Wandering in the wastelands of Fallout 3, where the terminals of "Robco Industries" can give access to many things, for example information that can enrich the game's plot or excellent loot (money, items, weapons, etc.), the ability " Burglary "will prove to be fundamental. Since terminals can also control defensive turrets, knowing how to hack them could be essential to accomplish some missions. Although some are already unlocked, therefore accessible by anyone, most of the terminals are protected by a password and must be hacked. If your "Science" level equals or exceeds that required to hack the terminal in question, you can try your hand at this activity in order to access the secrets it protects.
Steps
Step 1. Increase your character's "Science" level
This is a fundamental skill as it determines which terminals you can attempt to hack. Each time your character levels up, you will receive "Skill" points which you will need to increase the level of the "Science" skill. To get a temporary increase in skill level, you can also use the "Mentats" available in the game. Alternatively, you can use the scientist's white coat found during the "My God!" Mission, while wearing it the level of the "Science" skill will increase by 10 points. You must know that the maximum level that can be reached by this skill is 100 and that the terminals in the game are divided into 5 groups based on the difficulty of access. Obviously it is not possible to hack a terminal that requires a level of "Science" not yet reached by your character:
- Very Easy - 0
- Easy - 25
- Medium - 50
- Difficult - 75
- Very Difficult - 100
Step 2. Get to know the terminal interface
When you interact with a terminal that you can hack, the password finding screen will be displayed. In the upper part of the screen the number of attempts left will be indicated, while in the lower part a disordered set of characters will be displayed, within which it will be possible to distinguish some meaningful words. These are the potential passwords for accessing the terminal. Your task will be to guess the correct password before finishing the attempts at your disposal. Potential passwords are all the same length and can appear split over two lines.
Step 3. Select the first word
As a first attempt, try to use the word with the fewest repeated letters. This will make it easier to reduce the pool of potential passwords. If you are particularly lucky, you will be able to select the correct word on the first try, getting your job done right away. Conversely, if the chosen word is not the correct password, you will see a number displayed on the screen.
The higher the level of the "Science" skill, the fewer words you can choose from
Step 4. Determine how many letters of the chosen word are correct
After selecting the wrong password, a report will be displayed informing you of the number of letters that match the exact ones and are positioned correctly. For example, the number 4/9 indicates that 4 letters of the chosen word are correct and appear in the correct position. It is therefore possible that within the chosen word there were more correct letters, but that they were not counted because they did not appear in the right position.
Step 5. Choose the next word
Compare the previously chosen word with the words that are left on the screen to try to reduce the number of possibilities available to you. For example, having a result of 3/12 using the word "CONSTRUCTION" means having to search for another word with 3 common letters located in the same position. Most likely in the list there will be other words ending with the ending ION, possible correspondence of the three letters guessed in the previous attempt. Choose the next word you think would be the right password and check the results.
Step 6. Once you get to the third try, pay attention to the brackets
One of the keys to successfully hacking a terminal is to look carefully at the "parentheses". If a pair of brackets appears in the list of characters on the screen, selecting it will give you one of the following advantages: removing one of the incorrect words or restoring the initial number of attempts. As it is easy to guess, in order not to waste the given advantage it is advisable to exploit it only after having performed several attempts. Pairs of brackets will appear at random, but as the level of the "Science" skill increases more and more frequently.
- The pairs of parentheses you might find are the following: {}, , and (). The brackets may contain a variable number of characters inside them.
- The simplest way to identify them is to scroll slowly with the cursor through each character on the screen. Once a valid pair of parentheses has been found, all the characters they contain will be highlighted.
- You may wish to reserve the use of this benefit only for the last attempt.
Step 7. Choose the third word
Even if the parenthesis trick didn't help and you couldn't find the correct word in the first two attempts, you should have a clearer idea of what the correct letters and positions are. Compare the results obtained from the first two words entered to see if you can determine with certainty which are the correct letters. Use your insights to choose the third potential password.
Step 8. Do not immediately use the fourth and final attempt at your disposal
A mistake would cause the terminal to freeze completely. The only way to access a locked terminal is to know its access password, but since only certain passwords can be recovered from an object in the game world, the terminal will most likely remain locked forever. Even if you only have the fourth and last attempt, you can still take some alternative routes:
- Use the parenthesis trick explained earlier. If you haven't done this before, you can use it now. As an advantage you will get the restoration of the initial number of attempts left or the elimination of some invalid words, sometimes making sure you choose the correct password.
- Exit the terminal and start over. This step restores the initial login procedure, with the only difference that the words on the screen will be changed randomly, forcing you to start a new search from scratch. The advantage of this choice is to restore the original number of attempts at your disposal (4) and to prevent the terminal from being blocked.
- Try guessing the password anyway. As you can easily guess, the chances of the terminal being blocked are very high, so this procedure is not recommended. Instead, try going out and starting over.
