Is hacking TOO strong?

[Blacksun388]

So after a full run of the campaign and getting my bearings on the gameplay I restarted the campaign again and started actually trying to strategize. Having my hacker Gamera sit in his hacker cave in America and hack the Gibson with that sweet, sweet 3 hardware rating is just incredibly broken in the early game. Having the hacker lower the alarm rating of anywhere (nobody except Japan was apparently on their game for that month) I deployed my agents to to 20% or less right out of the gate made extracting scientists an absolute walk in the park, and before I got to the event where my wife is killed (strangely taking the route where I give up some of my Sigma research in exchange for her life seems to just be stuck on the mission dialogue box. I can click the response at the end of the message chain and the game just sort of sits there and doesn't continue even though nothing crashes. I've already sent a bug report about it.) I'm already sitting at almost a full deck of sigma scientists and unlocking breakthroughs left, right, and center. I usually don't begrudge an easy victory but come on dude! The other nations pretty much never had a chance.

[ZenMonkey]

No it's not. It does what it's suppose to.

[Muse]

It is. Ransomware is also too useful to be fair.

[ZenMonkey]

Originally posted by Muse:

It is. Ransomware is also too useful to be fair.

Disagree. It's not like every agent is a master hacker. You can fail at hacking. I've failed many times hacking. There are also too many events that change the world stage enough that if you do pull off a Ransonware it's effects are not going to last for years; things will come about that nullify any Ransonware attack or any hack for that matter.

[spleendamage]

It's far too overpowered. They're able to do almost everything better than other options. Hackers can identify all scientists in a location in one go, while agents on the scene have to invest days upon days to do the same. They reduce alert level far more easily than diplomats. Ransomware ends up being a free huge diplomatic card.

[ZenMonkey]

Originally posted by spleendamage:

It's far too overpowered. They're able to do almost everything better than other options. Hackers can identify all scientists in a location in one go, while agents on the scene have to invest days upon days to do the same. They reduce alert level far more easily than diplomats. Ransomware ends up being a free huge diplomatic card.

You're not looking at the bigger picture...  There are things that come about where you're going to want intel fast and dirty. Plus finding scientist is just have of the mission, once you find them you have to bribe, seduce, ect, most hackers can't do that stuff, they're more introverts and weirdos.

I've failed hacks with an elite hacker, it don't always work. ransomware has side effects, like you can upset relations with your country or other countries, you use it at your own risk. Also, it's not a long lasting effect and other events pop up that can change the tide of the game.

[Dreaming_Raven]

Yes it is and i was going to write a post about it so i'm glad i am not the only one thiking this.
In my post i will explain how Hacking and specially the Hacker trait is mandatory in the game and is destroying the diversity of strategy you can use in order to play.

[ZenMonkey]

Originally posted by Dreaming_Raven:

Yes it is and i was going to write a post about it so i'm glad i am the only one thiking this.
In my post i will explain how Hacking and specially the Hacker trait is mandatory in the game and is destroying the diversity of strategy you can use in order to play.

Explain this.....

[ZenMonkey]

I've unlocked 39 Agents and I have 19 more to go. Out of those 39 Agents I have 7 hackers,only one of them is elite. They fail at hacks, sometimes they have to do recon which takes a few days.If you think hackers are op just play at harder level or tweak the game to make it harder for you. I've been playing a lot and haven't noticed hackers being op.

[Radene]

Originally posted by Kaijudo:

I've unlocked 39 Agents and I have 19 more to go. Out of those 39 Agents I have 7 hackers,only one of them is elite. They fail at hacks, sometimes they have to do recon which takes a few days.If you think hackers are op just play at harder level or tweak the game to make it harder for you. I've been playing a lot and haven't noticed hackers being op.

The elite hacker I got (Double K or whatshisface, German dude) seemed to always be completely cool with just staying home and hacking remotely. Never caught, never failed. Only a few times he reported "They had nothing worth stealing".

Only took him out in the field when a country bailed from the race, to quickly yoink a scientist.

But yes please no nerf, this is what actually keeps me in game. It's really a pain that other countries can totally nuke my research by completing a tech and triggering a "hey, we hypnotized/kidnapped your scientists!" thing, while I don't get that option, I think.

[ZenMonkey]

Originally posted by Radene:

Originally posted by Kaijudo:

I've unlocked 39 Agents and I have 19 more to go. Out of those 39 Agents I have 7 hackers,only one of them is elite. They fail at hacks, sometimes they have to do recon which takes a few days.If you think hackers are op just play at harder level or tweak the game to make it harder for you. I've been playing a lot and haven't noticed hackers being op.

The elite hacker I got (Double K or whatshisface, German dude) seemed to always be completely cool with just staying home and hacking remotely. Never caught, never failed. Only a few times he reported "They had nothing worth stealing".

Only took him out in the field when a country bailed from the race, to quickly yoink a scientist.

But yes please no nerf, this is what actually keeps me in game. It's really a pain that other countries can totally nuke my research by completing a tech and triggering a "hey, we hypnotized/kidnapped your scientists!" thing, while I don't get that option, I think.

Lol, funny story.

I have Double K too, he's the elite I've been talking about. I just took a little hack test with him. He completed simple hacks like locating scientist, but since he can't seduce or convert so you still have to send agents to recruit those scientist. I tried installing some ransomware he did it twice to 2 other countries but failed with America, I also tried to locate scientist in America and he failed that too.  This is all pretty much at the start of the game and I'm tested it on classic, so the map wasn't on hard or easy. I think elite has a little over 50/50 at what they're good at and that's about it, but they can fail like everyone else and they have weak points. Like I said he can locate anybody but he can't turn them to our side, you need other agents for that and ransomware is hard to pull off all the time. 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1919269236

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1919269059

[Radene]

Originally posted by Kaijudo:

Originally posted by Radene:

The elite hacker I got (Double K or whatshisface, German dude) seemed to always be completely cool with just staying home and hacking remotely. Never caught, never failed. Only a few times he reported "They had nothing worth stealing".

Only took him out in the field when a country bailed from the race, to quickly yoink a scientist.

But yes please no nerf, this is what actually keeps me in game. It's really a pain that other countries can totally nuke my research by completing a tech and triggering a "hey, we hypnotized/kidnapped your scientists!" thing, while I don't get that option, I think.

Lol, funny story.

I have Double K too, he's the elite I've been talking about. I just took a little hack test with him. He completed simple hacks like locating scientist, but since he can't seduce or convert so you still have to send agents to recruit those scientist. I tried installing some ransomware he did it twice to 2 other countries but failed with America, I also tried to locate scientist in America and he failed that too.  This is all pretty much at the start of the game and I'm tested it on classic, so the map wasn't on hard or easy. I think elite has a little over 50/50 at what they're good at and that's about it, but they can fail like everyone else and they have weak points. Like I said he can locate anybody but he can't turn them to our side, you need other agents for that and ransomware is hard to pull off all the time. 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1919269236

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1919269059

Guess I just got lucky, then, and am in for some brutal karma comeuppance xD

[ZenMonkey]

Originally posted by Radene:

Guess I just got lucky, then, and am in for some brutal karma comeuppance xD

ROTFL

Too funny

[Blacksun388]

Maybe I did just get lucky then. But if not for the glitch I couldn't get past I could probably beat that run significantly faster than any of my other game attempts. Like I said, I had almost a full roster of scientists before my wife was kidnapped. So I was almost done with the game already at that point.

[ZenMonkey]

Originally posted by Blacksun388:

Maybe I did just get lucky then. But if not for the glitch I couldn't get past I could probably beat that run significantly faster than any of my other game attempts. Like I said, I had almost a full roster of scientists before my wife was kidnapped. So I was almost done with the game already at that point.

Yeah I hear you. Yep sometimes you get that good run. I'm thinking about making a team of just hackers to see what happens lol. Usually pick a hacker, spy hunter, negotiator, and someone good at seduction. 

[76561197971439067]

I agree some things are out of balance. Hacking and almost everything requiring INT being some of it. And as stated makes extractions a cakewalk nomatter the agents fighting stats.
{LINK REMOVED} Example game. Same strat worked on hard btw