Hacking in HSN3 – Summary and Rules Clarifications

Most of the original work has been completed by @Treehouse in the old forums, I’ve just copied it across, reformatted it and updated it for HSN3 Hacking. He should get most of the credit: if it wasn’t for his work I would never have learned enough about Hacking to compile this.

Disclaimer: this work has not been checked by CB at all, so it may contain errors despite my best efforts to get it all correct. If you spot anything that you think is wrong PM me and I'll be more than happy to fix it.

HACKERS

Troops equipped with a Hacking Device can use Hacking to attack enemies or support and protect friendly troops. There are different kinds of Hacking devices: Assault Hacking Device (AHD), Hacking Device (HD), Hacking Device Plus (HD+), Killer Hacking Device (KHD), Defensive Hacking Device (DHD), White Hacking Device (WHD) and EVO Hacking Device (EVO). Each Hacking Device can use a number of Hacking Programmes (N3 p. 151). Hacking devices are Comms Equipment (N3 p. 161), which can be disabled with Blackout or by entering the Isolated State.

Any Troop which has a Hacking device of any description is a Hacker (N3 p. 79).

HACKING AREA

You can Hack in your own Zone of Control, in the ZoC of all friendly Repeaters or, if you’re in the ZOC of a Hostile Repeater, anywhere else within ZOC of that repeater or against any enemy Hacker (N3 pp 140, 151). All together this is called your Hacking Area.

Usually, the range of a Hacking programme is the Hacking Area, but be aware that some specifically state the ZoC of the Hacker as the range and some do not have any range limitations at all (like 'HACK TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT’). Most Hacking programmes do not need Line of Fire, however, each Hacking programme has certain uses and restrictions which you can look up in the according entry of each Hacking programme (check the rule book).

When it's Hacker vs. enemy Hacker, you can apply this simple rule: If I'm in range of your Hacker or Repeater so that you can hack me, I can hack you as well.



THE BASICS

PROGRAMMES

There are several Hacking programmes for different purposes. The most common ones are those that attack enemy Heavy Infantry, TAGs, REMs or Hackers (CLAW programmes). You can also attack enemy's Comms Equipment, Hack against AD: Combat Jump or choose other useful programmes, the most notorious maybe being the Supportware Programmes for your REMs.

Hacking Programmes only cause physical damage to your models (read: Wound / Structure) if specifically stated in the description of the Hacking Programme. Hacking Programmes can only cause physical damage to other Hackers (SWORD programmes).

Remember that the different kinds of Hacking Devices utilize different programmes. It might be a good idea to browse through the list of programmes and pick those you will find useful, then choose a Hacker. If you simply want to use REMs, go for a cheap Hacker for example. Here, a standard Hacking Device would also let you use the Supportware Programmes (GADGET).

I highly recommend Captain Spud’s Hacking Helper for understanding Hacking Programmes on the fly.

HACKING AND CRITICALS

Hacking attack criticals avoid the usual BTS save against the effect of the program. For example, a critical for OVERLORD bypasses the save against Possession, and a critical roll to perform EXORCISM on a model automatically frees that model.

Only hacking programs that cause damage will cause automatic wounds on a critical.

WHAT IS FTF WITH HACKING?

If both Troopers involved affect each other directly and are rolling a dice it’s a FTF. Consequently most things are FTF with Hacking even when it doesn’t necessarily appear logical on the face of it: Shooting vs Hacking being a FTF sometimes trips people up. However, some things aren’t and are instead treated as Normal Rolls (these are the most common): Hacking vs Dodge, Hacking vs DTWs and Hacking vs Smoke/Eclipse Smoke.

SURPRISE SHOT AND HACKING

If your Hacker starts an Order in a marker state (Camouflaged, TO Camouflage, Impersonator or Holoecho) then they can benefit from Surprise Shot when making a Hacking Attack. This imposes a -3 MOD on your opponent’s attribute. For example, if you use 'Blackout' and the targeted model uses 'Reset', it will be a FtF roll between your WIP and the targets WIP -3. However, the negative modifiers of Surprise Shot/Attack only apply in FTF rolls, so if you declare a Hacking ARO against a model in Camouflage that deploys a Deployable Repeater, for example, you won't get the negative MODs for Surprise Shot against your Hacking attack.



Note, that the requirement for Surprise Shot is that the trooper was in a Marker state when the trooper activated, so even if you drop the Marker state prior to attacking a target you still benefit from the skill so long as you make the attack in the same order (ie. you drop the Marker state on your first short skill and attack as your second short skill).

CO-ORDINATED HACKING

You can’t Hack as part of a co-ordinated order unless you have an EVO Hacker. But, if you have an EVO Hacker you're allowed to co-ordinate any Hacking programmes as part of that same co-ordinated order (e.g. WHITE NOISE, BRAINBLAST and SPOTLIGHT is valid) so long as they either all have the same target (e.g. BRAINBLAST and SPOTLIGHT both target Bob) or don't have a target (e.g. WHITE NOISE). You can even co-ordinate Entire Order Hacking Programmes (such as ENHANCED REAKTION) with Short Skill Hacking Programmes (such as BRAINBLAST) but if you do they effectively all become Entire Order skills.

When responding to co-ordinated hacking a Reset will be a FTF with any Hacking Attack but responding with a Hacking Attack will be a FTF with only one of your opponent’s attacks. There are four main uses of Co-ordinated Hacking:

1. Forcing RESET or getting Normal rolls. When attacking an opponents Hacker you can co-ordinate multiple hackers to attack; this forces your opponent to respond with a Hacking Attack of their own and accept Normal rolls from the other attacks or to Reset against all the attacks at no threat to your own Hackers. For example, Alice and Charlie declare a Co-ordinated Order and both declare SUCKERPUNCH vs Bob; Bob has the option to RESET (at -3 WIP vs both attacks) or REDRUM back at either Alice or Charlie but allowing the other to attack unopposed.

2. Increasing effective Burst. By using co-ordinated Hacking you can use multiple hackers to declare the same (or similar) programmes vs a target greatly improving the odds of success. For example, if Alice declared SPOTLIGHT vs Bob, who declares RESET, if would be a FTF of Alice’s WIP-3 vs Bob’s WIP resulting in a relatively low chance of success; however if Alice, Charlie and David declare a Co-ordinated order and all Spotlight Bob then it’s three separate FTFs and a much higher chance of success.

3. Order efficiency. By using a co-ordinated order you can achieve up to 4 different things simultaneously, as many Hacking programs don’t have targets. This is particularly useful for activating an EVO-GADGET programmes (which don’t have Targets) at the same time as regular GADGET programmes (which generally do). For example, Alice, Charlie and David could, as part of the same co-ordinated order, activate WHITE NOISE to put a White Noise Zone down, declare ASSISTED FIRE to give Frank (a REM) Marksmanship Level 2 and activate CONTROLLED JUMP.

4. Forking your opponent. By using a co-ordinated order to co-ordinate a Hacker and another trooper you can set up a fork where your opponent has to react to either the Hacker or the other trooper. For example, if Alice (a Hacker with a HD+) and Charlie (a trooper with an ADHL) co-ordinate and declare Move, with Charlie moving into LOF of Bob (a TAG) who is also in Alice’s Hacking Area; then Bob is forced to decide whether he shoots Charlie and allows Alice normal rolls, or RESETs vs Alice and allows Charlie normal rolls. This can be particularly effective as a way of getting Repeaters into range of enemy Hackers.

HACKING IN ARO

Now it gets a bit more complicated.

Some programmes do not have LoF or ZoC requirements and can be declared as ARO any time, such as HACK TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT and U-TURN.

Otherwise, you can declare a Hacking ARO in your Hacker’s ZoC or Hacking Area – if the programme allows you to do so. Check the programme's entry before you use it to make sure. For example, 'SPOTLIGHT' cannot be used in ARO.

Of course, you can also ARO against enemy non-Hackers if you have an appropriate program. Generally, the only non-Hackers hackers that can be hacked are TAGs, REMs, HI and troopers with Comms Equipment, however some hacking programs let you ARO against any trooper (ie. EXILE and WHITE NOISE). The normal rules for targeting AROs applies to Hacking: so only active troopers are valid targets.

Also important to note is that your own Hacker doesn't need to be the target of an attack to get an ARO, if all the requirements concerning ZoC and Hacking Area are met. So if a friendly unit and a friendly Hacker are for example both inside an Enemy Hackers Hacking Area and the friendly unit is hacked, the friendly Hacker can ARO against the enemy Hacker. Also, if the friendly unit is attacked by an enemy unit, your Hacker can declare an ARO against it.

 

THE GROKING IS HARD

Once you've got your head around the hacking basics, there's even more complexity to exploit enjoy.

FIRETEAMS AND HACKING

Multiple Hacking AROS, dropping from a link, and rejoining it.

REPEATERS

As mentioned previously, the primary purpose of Repeaters is to extend a Hacking Area. However, they have their own 'interesting' nuances that you need to understand.

First, it is not possible to declare an ARO against an enemy Hacker if an enemy Repeater moves into ZoC of a reactive Hacker because the enemy Hacker is not the active trooper, which makes it impossible to declare an ARO against him. The Trooper carrying the Repeater will, however, be a legal target.

Another thing important to know is that you can't prevent a Hacking attack by shooting at a Repeater. So, if an active player's hackable unit moves within Line of Fire and Zone of Control of an enemy Repeater, the reactive player's hacker (not in LoF or ZoC of the remote) declares ARO through the Repeater and the active player then declares to shoot the Repeater, the two rolls would be Normal rolls. The repeater is not the source of the hacking program, the AROing hacker is.

The other key point to note is that you can’t chain repeaters to link multiple repeaters in succession: the rule of thumb is Hacker – Repeater – Target.



FIREWALL

Firewall mods, how they work and an example of how important they are.

<Firewall Example>

RESET AND REPEATERS

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STEALTH AND REPEATERS

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RECAMO’ING AND REPEATERS

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CAUTIOUS MOVE AND REPEATERS

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TRANSMISSION MATRIX

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DELFECTORS

Deflectors, such as those possessed by certain Tinbots, work as protection against Hacking for the user and the members of his Fireteam (N3 p. 135). It applies a -3/-6 MOD to the attacking Hacker's relevant attribute, so most of the time his WIP. This MOD stacks with the Supportware 'Fairy Dust' (So yes, a -9 MOD is possible). You can't however use more than one Deflector, so you cannot stack Deflector MODs.

Deflectors are Comms Equippment, but you cannot target a Tinbot with BLACKOUT because they’re not actually a separate entity: instead you’ll have to target the trooper to whom the Tinbot belongs and you will have to apply the negative MOD when attempting 'Blackout'.

Killer Hacker Devices do not ignore Deflectors.

NULLIFIERS

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HACKING AND HOLOPROJECTOR

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HACKING AND G-SYNC

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HACKING AND CLASSIFIEDS

Placeholder, or how they're not actually hacking at all.

 

HACKING PROGRAMME TYPES

Hacking programmes are broken down into five types SWORD, SHIELD, CLAW, GADGET and UPGRADE. But that’s not actually the easiest way to think about them. Instead I find it easier to break them down by their role / effect; it allows you to work out what you want to do first and then work out which programme is the best to allow you to do that.

However, this doesn’t necessarily help you work out which device has which program so check the Hacking Helper.

ANTI-HACKER PROTOCOLS

Placeholder, or 'if in doubt just use REDRUM'.

ARMY SHIELDS

These are the SHIELD-1 programmes: EXORCISM, HACK-TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT and U-TURN. They are the ‘general purpose’ defensive programmes that everybody seems to forget about until they’re really really important. They don’t defend the Hacker directly, but rather defend your Army from certain actions: EXORCISM allows you to cancel your TAG’s Possessed state, HACK-TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT allows your Hacker to FTF an enemies PHYs roll to drop with AD:3+ and U-TURN applies a -3 MOD to enemy Guided attacks.

So, if you’re in a meta that makes a lot of use of Guided or AD:3+ then a hacker is often worth including just for these reasons: Guided becomes extremely order intensive to pull off if your opponent needs to worry about hackers and dropping in AD suddenly becomes MUCH riskier. Equally, an 8pt repeater bot in B2B with your TAG with a Hacker on the board makes Possessing your TAG relatively pointless: if your opponent successfully Possesses your TAG it becomes immediately engaged and if activated faces a fork: an Electro Pulse from your REM and EXORCISM from your Hacker.

These skills are underrated, but can be game changing. Quite often, however, their effect is passive: they deter your opponent from a course of action that would see them used rather than actually coming into play (ie. your opponent decides to walk his Tiger Soldier on rather than risk dropping it in the ideal position or your opponent IMM's your TAG and then shoots it in the face).

DEFENSE PROTOCOLS

Defense Protocols (DPs) are the SHIELD-2 and -3 programmes BREAKWATER, ZERO PAIN and COUNTERSTRIKE. These are much maligned because you need to be the target of a Hacking Attack before you can declare them. This means that you can only declare them under some pretty specific circumstances (discussed here, also a nod to @Mahtamori who’s post outlining when Defensive Protocols actually work I’ve ‘borrowed’ in toto. ):

1. The hacker declared hacking attack as first skill (silly player, if possible always move or idle first)
   
   
2. The hacker used Stealth during first skill (silly hacker, don't use Stealth if you plan on hacking someone)
   
   
3. The hacker was in a Marker state during the first skill and the defender could delay ARO (silly hacker, drop your marker state – if able - before hacking someone with DPs)
   
   
4. The defender has Sixth Sense and could delay ARO
   
   
5. The defender has a White Hacking Device and could delay ARO

However, if you manage to find yourself in these specific circumstances DPs are generally the best way to keep yourself alive. BREAKWATER is by far the most common you’ll see (HD+ and EVOs both have it) and is a pain to fight through; COUNTERSTRIKE is what I’d use of the other two, you’re less likely to survive the attack but you are more likely to survive the turn (as it actually gives you a chance of stopping the enemy hacker).

BLACKOUT

BLACKOUT allows you to Disable Comms-Equipment. This seems relatively useless until you’ve seen it in action.

[Meteor + Guided]

ISOLATORS

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IMMOBILISERS

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POSSESORS

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BUFFWARE

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CYBERMASK

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WHITE NOISE

WHITE NOISE lets you create your own personal White Noise zones on the table: these are Zero Vis zones that block the LOF of anything with MSV. It sounds like it’s like smoke for hackers but, note, it’s not Smoke for Hackers (TM). While WHITE NOISE can be used in ARO it doesn’t have the ‘Special Dodge’ rule that allows Smoke to block LOF in the order that it’s thrown: instead, the White Noise zone goes down during Resolution and blocks LOF in subsequent orders.

It’s also important to note that White Noise has NFB, this has two main effects: first, it means that one hacker can only have a single White Noise zone down at a time, declaring WHITE NOISE (even if ultimately unsuccessful) cancels the first zone; and second, a Custodier loses the use of their ODD as long as their White Noise zone is still on the table.

The final trick with using White Noise is that the entirety of the Zone needs to be in the Hacking Area or it does not go down (see below)



LOCKPICK

LOCKPICK allows your Hackers to unlock doors. Locked doors rarely feature in most tables (unless you’re playing with an Objective room mission) so this ability doesn’t see much use particularly since your Hacker needs to get into B2B with the door in question. In Objective room missions it had the benefit of being the only way that you could open and still close a door; but with their absence from ITS 9 I honestly don’t see much use for this ability anymore.

 

@psychoticstorm please sticky.

I decided to upload this before finishing it because there have been several hacking related questions recently that it answers, even in it's half finished state. More than happy to accept feed-back or suggestions on areas / issues that I've missed (PMing me is probably easier than cluttering up the thread proper).

 

It's either/or but your opponent must decide before you do. You can use this to effectively guarantee normal rolls

 

There's an amusing interaction (which is NOT RAI and NOT the way it's played): Surprise Shot has the BS Attack trait, you can combine any attack with the BS Attack trait as part of a co-ordinated order.

Don't do this, this is a bad thing. It just amuses me :)

 

Drop them straight into the forum. I'll take a look at how I fix it. Cheers for pointing it out: I thought it was just me.