Sunday, July 21, 2013

Odyssey Exploration Guide Part 6/8

(Draiv Solregard's Exploration guide is subject to change, based on updated information, new information, expansions, and the apocalypse.  If you notice any errors in this guide, wait for your booster side effects to subside.  If the error is still there let me know and I'll look into it.)


Hacking

Your goal is to bash your way through the mini-game and loot spew to get goodies.

The hacking isn't complicated to understand, you start off at a node and can only activate highlighted nodes which are near nodes you have already activated.  Your objective is to find the system core and destroy it to win.  As you click on nodes random things will appear whether helpful or detrimental, you won't know until you click. 

You are given two chances to hack a container.  While there is no penalty if you fail your first hacking attempt, failure of the second hack attempt will cause the container to blow up and destroy all the goodies inside.  Containers inside a wormhole will allow you to hack as many times as you want, but the sites contain Sleeper NPC's which will try and kill you.

Your Virus:


·         Coherence - This is your virus' health and if this drops to zero you lose.  It is represented on the left with an orange color and the actual value is located at the top.
·         Strength - This is how much damage your virus will deal to defensive subsystems and the system core.  It is represented on the right with a red color and the actual value is located at the bottom.

(Note a few images are missing, I thought I had them but as it turns out I don't.  I will update when I come across them.)
Good Subsystems:



Utility Subsystem:  Polymorphic Shield - Makes you immune to damage for two turns.  Best used against high damage defensive nodes.



Utility Subsystem:  Self Repair - Will heal you a random amount for three turns.  Best used right away since there is no cap to virus coherence.


Utility Subsystem:  Kernel Rot - Cuts the coherence of the system core or defensive node in half.  Best used against high defensive nodes.

Utility Subsystem:  Secondary Vector - Deals 20 damage per turn for three turns against a defensive node or system core.  Best used against high coherence defensive nodes.

Bad Subsystems:



Defense Subsystem:  Firewall - The most common opposition you'll run into.  Deals a bit of damage and may have a high coherence.


Defense Subsystem:  Anti-Virus - A pain in the butt, normally lower coherence but hits like a dreadnought.  Try not to attack these unless you can guarantee it'll die before it hits you.


Defense Subsystem:  Restoration Node - KILL IT...KILL IT WITH FIRE...KILLT IT NOW!!!!!!!  Every turn it's active it will raise the coherence of other defensive nodes.

Defense Subsystem:  Suppressor - This is annoying because it'll half your virus' strength which can really gimp your main advantage.  Kill it as soon as possible.

Other:



Data Cache - Can contain good things but frequently contains a defensive node.  Do not touch these unless you have run out of options.


System Core - This is what you are trying to find and kill to be able to perform a successful hack.


Hacking Mechanics:

When you attack a defensive subsystem your damage will always be applied first.  This is why having more strength is so beneficial.  I'll give two examples showing why it is so beneficial to get your hacking skills to V.

1.  Your virus has 120/40 (coherence/strength) and you need to get through a firewall 80/20 and an anti-virus 70/40 and the system core 70/10.
2.  Your virus has 90/30 (coherence/strength) and you need to get through the same as above.

Click
Virus
Firewall

Click
Virus
Firewall

120/40
80/20


90/30
80/20
First
100/40
40/20

First
70/30
50/20
Second
100/40
0/20 (dead)

Second
50/30
20/20




Third
50/30
0/20 (dead)


Anti-virus



Anti-virus

100/40
70/40


50/30
70/40
Third
60/40
30/40

Fourth
10/30
40/40
Fourth
60/40
0/40 (dead)

Fifth
0/30 (dead)
10/30




Sixth
0/30 (dead)
0/30 (dead)


System Core



System Core

60/40
70/10


0/30 (dead)
70/10
Fifth
50/40
30/10

Seventh
0/30 (dead)
40/10
Sixth
50/40
0/10 (dead)

Eighth
0/30 (dead)
10/10




Ninth
0/30 (dead)
0/10 (dead)


VICTORY



FAILURE

As you can clearly see there is a great benefit to training to V on your hacking skills.  The above breakdown also shows how damage is applied, notice whenever you kill a defensive subsystem his damage is not applied.

Hacking Walkthrough:

The majority of the time the system core will be located on the outside nodes, periodically it can show up one node deeper in but that doesn't happen often.


I start off picking a direction from my starting point and clicking only the outside nodes until an obstacle presents itself.


Even though I could destroy that firewall, for the sake of demonstrating my method for hacking I'm going to ignore it and go a different direction.  Notice I still only hit outside nodes until I can't go any further.


I picked up a repair subsystem which I will use and since I'm blocked from all outside edges I'm going to make my way to the nearest edge until I can't go any further.  I'll become blocked which is why there is a second arrow going up.


Because there are more nodes available up top, I'm going to ignore that node outlined in yellow.  This is smart because to gain access to multiple nodes I need to kill one firewall instead of having to kill two firewalls to gain access to one node.


Now even though the system core isn't on the outside edge, the majority of the time it will be.  I also uncovered two data caches but you always want to ignore those until you run out of options because they often contain defensive subsystems which will ruin your day if you still have options.

5 comments:

  1. You are given two chances to hack a container. Failure of the second hack attempt will cause the container to blow up and destroy all the goodies inside.

    This is true in kspace (high, low, null). In wspace, containers don't blow up. You can hack as many times as you want, and it is often better to just quit and restart the minigame if you get a "bad draw".

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  2. I'll have to clarify this then.

    I didn't spend a whole lot of time, if any exploring in wormholes, because I do this solo and in a covert ops I figured my chances wouldn't be great with sleepers.
    :)

    But as I mentioned earlier that wormhole sites have sleepers and I don't include any type of combat fitting advice...I made my assumption that exploration would be done in k-space and only with the Tech I scanning frigate or the covert ops.

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    Replies
    1. I also explore mostly solo and in kspace. However, since I live in wspace, I also hack those sites from time to time -- but only after a fleet of Tengus and battleships has killed all the baddies.

      You are certainly correct that how to deal with sleepers is outside of the scope of this document.

      One other small clarification you could make is to state explicitly that there is no penalty for failing once in kspace other than reducing the number of tries you get from 2 down to 1. Specifically, you get the same loot (assuming you get it in the second try).

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    2. I made the change :)

      I find it interesting you explore solo, I do the same thing, and all the explorers Stay Frosty has killed and run into have also all been solo. I thought all these mechanic changes were supposed to increase group play. O.o

      Yup, Sleepers are downright nasty. My first encounter with them was when I was ninja mining WH grav sites in my venture. A couple months later I moved into a WH and got to deal with trying to kill the buggers. Though my time in the WH was short lived (I had a falling out with the alliance leader), Sleepers require a decent group of combat pilots in the higher class WH's.

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    3. In wspace, since we have a bunch of ships already there I always do cans with at least two and usually three or more pilots gathered 'round. We always get all the loot.

      But yeah, I explore solo. This is for several reasons.

      First, I am on a fair amount of time when my corpmates have gone to bed. (They get up in the morning to "work", or something.) If they are on, there is usually something to do in wspace that is more fun than exploring (and often, pays better). So, I do that. If my mates are not on, there is very little I can do in wspace. (Hunt people if I can find any, and suck gas are about it.) Exploration is nice because it is always possible, does not depend on other people, and often nullsec or lowsec is just two systems away from my POS.

      Second, I don't think joint exploration would pay that much better than solo. I usually get all the loot of value out of data cans by myself. I don't get all the salvage from relics; there are just too many cans. So having a helper would increase profits there. But I am pretty sure that the extra amount I might make would never be worth splitting 50/50 with another pilot. I could run an alt, but I would prefer not to. It means extra work on every warp and jump, and puts twice the ships in possible peril. And I can use my second monitor to do highsec moneymaking anyway, and probably get as much or more.

      You are right that CCP thinks their mechanic here is to encourage group play. Well, it kinda sorta does, but so many factors run the other way that I expect group exploration is very rare. The only time I can see myself doing it is to introduce a newb to it.

      Third, I think of myself as a solo guy. I have always explored alone. I love the romance of the single guy out in his tiny ship poking around where he's not welcome.

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