even more hobby than Prototype.

If you don't make the investment (Programs and parts) and learn the colour coded program sets, it doesn't pay off at all and stays a money sink, dumb hobby.
If you invest in it as you crawl until it can pay for itself against at least slow security systems then it's a money maker of it's own.

But the Net and the Crawler worlds are completely separate. The risk mixing them is the security of that entry terminal. After that it tells you the threat/security levels.

You can depend on Barrier and Dupe (Thud for one hit nuisances) until you start facing those higher level bugs and security. When you do, fall back to the one colour set they're weak to and play it's strengths.

[Gilmoy]

Sometime around L3, visit the Hackshop and stay there for about 5 missions in a row.
He gives cyber-only jobs, zero walking. Jack in, roam the net, jack out, get paid.

Every mission pays for itself. That means most of your mission reward goes straight into deck repair. You can maybe buy +1 new utility or program per mission. That's OK.

Meanwhile, each mission can earn you 1-5 better utilities + programs, and 1-5 loot.
So you do get massively stronger during the mission. That's your real profit.
Don't do this to earn cash. Do this to bootstrap your deck.

Accept only mission levels you can fully clear. Clear all data nodes for all of their loot.
You can skip everything else. If you find the L4 Network Core, clear that for the map, to save wandering time.

Repeating this for ~5 missions in a row, I went from common L2 stuff to uncommon L6:
hardening 80 => 286
masking 10 => 26
attack 7 => 46
defense 19 => 91
etc.

5 programs => 14 programs
Thud 26 damage => 72 damage
no Barrier => 26
no Corruption => Melt 1.0 for 11-40
etc.

~~~~~~~~

In a new game, you might not handle any solo L3/L4 guard. At L4, there's 2 of them.
Through L1/L2, you will probably pay after every mission to repair your deck. Accept that.

At some point, do the above to bootstrap your deck. Think of it as one big upgrade.

After that, you can casually outslug L4/L5.
Round 1 Barrier, then one-shot Thud 1, then you win any 1v1 duel.
Your Hardening damage goes to 0, because they never outrace your Barrier.
Then you can clear L4s with 0 damage total. So your deck repair costs also go to 0.

To do:
[_] In my 2nd-ever playthrough, I'll try to accelerate this to L2/L3, or even late L1.
[_] I suspect that this process could be repeatable, perhaps every 3-5 levels, as needed.

[Gilmoy]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

[x] In my 2nd-ever playthrough, I'll try to accelerate this to L2/L3, or even late L1.

The 1st real mission levels you up to L2 and unlocks Hackshop cyber missions.
So the only way you could still be L1 is if you deliberately fail the 1st mission

New game, Hardcore, Cyberninja. I did this:
+ tutorial
+ 1st mission (levels me up to L2)
~~~~ unlocks Hackshop cyber missions
+ 1 L2 cyber mission
~~~~ unlocks Prototype, he joins my team
+ 6-8 more L2 cyber missions
+ 2 L4 core crash missions

I'm still L2. My deck now looks like this:

242 Hardening -- L5 Uncommon defense
30 Masking -- L4 Rare masking
60 Attack -- L5 Epic offense, L3 Rare booster
80 Evade (30%)
147 Critical (30%)
88 Defense (30%)

For core crashing, I swap to an L5 Uncommon booster with +139 Hardening, which gives me an extra 70-120 Hardening cushion against Hardening damage from failed attempts. (Masking damage you repair by picking a weak fight.)

12 Security programs at 1.0
6 Corruption programs = Vector 2.0 + 5 at 1.0
11 Deception programs at 1.0
If there's 36 programs total, I've found 29 of them already.

Thud 1.0 does 120 Security damage
Seize 1.0 does 9 Security damage + heals 4.5 Masking (rounds down to 4)
Barrier 1.0 for 24
Melt 1.0 for 18 - 78 Corruption damage
Dupe 1.0 Decoy attacks for 18 Deception damage
Sample 1.0 does 12 Deception damage + heals 2 Masking

I bought about 1/4 of those by spending credits, and found the rest as mission loot.
Always find the Network Core, map the network, and warp to every data node.
For a core crash mission, map, pillage all data nodes, then go back and crash core.
Each time you fail and take deck damage, leave core, pick weak fight(s), regenerate all Masking Points, return.

My bank total grew from ~20 credits to 614 + 230 real backpack loot.
This means I can hire 2 more L2 crawlers at -200 each, for a full team of 4.
We shall all level up together.

Since I'm still only L2, the Hackshop only ever offers L2/L3/L4/L5/L6 cyber jobs.
Its programs are always 1.0. Its utilities seem to max out at L5.

~~~~~~~~~

None of this run is special. I think every new Hardcore game can repeat this.
Finish the 1st mission. Then do about 10-15 cyber jobs in a row.

Start easy, with the L2 jobs.
Invest all of your earnings back into deck repair + 1-2 upgrades per run.
You will inevitably find Barrier, Thud, and either Seize or Sample.
Then every L2 job for "only" 60 credits will net 60 + 40 loot - 2 repair = 98 profit.
That buys 1 upgrade, and you save the rest.

Soon, after about 5 of those, you can go for L4 core crash jobs that pay 290 - 300.
Then you earn 290 + 90 - 25 = 350+.

~~~~~~~~

There seems to be no limit to the number of cyber jobs you can do
I shall cap myself at 1,000 credits, and then resume real jobs with a full team of 4 L2s.

~~~~~~~~

I think there's 1 additional gaping exploit available.
In a real mission, at any wire terminal, you can jack in, clear all data nodes, and jack out.
Don't crash core (yet).

Then at the same wire terminal, jack back in, and you've forgotten the map.
That means all data nodes have refreshed with moar loot
The cyber map itself doesn't change. Repeat your conquest to double your loot.

It follows that you could jack in/jack out and clear the same cyber map any number of times. The mind boggles.

I'll try that next :p