As in Fallout 3, in Fallout 4 you can also gain access to all sorts of computer terminals with a hacking mini-game to obtain additional information, open locked doors or manipulate turrets and robots. In our hacking tutorial we explain how the mini-game works and how you can improve hacking.
Just like picking locks, hacking terminals is one of the mini-games that you will come across again and again in the post-apocalypse role-playing game. The gameplay hasn't changed much compared to its predecessors, but there are some useful tips that will make hacking a lot easier and which we will introduce to you in more detail below.
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Hacking Terminals – Tutorial
As soon as you have to hack a locked terminal for information for the first time, a jumble of words and characters appears on the screen in front of you. It's now up to you to find the right password among all the words. You have four attempts to find the correct code word.
If you now select your first word and are not immediately correct, you will be shown on the right whether at least one or more of the letters were correct. This is indicated by the number of hits. In this way you can now compare other words that also contain these letters and thus get closer to the correct solution.
All the characters between the words are not just there to confuse, but sometimes have a use. As a rule, the symbols are individually highlighted in color when you select them. If several characters are highlighted in color one after the other, these are groups of characters that have useful effects.
This is how an open and closed bracket removes an incorrect password from the selection. Some character groups can also undo an incorrect choice of words.
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Tips and tricks for the hacking mini-game
For your first word, make sure there are no duplications of letters. This way you can narrow down the correct password more quickly. If there are matches, you have to pay attention to the correct letters as well as the correct position in the word. If you notice after the second or third attempt that you are completely on the wrong track, stop and you can try it again without waiting. Otherwise, if it fails, the terminal will for 10 seconds blocked.
Improve hoes
If you don't just want to hack simple terminals, you have to have 4 points in Intelligence in order to be able to learn several ranks of the following perk:
Requires 4 points of IntelligenceHacker: You can hack advanced computer terminals.Rank 1: You can hack advanced computer terminals.Rank 2 (from Lv 9): You can hack expert terminals.Rank 3 (from Lv 21): You can hack master terminals.Rank 4 (from Lv 33): A terminal is never blocked if the hack attempt fails.
In addition, a certain bobblehead can help you hack the terminal. This grants you an extra attempt at hacking, so that from now on you can allow yourself five attempts. The following video shows you the exact location of the science bobblehead:
The “Mega-Hack” magazine series also deals with computer terminals. These give you the opportunity to Manipulating spotlights, guns and robots.
If you have successfully hacked a terminal 50 times, you will receive the following trophy:
RobCo's worst nightmareHack 50 terminals.