Hacking terminals is an essential skill in Fallout 3's wastelands, as terminals give you access to parts of the story and large loot. Terminals can control turrets and can be essential in some missions. Although some terminals are unlocked and can be used by anyone, many terminals have a password and need to be hacked. If your level of science meets the requirements to hack the terminal, you can try to unlock its secrets.
Steps
Step 1. Increase your science level
Your level of science determines which terminals you can hack. You can add points to your science level when you level up and you can use "Mentats" to temporarily increase your functions. The lab coat you get in the mission "Those!" gives you a +10 bonus to your science level when you are using it. You can also put up to 100 points in the science skill and there are 5 different levels of hacking difficulty. You cannot try to hack terminals for which you do not meet the requirements:
- Very easy: 0
- Easy: 25
- Intermediate: 50
- Hard: 75
- Very hard: 100
Step 2. Familiarize yourself with the hacking interface
When you use a terminal that you can hack, the hacking screen will appear. The top of the screen will tell you how many attempts you have left. The bottom of the screen will be an unreadable mess and you will be able to figure out a variety of words between all those characters. These words are possible passwords and you need to figure out the correct one before finishing your attempts. Words can be separated by lines and all words that can be passwords will have the same number of letters.
Step 3. Select a word as your first choice
Try a word that has many unique letters, as this will make it easier to select potential candidates. If you get it right the first time, perfect. If the word you selected is not correct, a number will appear.
A high level of science will reduce the number of words you have to choose from
Step 4. Determine how many characters are correct
When a password fails, the display will show how many characters are correct and what is the correct position for that character. For example, if it appears 4/9 it means that four of the letters of the word you chose are correct and are in the correct place. There may be more correct letters in the word, but they do not count if they are not in the correct position.
Step 5. Choose the next word
Compare the word you selected with the words left on the screen and try to narrow down your options. For example, you got a 3/12 and the word you selected is "CONSTRUCTION", the other word must have three letters in the same place. There is a strong possibility that the correct word ends in ION, since it is a common ending. Select the next word you think fits to see the result.
Step 6. Use the parenthesis trick before using a third word
One of the keys to success in hacking terminals is to use the "parenthesis trick". If the terminal contains a pair of parentheses, removing them will help remove incorrect options or add new attempts to your bookmark. That is why it is advisable to save the parentheses until after spending a couple of attempts. The pairs of parentheses appear randomly, although they tend to appear more often if your level of science is very high.
- The parentheses are {}, [], and (). The pair of parentheses can contain any number of characters within.
- The easiest way to find a pair of parentheses is to move the cursor over each character on the terminal screen. The parentheses and all the characters within the parentheses will be selected automatically.
- You can save a couple of parentheses or two in case you need them before your last attempt.
Step 7. Pick a third word
If the parentheses didn't help and you didn't select the correct word in your first two attempts, you should at least have a better idea of which letters are in the correct place. Compare the results of the first two words you already selected and see if you can determine which letters should be there. Use this comparison to select the next word.
Step 8. Don't use your fourth attempt right away
If you make a mistake four times, the terminal will crash and you will no longer be able to enter. The only way to open a terminal after it crashes is to find an object in the world that contains the password, which you cannot find for all computers. There are several things you can try before trying it for the fourth and last time.
- Use the remaining parentheses. If you saved a couple of parentheses for last, use them to give yourself another try or to remove enough options to guess the correct word.
- Please exit the terminal and try again. When you turn off the terminal using the power button, you can restore the process. The words will move and you can start from scratch, but you will have all your attempts and the terminal will not crash.
- Take a chance and try a random word as your fourth option. It is not recommended to do this as you may end up blocking the terminal. Consider turning off the terminal and trying again.