reviving this old beta thread would like to see what the new players think of these ideas Now that i have your attention, i think it would be a good time to explain my thought processes on Hacking in its current state and how i can see a chance for improving it and allowing it to grow as the game does. the way currently is implemented an infiltrator can only hack Terminals or Base Turrets the way he does this is to rock up to either a terminal or a turret and pushes E to hack the item, now this method of hacking was implemented mainly due to the way you had to capture control points, where you had to push E to hack the CP to get it to flip and because everyone needed to do it not just infiltrators and they couldn't justify giving a tool to infiltrators to hack when it was required of everyone. Now the direction of the game has changed you no longer HACK a control point it captures based on your proximity to it, and this is likely to change again to be even further away from the Hacking method which is unlikely to return again, so why is it that hacking still remains the way it used to be as it stands the only people doing any sort of hacking is infiltrators and the hacking they do has no real impact on the "world". My thoughts on this are to remove the Sensor Dart tool from the Infiltrator and give it to the Light Assault which I think it would suit the LA better due to their ability to get into superior positions allowing them to more effectively mark areas of enemy clusters. I would also like them to remove the whole Push E to hack mechanic completely and implementing an old favorite the PS vets will love it its time for the REK ( Remote Electronics Kit ) to return its simple and the mechanic is already implemented in the game, you can even use the same model as the Medic gunbut maybe it could be black. as stated it works just like the med gun, you get XP per tick just like healing/repairing i would think half the current rate that engineers get is a good starting point. The hacking tool could still be limited to terminals and turrets but because its a usable item and can have different "Data Cartridge" installed you can then advance the hacking range of infiltrators the same way all over advancements are done, imagine suit modifications where you can either have the Adrenal Pump or the Nano-weave Armour installed and you had to change load-outs etc to select something else the Cert tree could look something like this PS - excuse the low quality of this chopcert prices are not correct i expect them to scale the same as the medical applicator upgradesin-terms of cost for each line of upgrades Hacking Efficiency - the Basic upgrade increases the speed and range of your REK once you max the bubbles, 2 other options(Data Cartridge) will be come available to you Security Subsystems - This allows an infiltrator to hack Base Shield Generators & Teleporters for a Once off Teleport. The way i see shield generator hacking working is you use your REK to hack( you can think of it as pre-loading your factions security protocols) the generator, it takes the same time as it would to arm and blowup a generator currently, the benefit is that the generator goes offline and is only able to be restored in 2 ways, 1. an infiltrator re-hacks the generator 2. the defenders set charges to blow up the generator and the then it is repaired just like the current method it would receive a notification across the base something along the lines of "A Virus has been detected at a Shield Generator" which would give time for defenders to come kill the infiltrator, now if you take control of the base when the base flips the faction pulse restarts the generators and because your protocols are pre-loaded they come online instantly. This also has certs as well to increase the speed and range of this type of hacking, once maxed out you will have a passive upgrade that requires more certs to be spent that allows you to hack Spawn Control Units, doing so will not only stop your enemy spawning but also allow your faction to spawn inside that bases tubes, it will turn off the pain fields but not the terminals or shields which would allow you to walk out but not back in, so basically you can re-spawn there only, this isn't something easy to do as you would have to stand next to the SCU hacking it for the same time it would take to blow up, its basically only doable once you have locked down a base and are camping the spawn, but i wont say there aren't going to be skilled infiltrators that will be able to do this covertly i consider this true back hacking as you are preparing the base by weakening its defenses prior to assault. Data Corruption - This allows the infiltrator to corrupt the recognition software of Vehicles and Deployables, this basically would allow infiltrator to hack Enemy MANA turrets for their own personal use and Jack Unoccupied/Abandoned Enemy Common Pool Vehicles this too would be able to be upgraded and once Maxed allow you to gain access to the Advanced Algorithms these would allow an infiltrator to Jack any common pool un-deployed vehicle whether it has occupants or not. however this algorithm while not advanced enough to hack a deployed vehicle it will allow them access to the equipment consoles on a deployed vehicle. due to the complexities of the security systems of the faction specific vehicles the NS hacking tool cannot properly interface with them and therefore only NS based vehicles are able to be "Jacked" once you have maxed both of those you gain access to the 3rd "Data Cartridge" Nano Worms - Nano worms are complex virus programs that can be embedded deep within the main consoles of bases, the main console for a base is always located in what they consider the safest room. The Spawn room, so in theory an infiltrator would first have to gain access to the base -> hack the shield generators -> then the Spawn Unit -> Die and then Respawn at that base -> hack the equipment terminal to swap loadouts then hack the main console which would take a long time and would take some serious skill to go for that long without being spotted and killed. some of the Options for worms could be 1. Turn off All Remaining Base Shielding - 15 minutes 2. Switch all the Terminals and Turrets to Your factions Control for 10 minutes 3. D/C the Uplink to Adjacent Hexes ie disable Base Benefits ( which is apparently coming ) - 5 minutes these could work like the fire modes for other guns where you push B to select the desired worm now the issue here is balance, so what i thought is due to the complexity of dealing with Advanced Subroutines / algorithms and nano worms it would be beneficial that you are not weighed down with excess equipment so it is recommended that use of the stalker cloak be a requirement of being able to complete these advanced tasks successfully. so basically only a infiltrator who has dedicated himself to the art of infiltrating and hacking can complete these tasks. On the topic of the stalker cloak I imagine it as a permanent cloak you sacrifice your main weapon for a cloak generator allowing permanent stealth at the sacrifice of being effective in a combat situation i would also imagine that the cloak work the same as regular in-terms of visibility until your stationary and undamaged for 5+ seconds to which you become completely invisible. obviously people with advanced sensors in their suit or on their vehicle will still be able to see you on their minimap, and cloak doesn't remove body-heat so infrared scopes and optics for vehicles will still be able to see you. I could possibly seeing it have close to zero stealth sound when cloaking or uncloaking. while mentioning sounds I would like to see hopefully different sounds for the cloaking mechanism for each faction so a player can distinguish friendly from foe just by the sound it makes when they stealth. These are only rough ideas and while i think that on some level these could be implemented i do not expect them to be implemented exactly as i have written above TL;DR 1. Remove Sensor Dart From Infiltrator and give them REK Instead 2. REK works like Med Gun and Can be Upgraded with Data Cartridge 3. Advanced Hacking Data Cartridge to enable an infiltrator to subvert base defenses and Jack Vehicles
I came into this thread thinking this would be a tutorial on how to either hack the game (good for a lol before the mods jumped on it) or how to do the Infiltrator Hacking better... But this... This I could get behind. This I like. It would make playing an Infiltrator -fun- +1
Sounds really good to me, especially considering actually infiltrating a base and hacking things currently gives you next to no XP. The current best Infil role is sniper, as far as I can tell (apart from when you hack an AV turret behind a tank column or something). I would give my rifle on occasion for that cloak. Besides, I can still shoot people with my Magshot!
Great idea with the exception of the nano worms. Would cause too many infils to be running around, and I like to be the minority.
nano worms could perhaps be set on a cooldown thus allowing only 1 infiltrator to use it once every.. XX mins or hours. Further its a solid and way better suggestion then hacking is atm. +1
seems the idea has been received the same as it was in beta, hopefully this can be implemented and leave hacking as it is for now, don't want to rock the boat to much would just be happy with the REK because at least then i know more advanced hacking will be easier to implement
yeah, whats with that but i dont think it will make there be more infils that you would notice as the ones im talking about will be stealthy.. Like Ninja
great idea, we really needed something that makes hacking more usefull, and entertaining at the same time. i only have a problem with the "nano worm" part, it could be a bit OP. it would also be cool if they turned the current progress bar into a minigame of some kind, i just think that it would make it more interestning if you actually had to hack it YOURSELF instead of having some lame progress bar doing it for you. +1
I support all of the changes with the exception of the worms. I'd be more than happy giving the worthless sensor dart to another class. I have never understood why infiltrators were given such an inefficient tool with 2-3 shots.
... i wasn't suggesting they put everything i listed in the game, as i said just ideas to express the point that having a REK for hacking would allow more scope to advance hacking in different ways, easier than the way hacking is currently implemented
Title is really misleading on this post. I 100% support the idea of hacking being worked out to make more sense. I think some of your suggestions are rather extreme, in the sense it would require an infiltrator to jump through a dozen hoops just to get a small or redundant benefit (converting turrets and consoles when you already effectively pushed them out of their spawn is really a bit late for it to be really effective no?) I would really like to see hacking worked out a bit better, but maybe have some applications that are more generally usable by infiltrators. Some of your suggestions make a lot of sense, like disabling all consoles (except those in the main spawn) and turrets. But maybe they should add certain "hack terminals" inside the base at specific buildings or something for us to hack. That way we can disable them (for a very short time, mind that) BEFORE the main force of our group pushes through. Non the less though, hacking is currently lacking a bit. It's not that it's bad, it's just that more could be done with it.
@nyth_ that's the point to get you reading it i don't think the idea of making them unrepairable is OP , they could always hack the generator back or blow it up and then repair it.
The only thing I don't like is Nano Worms, and it not even that I think it would be OP. You just need to jump through way to many hoops to get any use out of it.
