Tips for hacking terminals.

[MadMagzzz]

Decided to post this after seeing a few posts on Facebook with people having trouble with hacking. Feel free to share your own methods below.

So there actually is a very reliable method to do this, I've yet to fail a single hacking attempt at my 50+ hour playthrough, with minimal lockouts across my FO3 and NV characters so naturally it applies there as well. The "likeness" number, if you didn't already know, is the amount of letters that match the correct word and are also in the correct place in a word, something FO3 and NV describes better by just telling you for instance that 3/7 or 5/9 letters match etc.

Translated into the FO4 system, "Ant" and "Net" would have a likeness of 1, despite sharing two letters (N and T), since only the T is in the same place. So a likeness of 0 is like the second best thing after guessing it right on the first try, since you can rule out ALL other words that share even a single letter on the same spot. For example "random" and "hunter" both have N as the third letter, despite being completely different. So, if the completely different word you just clicked on has a low likeness as well, all the better - now you can rule out any words that share any letters in the same places with BOTH words.

After three attempts it's nearly impossible for a word not to match the other 3 exactly. Works even at master levels, since if you have 3 guesses with a likeness of 2, 4 and 7, the correct word must have that exact likeness with the three guessed words.

So sometimes it does take all four tries with this method, but as I said, I've yet to be locked out. Hope this helps.

[SgtSausagepants]

So, some tips.

Look for words that end in -ed or -er or -ing. For example a word that ends in -ing matches three or more then you have narrowed things down immensely. If it doesn't, you can ignore any word that also ends in -ing. (This was more common in FO3/NV)

Also, people are aware about the brackets that get rid of duds and reset tries, correct?

You can also just exit the terminal before getting locked out and re-enter it, to try again. The words will change, but its another attempt.

[DA REEL NANCY BOI]

Originally posted by SgtSausagepants:

Also, people are aware about the brackets that get rid of duds and reset tries, correct?

Bracket tricks are the thing people really need to know about. They're insanely helpful and almost impossible to notice unless you notice the patterns.

[Social Diseases]

Originally posted by DEAD The Real Nancy Boy:

Originally posted by SgtSausagepants:

Also, people are aware about the brackets that get rid of duds and reset tries, correct?

Bracket tricks are the thing people really need to know about. They're insanely helpful and almost impossible to notice unless you notice the patterns.

Yeah, you don't really need to do anything but bracket-hunt and 9 times out of 10 it'll reduce the numbers of choices to 2 at most.

[Social Diseases]

Though I've zoned so completely out with it that more than once I've wondered why brackets refused to work until I noticed there was only one choice left.

[mbpoblet]

Originally posted by SgtSausagepants:

Also, people are aware about the brackets that get rid of duds and reset tries, correct?

Just in case they're not... look for pairs of parentheses or brackets like (···), [···], {···}, or <···>, and click on them.

It'll either reset your tries or, more often, remove a dud.

Also, higher intelligence seems to reduce the difficulty.

[jason.washdc]

MadMagzzz, you should create a guide with this info. I played FO3 and NV so I knew this but I think many do not. Maybe a guide would not get lost in this very active forum.

[MadMagzzz]

Wow...almost 10 years of playing Fallout and the dud thing is new to me...now I'll definitely never get locked out lol.

[drewradley]

I use a piece of paper or pencil or something that I can hold up to the screen to check letter placement. Really speeds up looking for matches.

[SgtSausagepants]

I'll just summarize it here while I am at it then.

In the non-word sections of the screen, you will see random symbols and brackets. These:
[ ]
{ }
( )
< >

If you find a matching pair of those in the same line of symbols, you can select them. Regardless of whatever symbols are in-between them.

Something like this: </#@^^%\\>

Select that section of the code and it will do one of two things. It will remove a 'dud' word from the list, or it will reset your number of tries.

So the most efficient hacking method for me:
1. Select the words displayed in order until I have one attempt left (might get lucky)
2. Check if any have high matching numbers that could give me a clue to the correct answer
3. Select all the brackets in the code to clear away the duds and hopefully reset my tries
4. If after this I still can't find the correct answer with 100% certainty, back out of the terminal and re-enter it
5. Repeat steps 1-4 as necessary.

[MadMagzzz]

Originally posted by jason.washdc:

MadMagzzz, you should create a guide with this info. I played FO3 and NV so I knew this but I think many do not. Maybe a guide would not get lost in this very active forum.

Good idea, I'll do just that.

[GM Pax]

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/266/?

Screw the minigame. Got the perk ranks to at least try it? BAM, guaranteed success on the first try.

[SgtSausagepants]

Also lockouts don't seem to be permanent in FO4. They just make you wait a few moments before trying again.

[Social Diseases]

Originally posted by GM Pax:

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/266/?

Screw the minigame. Got the perk ranks to at least try it? BAM, guaranteed success on the first try.

Easy Hacking is, by far, my favorite mod for the Gamebryo Fallout games. I just don't enjoy the minigame at all. +1

[Machin Ator]

My system? Choose the first three passwords, if its not that, exit and restart hack. You can skip the load-in, and even master terminals fall within 30 seconds tops; there really is no need for the top level perk for Hacker, since the game pauses while hacking and as long as you dont try 4, you can just continually reset. Poor design on this, imo - exact same as FO3, which is whence I began this method ; though in 3 you would be permanently locked out, vs 30 seconds here.

Originally posted by SgtSausagepants:

Also lockouts don't seem to be permanent in FO4. They just make you wait a few moments before trying again.

Correct - however just like 3, if you dont try 4 times you can insta-reset.

[GM Pax]

Originally posted by Social Diseases:

Originally posted by GM Pax:

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/266/?

Screw the minigame. Got the perk ranks to at least try it? BAM, guaranteed success on the first try.

Easy Hacking is, by far, my favorite mod for the Gamebryo Fallout games. I just don't enjoy the minigame at all. +1

Same for lockpicking, and like you ... it's just that I find the minigame tedious and not fun.

The first time I encountered them both, in Fallout 3 ... I loved the idea, I thought it was grand, I did it happily through my whole first playthrough.

Second playthrough, I was sick and tired of it; I just wanted to get on with it already. So, those mods it was. And similar for NV, and Skyrim, and now F4. :)