Hacking is the word used in the game for the cracking of security devices, vending machines, first-aid stations, safes and combination locks. When the following are hacked,
Press the V key over a device to begin hacking it.
Hacking puzzles consist of a square of tiles, usually 5 × 5 or 6 × 6. The tiles lie between a source pipe and a sink pipe, whose placements depend on the type of device. You solve the puzzle by uncovering the tiles between the source and the sink, then dragging and dropping the pipes you need to connect the two. When you are finished, press Increase Flow Speed to send the fluid quickly to the sink.
Each tile can cover:
| Tile | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Straight | This provides a straight path (vertical or horizontal) for the fluid. |
| Bend | This bends fluid flow in any of four different ways. |
| Accelerator | This speeds up fluid. If you must use this, use it next to the sink where it would not matter how fast the fluid goes. |
| Resistor | This slows down fluid. Use this if you are in a tight race to finish the puzzle. |
| Overload | If fluid hits this, you will lose the health equivalent of one first-aid kit. If you have less then a full health level to begin it, the shock will kill you. |
| Alarm | A fluid hit will set off an alarm, summoning security bots. You could do this on purpose if you need the bots (say, to attack an enemy splashed with Security Bullseye), or if you are near a bot shutdown switch with R$20 to spare. |
If this sounds too simple, the following will wipe away your complacency.
The fluid flows out of the source while you are working. You cannot swap a pipe that already has fluid in it. If the fluid hits a dead end, you will be kicked out of the puzzle with a shock that loses you half a health level (which, if you are stuck, is better than hitting an overflow).
The overflow and alarm tiles can block the direct path to the sink, forcing you to think out the path to take. And in more difficult puzzles, the flow can be very fast. And, without any engineering tonics (more below), you may find there is no way to solve the puzzle.
The dial at the beginning of the puzzle indicates how difficult the puzzle is: Green for easy, yellow for medium, red for difficult. You are also given the opportunity to purchase your solution, often for most of the money you have.
You can also use an Automatic Hacking Tool or Auto-Hack to crack the machine without effort or money. You can find these tools lying about. You can scrounge them off dead aggressors. You can buy them from some Circus of Values vendors. Or you can build them at crafting stations from batteries, brass tubes, and rubber hoses. You can carry up to five Auto-Hacks. But once you use an Auto-Hack, it is gone. (You will find that there is no way to know how many Auto-Hacks you have without visiting an unhacked machine. That is one of the defects of the game.)
The difficulty of puzzles can be eased with Engineering Tonics like Hacking Expert, Alarm Expert, Focused Hacker, Speedy Hacker, Security Expert (for ease with security devices), Safecracker (for ease with safes), and the like. In fact, almost all Engineering Tonics help you with hacking, for they reduce the number of overload and alarm tiles or slow down the flow of fluid.
You can slow down the fluid in a security device by freezing it with a Winter Blast plasmid or Liquid Nitrogen from a chemical sprayer.
Researching security devices gives you distinct advantages in dealing with them, the greatest of which is automatic hacking for bots and turrets: Freeze or distract it, press the V key, and it's yours. There is no automatic hacking for cameras, but with research you can slow its fluid flow to a crawl, making the hack job easier.