Closed Beta Report - Part 4

[duplex]

Closed Beta Report

Part 4


The latest week of Closed Beta was very interesting, because we introduced the new hacking system and watched all the testers' reactions.

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Security barriers come in 3 security levels. Access to secured barriers is only possible for the faction occupying the world. To gain additional access for 30 minutes, another faction can override the barrier security system by using "Hacking Interface" items, which are not expensive to produce. Each failed or successful hacking attempt will consume one such item.

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To complete a hack, specific active wires must be connected with each other. To do this, intermediate nodes must be hacked. This takes time and involves a risk of triggering an alarm. Hacking a specific node can also fail, which has to be repeated then or the node must be avoided.
The quality level of the hacking interface item is very important for a successful hack. It defines what you are able to see. While you see almost everything with a QL3 hacking interface, using the QL1 version will hide almost everything from you, so that it would be almost like entering a mine field.

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Difficulty increases with the security level of the object you want to hack. This includes the probabilities of node failure and triggering an alarm, the amount of wires to connect with each other and the time available for the entire process.

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When an alarm is triggered, the object cannot be hacked by anyone for a certain time (2 minutes +/- random time). When a hacking attempt is canceled by the user, it can't be hacked by the same user again for a random time.
After a successful hack, the barrier will open and the hacker's faction will have access to that barrier for 30 minutes.

This access can be removed if another faction hacks the object during these 30 minutes. The access will then move over to the other faction.
The faction who is currently controlling the world will always remain access. Hacking is only possible for factions who don't have access.


All this might sound a bit confusing in theory and would make more sense if tested out. That's why, and for many other reasons, we decided to invite 100 more beta testers tonight at 21:00 CET.

Good luck!

-duplex


You can discuss this update here: http://forum.fomportal.com/showthread.php?t=5304