The containers at data and relic sites are locked. To open one you fly close, start a hack, and play out its security as a grid of hidden hex nodes. Your virus starts at the entry and spreads node by node. Somewhere in the grid is the System Core: break it and the container opens. Lose all your coherence and it locks for good, often destroying what's inside.
Steps
- Fit an Ostrava Cipher-2 Data Analyzer (data caches) or a Vorr Delve-2 Relic Analyzer (Choir reliquaries) in a mid slot. Show mePlay to try this
- At the site, select a container and press D, or activate the analyzer. Your ship flies within 2.5 km and starts the hack.
- Click hidden nodes next to revealed ones to spread the virus. Show mePlay to try this
- Follow the numbers to the System Core and break it.
What you need
Requires Hacking I Requires Archaeology IHacking I for the Data Analyzer, Archaeology I for the Relic Analyzer. Each level of either skill adds 5 coherence to your virus against its kind of container.
Your virus
Two numbers, shown at the top of the window: Show mePlay to try this
- Coherence: its hit points. Reach zero and the hack is lost.
- Strength: the damage it deals in each exchange.
The node grid
Every reveal is a turn. Every attack on a defence is a turn.
- Clear nodes show a number: how many steps it is to the System Core. Use them like a minefield map to home in on the core.
- Defences block the way until you destroy them. Revealing one doesn't trigger it; attacking does. In each exchange your virus hits first, and a defence it kills doesn't hit back.
- The System Core is a strong defence. Breaking it opens the container.
Defences
| Defence | What it does |
|---|---|
| Firewall | Thick and slow. Hits softly, takes long to break. |
| Antivirus | Fragile but vicious. Kill it fast or route around it. |
| Restoration node | Repairs every other defence each turn until destroyed. |
| Suppressor | Saps your virus's strength while it lives. |
| Choir Echo | Relic grids only. Scrambles the distance numbers around it. |
Kill Restoration nodes early, or every fight around them takes twice as long.
Utilities
Some nodes hold a utility. Click a revealed utility to pick it up; that's free. Using one costs a turn. You can hold four. Show mePlay to try this
| Utility | Effect |
|---|---|
| Self-repair | Restores 15 coherence over 3 turns. |
| Kernel rot | Halves a defence's coherence. |
| Polymorphic shield | Blocks the next 2 hits on your virus. |
| Secondary vector | 4 damage a turn to one defence for 4 turns. |
Kernel rot on the System Core, then a Secondary vector, is a strong finish.
Outside pressure
The hack runs while your ship sits in space, and space doesn't wait.
- Every hit your ship takes deals 1 damage to the virus.
- Every second you spend more than 2.5 km from the container deals 1 more.
- Slipping away, or going beyond 25 km, aborts the hack. An aborted hack doesn't lock the container, so you can come back.
Clear the guards first, then stop your ship next to the container before you start.
Data or relic
Relic grids are meaner: more Restoration nodes, Choir Echoes, and only two utilities. Data grids are the place to learn.