Other Projects > Play With Your Buddies
Let's Play Uplink (Part 3: Dead Agents)
mattie2009:
Greetngs, folks!
After my sad, sad run-in with a previous LP, I'm going to try my hand at hacking into some bullshit nobody cares about and DESTROYING THE INTERNET.
In a vidyagame, of course.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)PART 1: The Least Dangerous Game
Beep beep beep boop beep bloop.
It sounds like an old phone trying to prank call a modem.
I suppose I should be lucky the game isn't screaming at me.
Indeed we do!
Tip: This game hates your everything and will try its' best to fuck you over in the most hilarious of ways.
Clicking About Us takes us back to the previous screen, so let's go ahead and register.
The game proceeds to tell us the benefits of joining.
That 3k loan may not seem like much. (It isn't)
It's barely enough to buy us the vital hacker tools we need.
ONWARD TO THE SIGN UP PAGE
Naturally.
Because this is a game, and only dumbfucks would use their real password for a screenshot LP, let's just use a letter from the greek alphabet.
Omega is a nice one. Let's use that.
Then it asks us where we want our Gateway computer.
This has almost no impact on the game as far as I can tell.
Your gateway will be placed somewhere near the loacation you choose.
Everything else is random.
The game explains the way the Gateway computer works.
We lose 300 money units per month for the ability to anonymously fuck up major corporations and be an complete asshole.
I've never seen what happens if you have no money when payday comes.
Let's assume Game Over, because I've never been so severely strapped for cash that it's actually occured.
Anyway.
More beeping and booping as we connect to our gateway, then...
Say hello to what we'll be staring at for 90% of the game.
The buttons on the left, from left to right, are as follows.
Open Program, Gateway Info, Data Banks, Personal Status, Finances, Write Mail.
The buttons on the right are mail and missions.
The page is a mission in progress, the envelope is an email. Emails can be either a finance change (Completed Mission, Uplink charging us 300 money, etc.)
Up at the top is the time, current IP address, speed changer and CPU usage. I'll explain the latter in a minute.
I took the liberty of marking the important parts of this map.
Colors: Green squares are mission-important systems, Orange squares are player-marked systems.
The dotted square on the Uplink Internal Services System represents that we have our own logon details on that system. A solid square means we have someone else's details available. If a square vanishes, it means the details were revoked. The stealthier we are, the less likely we are to have those details revoked.
We log onto the Uplink ISS to grab some software.
These are our software options.
We grab ourselves some software, specifically:
-Password Breaker: Breaks passwords. If the system has an active Monitor, then it starts tracing our IP.
-Log Deleter V1: Deletes access logs. Higher versions make it harder to spot the deleted logs.
-Trace Tracker V2: Tracks Active Traces. Higher versions give a more accurate readout (V1 only tells you if you're being traced, V2 shows the % progress of the trace.)
This costs us 2600 monies. (The actual term for the money in this game is Credits. Derp derp.)
Thus armed, we can begin the test.
Also here: the Memory Banks display.
I delete Tutorial V1 to free up a LOT of space. (there is no V2 to my knowledge. It's there even if you say no to the Tutorial option.)
I also boot up the tricks of the trade. The Trace Tracker (bottom right) and the file copier/deleter (bottom middle).
Connection Bouncing. VITAL TOOL. If you directly connect to your target, you will be traced INSTANTLY.
DON'T DO IT UNLESS IT'S TO INTERNIC OR THE UPLINK ISS. If you get traced, you'll be booted from the system and fined. The repercussions probably get harsher as the system gets stronger, but since I've only been caught once, it doesn't matter to me.
Also. InterNIC should be your first bounce at all times. It's the easiest to delete logs from, it doesn't trace you and the password never changes.
I know the login details by heart (The password is always rosebud), but I do it the old fashioned way.
The more CPU use you give to a program, the faster it runs.
Activating the Password Breaker instantly starts an active trace unless the system has no active Monitor, so work fast and effectively.
Here, our task is to get in, copy the Uplink Test Data file, cover our tracks and GTFO.
Data copied, let's get rid of the evidence and go home.
Not shown: Me copying the data.
How to do it: Select Data Copier, place on data to be copied, wait, place on topmost memory bank to save to, wait, done.
Shown here: Me replying to the wrong email.
Whoops. Good job there's no penalty for doing this right now.
There. Mission Complete.
With this, we get a rank boost to Beginner and free reign to do whatever.
We can now get missions from the Uplink ISS board (If we went there before now, they would have all been Encrypted.)
Meet the mission board. The only things we can do right now are hack and steal or hack and destroy.
Hack and steal is more risky, as it involves waiting for your copier to do its' job.
I take a Hack+Destroy mission. Since I'm a Beginner, I can't auto-accept.
I have to contact the offerer. If you get caught, you get a criminal record and most job offerers will tell you to fuck off.
I don't know why they give a damn about your criminal record.
This is the Comms screen. Here, you can get details about the mission you'll be taking on.
You can ask for more money, ask for the money now, or get details on what you'll have to get through.
Difficulty 2 Hack+Destroy/Steal missions will only involve a Monitor and a Password. Difficulty 3 Hack+Steals involve software we don't have yet that decrypts the stolen files.
There are no Difficulty 1 missions.
Same deal. Boot up Breaker, give it maximum CPU, wait for a few seconds.
After getting in and deleting the file (less exciting than it sounds), I stop by the Links area to get some bounce mules before deleting the logs and leaving.
Because my log-delete-fu is weak, this happens:
Not much I can do. Let's go prevent these clowns from passively tracing us via our access logs by cutting the chain somewhere.
InterNIC. Perfect.
InterNIC doesn't trace you, doesn't revoke your access and never changes the password, so it should always be your first bounce.
Before that, let's get our money.
InterNIC is basically an IP repository. We'll get some as we complete missions. The ones we don't get from Hack+Delete/Steal are WAY out of our league, often involving Proxies (Prevents log altering) and Firewalls (Prevents file altering). We have no way of getting past these things yet.
Beep beep boop, let's deal with those pesky access logs.
This is an example of a basic bounce setup. It's no match for the higher-up systems, but it will keep the low-level traces off our back for a while.
I take another mission and dive right in.
In ur server, deletin ur files!
One mission complete later, we gain a rank and can now take more risky missions!
Specifically, hacking a government academic database and fucking with the records!
Fun times ahead!
In the next episode of Ultra Hacker Flarehawk:
-More hacking!
-Running rings around the government!
-A choice of upgrades!
-A man named Paul Cocks!
Stay tuned!
zestorum:
Good read!
I dunno if this is just me, or if it's because I'm tired, but halfway during it I couldn't pick out what text went to what image. Maybe if you put it like: image - text, double enter, image - text and so on if you get what I mean.
NRDL:
I like this. The game's...interesting, are you going to do the main quest or just mess around and become the world's greatest cyber-terrorist?
mattie2009:
--- Quote from: NRDL on January 16, 2012, 03:53:27 am ---I like this. The game's...interesting, are you going to do the main quest or just mess around and become the world's greatest cyber-terrorist?
--- End quote ---
If I get my shit together in time for the main quest to start, then I'll do my best to see it through to the end.
If not (or if I complete the Plot run) then cyber-terrorism until I get caught for bank fraud.
NRDL:
Cyber-terrorism for the win! :P
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