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As a new player to the world of Hackers, or a returning player wishing to reacquaint themselves, this tutorial will guide you through the beginning stages of the game, from choosing your network name and building your first node, through to expanding your network and upgrading your nodes, all the way through to attacking a network, retracing an attack and finding more targets to hack!
Getting Started[]
On starting a new game, you will be presented with a large empty space! This is where you will be assembling your network.
Returning players who already have an account will be able to press the button in the top right to connect to their network. New players, or players who are restarting the game should tap the center of the screen to create a New Account.
Choosing a Name[]
On starting a New Account, a player is prompted for a name. Use the on-screen keyboard to input a name. Names don't have to be unique, so you will always be able to have the name you choose. Any names that contain swear words, as well as other racial or sexist words will be converted to "****", so avoid picking a name that includes those types of words. Confirm your name to move onto the next step.
Choosing a Location[]
Once you have confirmed your name, you are then prompted to choose a location. This location will be the basis of the leaderboard scores, so pick a location that means something to you! You are able to change both your name and location at a later date if you change your mind. Confirm your choice once you have chosen a location.
Congratulations! You now have a network! Next, we will learn how to build additional nodes.
Network Interface[]
This screen you see now is your network, commonly referred to as the Home Screen. At the top of the screen, you will be able to see your name and network level displayed in the top left corner. In the top right corner, you will see 3 bars - one Gold, one Red and one Silver/transparent. These are your Resources. The Gold bar represents your money/$, the Red bar represents your B-coins/B, and the Silver bar represents your Credits. These resources can be used to build your network.
In the center of the screen, you will see 4 icons. These are called "Nodes". Nodes perform a variety of functions, such as providing you with more resources, |storing your programs for an attack, and defending your resources against players who hack you.
The center node is your Core. The Core holds a small amount of money and bitcoins. The node in the top right is a Server Farm. Server Farms create money! The node at the bottom is a Program Library. These store the programs you use to attack other players. Finally, the node in the top left is a netConnection. These are starting points for initiating a hack.
Building your First Node[]
It doesn't take long for someone to attack you! To protect your network, your first task is to build a Sentry. Sentries are extremely useful nodes which install an "antivirus", which lets your nodes attack a player who is trying to hack you!
You can build a Sentry, or any other node, by pressing the "Build Menu" button found in the bottom right corner of your network. Open up the Build Menu now. This screen shows you the various nodes you can build. Each node has a cost to buy displayed underneath. Select the Sentry which is highlighted, and select "buy". Doing this will place a Sentry onto your network!
Nodes also take time to build. The Sentry you have just purchased takes one minute to finish building. You can instantly complete a building without waiting by using some of your Credit resources. Selecting the "fast forward" button will use the amount of credits displayed and finish building your node instantly.
There's a surprise in store for you however! Once your Sentry has finished building, you will be able to witness a hack in action!
Installing an Antivirus[]
All hacks start from the netConnection. Once a player starts an attack, take a close look at the Sentry node you built. You will see black circles moving from the Sentry to the Program Library. These is the antivirus working its way through your network. Once the antivirus is installed, the base of the Program Library will turn black. It now has the antivirus installed!
Defending against an Attack[]
Nodes with an antivirus will attack any Nodes that have been captured by an attacker. The antivirus on your Program Library will now start defending your network, and try to recapture your Core.
Not only that, but nodes with the antivirus will continue to spread to other nodes! You will be able to see those same black circles now moving between the Program Library and your Core. The Core has a high amount of Firewall, and takes a long time to capture, but once you take it back, it will then start firing on the captured Server Farm! Nodes have the same amount of Firewall for both the defender and the attacker, meaning that once you've recaptured the Core, the Server Farm has no chance! :D
Now you have an idea how hacks work, it's time to get your hands dirty. Time to take revenge!
Retracing an Attack[]
Once the attack is completely repelled, it's time to take the offensive! Click the "Connect" button to retrace your attacker! You don't have to repel an attack completely to be able to retrace a player - any attack which activates your network security is able to be retraced.
Attacking a Network[]
As mentioned above, all hacks start from the netConnection. Select the netConnection at the bottom of the screen to see which programs you have available. Right now you only have the basic attack available - the Beam Cannon. These programs attack a single target, and don't stop firing until the target node is captured. Tap the Beam Cannon icon to install it on the selected netConnection, and watch it attack the Program Library. Install more Programs to capture it faster!
Once the Program Library has been captured, select it and install your Beam Cannons on it. The Beams will attack the most threatening node available, in this case, the Core. Once you have captured the Core, you will start downloading the Core information. Doing this against other players will earn you Reputation, while doing this in Missions will be a requirement for you to complete the mission. Your Beams will also attack another node once the Core is captured, in this case, the Server Farm. Capturing the Server Farm will then transfer some of its Resources to you!
Congratulations! With your spoils of the cyberwar, you can now improve your network by building and upgrading more nodes!
Expanding your Network[]
Now you have more resources, you can build more nodes! The next thing you are required to build is a B-coin Mine. Where as Server Farms produce money/$, B-coin Mines produce B-coins/B. These can be used to create programs for attacking other players, researching new and upgrade existing programs, as well as upgrading specific nodes. Build a B-coin Mine in the same way as you built a Sentry, by pressing the "Build Menu" button in the bottom right corner, selecting the B-coin Mine, and pressing the "Buy" button.
Arranging your Network[]
Once this is complete, you can arrange or "Rebuild" your network. This can be done by holding a node, dragging your finger onto another node, and releasing your finger. You can also disconnect a node in the same fashion! Finally for the tutorial, you can zoom in and out of your network by placing two fingers on the network and pinching them together to zoom in, and performing the opposite action to zoom out.
Network building is a huge part of Hackers, and is a lot larger than the scope of this tutorial, so check out here if you're wanting to learn more.
With defence taken care of for the moment, lets build some offensive programs and find someone else to attack!
Compiling Programs[]
To compile programs to attack your opponents, first you'll need a Compiler! Build this in the same way as you have expanded your network previously. You will then need to compile 15 Beam Cannon programs for attacking your next target. To do this, press the "Virus" button that is highlighted at the right of the screen, and select the Beam Cannon icon until you have 15 Beam Cannon's in production. You can speed up the production of programs by pressing the "Finish" button in the bottom right. Doing so will use a small amount of Credits.
Finding Targets[]
Once you have your Cannons loaded, it's time to find someone to fire them at! Select the World Map button that has appeared, and you'll see a new Mission has appeared - Black Eye Bar. Missions have a Black background, where as other players will have a Red background. Selecting a target by pressing on it. This will display additional information on the screen, including the location of the target and the amount of resources that are available. You can connect to a target network the same way as before, by selecting the "Connect" button.
New Programs[]
Starting the Black Eye Bar mission will give you some additional free programs similar to before - Worms! These programs will replicate themselves when they aren't attacking, and will spread across the network, attacking adjacent nodes as they go along. To see the potential of Worm programs, place a single Worm on the netConnection. They are weak in comparison to Beam Cannons, but eventually you will see the Worms attack, then replicate, and take over the entire network!
More spoils equal more upgrades!
Bigger, Faster Building[]
You now have enough resources to upgrade your Core! First though, you should buy an extra Building Thread. These enable you to build multiple buildings at the same time, or to upgrade buildings in less time than normal. Click the "+" button located to the right of your Building Threads and select "Yes" to purchase one with the Credits provided. You will now see two empty blocks next to there the "+" button was - these are your Building Threads, waiting to be put to work!
You can now select your Core, and press the "i" button to view some additional information, including the time and resource cost of upgrading your Core. Pressing the "Upgrade" button to start the process will automatically assign one of your Building Threads to the upgrade. You can see this by looking at your Building Thread indicator, and seeing that one of them is now filled, while the other is empty. To assign another thread to work on the Core, click the timer that is displayed above the Core. The time the upgrade will take is now reduced by half! You can also see that both Building Threads are now filled white, on both the Building Thread indicator and underneath the timer. This shows you that two threads are assigned to the upgrade. To remove a thread, simply tap the Core again.
More Resources[]
Now your upgrade is complete, you'll need $8,000 to upgrade to the next level - but you can only hold $2,000 in your Core! Luckily, upgrading your Core has provided you with a few benefits, one of which is the ability to have more nodes on your network. You can now build storages for your resources - the Database for $, and the B-coin Mixer for B-coins. Build one of each, the same way as you have done before.
When these are complete, you will notice that both your Server Farm and B-coin Mine have been collecting resources already! You can tap on each of these resources to add them to your stored resources. You can only upgrade nodes and programs using your resources that are in storage, and not the resources that are waiting to be collected.
Better Programs[]
For your final node in the tutorial, you will be able to build an Evolver. These can be used to research new programs to attack networks with, as well as upgrade the ones you already have access to. To upgrade a program, press the "Virus" button. You will now see a tab across the top of the UI that says "Develop Programs". Tap this to view the range of programs available in Hackers. You can press the "i" button to view more information about a program, and you can upgrade programs - and speed them up - in the same way as you did with the Core.
You are then tasked with building more programs, before finding bigger and better targets to attack!
More Targets[]
Clicking on the World Map button on your network as before will now take you to an empty map screen where you can search for targets to hack! Pressing the search button will cost a small amount of money, and will provide you with 5 random targets to attack. The targets chosen will usually be around your level to ensure a manageable hack, but you can refresh these targets by pressing the search button again.
Searching for new targets concludes the tutorial part of the game. You're now prepared to take on the world!
Frequently Asked Questions[]
- I changed my mind on my name/location. How do I change them?
To change your name and location, go to the World Map and press the cog at the bottom of the screen. Here you change your name and location. You get one free name change, and you can change your location as many times as you wish at the cost of 25 Credits per change.
- I can't move my nodes where I want to, and moving them is a pain.
Go to your network, and select the "Build" button in the bottom right corner, and then press the "Rebuild" button that appears in the top left corner. This will put you in Rebuild Mode! This mode lets you detach nodes individually (or all at once for a fresh start if you wish), and move them around at will. The Save button at the bottom of the screen will highlight when you have an eligible network, so feel free to experiment.
- I'm missing a building thread!
Check your currently upgrading nodes for the white blocks that are displayed underneath the time remaining on an upgrading node. Each white block represents a single building thread. To remove and add threads, tap on the timer above the node.
- I made a mistake and I can't delete my nodes!
You won't be able to delete a node that would result in your network becoming invalid in some way, such as the remaining nodes being more than 9 reach away from a netConnection, or trying to remove an essential node such as the Core or your Compiler. You are also unable to delete nodes while in Rebuild mode.
- I got disconnected/could not connect because my network is under heavy load from an unknown attacker!
If you see this message while logging in, it means someone is currently accessing your network. You will be able to reconnect once they have disconnected. If you were currently playing when you saw this message, take a break! Your network can be targetted after you have been online for 3 consecutive hours.
Hackers Wikia - Gameplay | ||
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Startseite | ||
Gameplay | Nodes | Programme |
Hacking |
Weltkarte • Hacks • Missionen • Sicherheitslog • Simulationen • Ruf | |
Networking |
Startbildschirm • Netzwerkbau • Ressourcen • Schwarzmarkt • Patchnotizen | |
Strategien |
Erste Anleitung • Angriffsstrategien • Verteidigungsstrategien • Tipps |