Simple question

[NuclearSnail]

I would really appreciate if somebody could help me out here. See, I've never in my life played a fallout game before. I'm here because the tv show was so good, it brought me to the game. Now, my question is this, and do forgive my ignorance, and inexperience, but, there is no hacking skill I can see. My hacking level is too low to unlock some terminals. The little popups tell me to add a skill point to hacking. But there is no hacking in the skill tree. So my question is, and this is why I ask you to please forgive my New-Bee status, How DO I upgrade that hacking ability? I can't even find it on the skill tree/chart thing.

[sdack]

It is in the Intelligence column. Level 4. It is a guy standing at a terminal.

[NuclearSnail]

Originally posted by sdack:

It is in the Intelligence column. Level 4. It is a guy standing at a terminal.

Thank you for your reply. I shall look at once.

[EricHVela]

Hacker is under Intelligence in S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Selecting it should show what you need to unlock and upgrade it. (I don't know the keyboard command, but on controller, it's B for Pipboy then Y for perks.)

[Mr. Bufferlow]

There is a skill tree and you earn points to spend on whatever skills you want. The skills are arranged in levels as well that I believe are unlocked by your character achieving certain levels.

You will be able to spend points on hacking skills as you progress. You can also buddy up with an NPC, like Nick V, who can hack for you.

[TemplarGR]

Originally posted by LunarSail:

Originally posted by sdack:

It is in the Intelligence column. Level 4. It is a guy standing at a terminal.

Thank you for your reply. I shall look at once.

Make sure to visit the fallout wiki for all your needs:

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Portal:Fallout_4

It basically has EVERYTHING about the game, all the info you may ever need.

A cool page is this:

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout_4_perks

it has all the perks listed and clicking on each one it has a detailed description. Very useful for planning your builds.

[NuclearSnail]

ok, so I put 10 points into intelligence but this was Pre-Nuke. it looks like a guy reading a book on the chart. I'm level 5 in the game, I'm trying to unlock a USAF terminal, the one on the big satellite station just after you return to your old house after fighting that beast thing with the minute-men and is on the way to the next farm over.... if this makes any sense.... lol. Anyway, I started out with 10 intel points, and it still says my hacking ability is too low. Is this just because I'm only level 5, or because I need more intelligence points?

[dtt.scanner]

If you did not allocate enough points to intelligence, you can add points to the base stats by putting the point in the stat itself (at the top of the chart). After you unlock the level, you can put points in the perk. I usually start with 10 intelligence so that I get the EXP bonus for faster leveling (3% per point of intelligence), and then perk up the other stats according to the type of character that I want to play as I gain more points. Like Bufferlow said, some NPC companions have skills that can be used for lockpicking and hacking for you. (Cait and Nick, and even Dogmeat can sometimes fetch items from behind locked rooms... like the Cryolator in Vault 111.)

Ohh... after you have the level unlocked, you still need to spend a point on the perk itself to get the perk advancement. Each perk has multiple levels within the perk. They also have experience level restrictions for certain perk levels. You might not get expert hacker, even if you start with 10 intelligence, until around level 13-17.

Having 10 intelligence is the way I would go, obviously, but that just gets you the basic intelligence experience bonus. To get the perk, you have to actually spend points in the perks that you want after you have the stat level unlocking the perk. As you level up, I would suggest getting strength up to 6 and perking Pack Mule for better carrying capacity, and Armorer so that you can put deep pockets on your gear as well. Endurance up to 10 for Life Giver, Rad Resistance, and Solar Powered so that you can regenerate all damage types (good if you run low on food/chems). These are good no matter what type of character you play.

[NeutronVortex]

Originally posted by LunarSail:

ok, so I put 10 points into intelligence but this was Pre-Nuke. it looks like a guy reading a book on the chart. I'm level 5 in the game, I'm trying to unlock a USAF terminal, the one on the big satellite station just after you return to your old house after fighting that beast thing with the minute-men and is on the way to the next farm over.... if this makes any sense.... lol. Anyway, I started out with 10 intel points, and it still says my hacking ability is too low. Is this just because I'm only level 5, or because I need more intelligence points?

You still have to unlock the Hacker ability with a perk point. You'll see it on the Perk chart where sdack said:

Originally posted by sdack:

It is in the Intelligence column. Level 4. It is a guy standing at a terminal.

[TemplarGR]

Originally posted by LunarSail:

ok, so I put 10 points into intelligence but this was Pre-Nuke. it looks like a guy reading a book on the chart. I'm level 5 in the game, I'm trying to unlock a USAF terminal, the one on the big satellite station just after you return to your old house after fighting that beast thing with the minute-men and is on the way to the next farm over.... if this makes any sense.... lol. Anyway, I started out with 10 intel points, and it still says my hacking ability is too low. Is this just because I'm only level 5, or because I need more intelligence points?

First of all, the Hacker wiki page is here:

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Hacker_(Fallout_4)

Now, to answer your question, without upgrading your hacker perk, you can only ever hack terminals that are labeled "novice". Each level of the hacker perk allows you to hack harder terminals, 1st rank allows you to hack advanced, 2nd allows you to hack expert, 3rd allows you to hack master. The 4th means you will never get locked out of a terminal if you miss all attempts.

You need to have a minimum of 4 intelligence to be able to put perk points into hacker.

Also, higher intelligence means the terminal has fewer available words to pick from, making unlocking it easier.

[NuclearSnail]

I found it! Thank you all for such helpful help! I apologize for my new-bee-nes. lol