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Hack

Command Cost

500 Command Points

Description

Every so often, you might come across an electronic device that allows you to hack it - computers, cash machines, you know, that kind of thing. When you encounter these devices, the 'hack' command lets you make an attempt to access its internals.

There are two mechanisms for hacking - the first is a straightforward hack which will cause the computer to display a grid of symbols. You must 'swap' symbols on this grid to create rows of three or more symbols. If you have ever played 'bejeweled', you'll know the score. The difficulty of a terminal determines the score you need in order to hack it. Once you have gotten a high enough score, you can 'hack complete' to finalise your attempt.

A second mechanism for hacking is that you can attempt to guess the password. Each computer generates a password when it's created, and you can attempt to hack this password in a different minigame. It works by entering a password (the length of which is based on the difficulty of the terminal), which will give you a bit of a analysis back. 'hack <object> [with] [password] <your guess here>' is how you attempt a password hack.

+ for a position indicates that your entry is higher than the target entry, - indicates your entry is lower than the target entry, _ indicates that you're using a letter instead of a number (or vice versa), and if you see the value you entered, it means you got it right.

You have an unknown number of attempts (at least three) in which to do this, but you can also attempt to reset the attempts with 'hack reset attempts on <object>' - success in this respect will reduce the number of attempts that have been registered with the system. If you fail, you'll increase the count or possibly lock the system down entirely.

There is no difference between the two techniques with regards to the end point, they're just two different ways to accomplish the same thing.

Syntax Forms

hack <target> 

Begin a hacking attempt on the indicated target.

hack auto <target> 

Make an automated hacking attempt on the indicated target.

hack complete [on] <target> 

Complete your attempt to hack the indicated target.

hack <target> [with] [password] <string> 

Attempt to hack the indicated target with a particular password.

hack reset attempts on <target> 

Attempt to reset the number of password tries on the indicated target.

Examples

Example one
> hack computer
You tap for a few moments on the keyboard of the desktop computer (on), and gain access to the internals.  Time to get cracking.
Example two
> hack swap a 0 and b 0 on computer
You can only swap symbols if one or both would make a match.
Example three
> hack complete on computer
You stop typing, hit an obscure key combination, and nothing of interest happens.
Example four
>hack computer with password bin
The screen of the desktop computer (on) shows the following code: - - +
You enter a password on the desktop computer (on).

See Also:

ssh