- Bit lenghty, but I hope it helps with some of the basics. Core 225 has a sort of guideline to hacking and 259 has all the tables giving examples of what devices can do what and modifiers. The modifiers don't apply if the hack is successful, because then you count as the owner of the device. Hacking someone's mesh inserts successfully will allow you total control until they manually lock down the connection. If you succeed at first hack test and use moxie to make it a critical success, you will gain +30 for all actions inside that device and stay hidden with full admin access. - All right, let's sum up the basics again. First and foremost, we want to keep our software up to date, there is plenty of sources out there (software section, grants +10~+30 modifiers which degrades over time if not kept updated). Then, we practice our scripts, these things can make you a downright menace when used right (programming/10 amount of hacking actions at preset times), which allow us to effectively set up a time bomb. Remember to Take Your Time(+10 up to +30 per extra minute) when trying to get into a system. Like they used to say it, "Steady does it." And for gods sake, don't forget your Muse. It can and will help you, make use of it. I never leave my place without two Ectos I can toss. The simple reason is Mesh ID, by going trough an ecto, you'll be using it's ID, and if you use a script to remove traces of your own ID, it'll be so much harder to trace you down. Once spotted, you run the script and toss it. Sometimes we just don't have the time or chance to physically destroy the ecto, and shoddy job can leave information to be salvaged. You can always work on a few Fake ID's to throw off any links to yourself when buying gear or dealing with shady people, and helps keeping sniffers off your scent, constantly shifting ID's and using encryption. Remember that most devices are slaved to one source, sort of like a bottleneck. When on a person, it's called PAN(personal area network), that means that everything is connected to one device. For example, this Pulsar, Ecto and Gnat are all slaved to my Mesh Inserts, meaning that if anyone tries to hack them, they have to go trough me personally, and might not be prepared for the softwares and scripts I personalized. It took a while for my team to trust me enough that they slaved their mesh inserts to mine for protection. Before you try and hack someone, go into Privacy Mode(core 252), making our signals harder to detect and less likely to reveal our real location. I've seen people with radio boosters do some pretty good work. Any information we send or receive should be done using Public Key Crypto. It's not as powerful as Quantum, but is the next best thing and requires like a week to crack, so having the team generate each their own key once a week is a pretty good security measure. If getting spotted isn't your biggest concern, a rushed Brute Force hacking might be your only choice if time is running out. You'll be spotted at once, but you might get what you wanted, or at least create a distraction for your friends. There's always one trick we can do better than others. If there's a nanoswarm closing in and you're out of EMP granades, turn your Ectos into radio jammers. With luck and skill, you and everyone else will be locked out from the Mesh, but if the nanoswarm doesn't have microwave or laser links, they will be effectively unable to get close. It's not perfect, but better than nothing. You can also use your Mesh inserts this way, but the ecto can be left behind to block a door for a short while. As for Augments, my personal favorite is Multi-tasking. I hear people love using Mental Speed, but it's more of a VR game gimick if you ask me. Yes, you can do basically same thing, but you still have to do it in order, where a multi-tasker can be hacking three devices at once, or fight and hack at the same time. Besides, being in constant slow-mo can become really boring after a while as you're somewhat isolated and dependant on time buffering to communicate with people. Electrical Sense and Wrist Tools can be really good for getting into those hardwired servers and devices. As for gear, a Splash Granade filled with a Taggant nanoswarm is both cheap and a great way to mark enemy targets for your allies trough the Tacnet. A Gray Box(panopticon 150), while usually illegal, will allow you to make hardwired devices, such as airlock controls outside a hab accessible wirelessly, as once connected, it will send stealthed signals to you.