How can I automate the hacking minigame?
Solution 1:
I have already automated this for you. My solver is available at: http://moria.us/fallout3/terminal.html
Note: this is a single-page application, so you can just save the solver to your hard drive as an HTML file and run it from there.
Tutorial
Let's suppose you find the words RAMBO, DUMBO, MAMBA, BRICK, TANKS. Go ahead and enter those into the solver.
[del] RAMBO -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 3 moves [del] DUMBO -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 3 moves [del] MAMBA -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 2 moves [del] BRICK -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 3 moves [del] TANKS -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 3 moves
You can see in the right column some of the words are marked as "2 moves" and some of the words are marked as "3 moves". This column is a little tricky to explain, but this shows the maximum number of required moves necessary to solve the puzzle under the following conditions:
You select that word next, and
You play perfectly afterwards.
So you can see that if you select MAMBA, you will need to guess at most two words in order to find the correct word.
Suppose you select MAMBA, and you have 2 positions correct. Click on the -2- next to MAMBA:
[del]RAMBO-0- -1- -2- -3- -4- [del] DUMBO -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 1 moves [del]MAMBA-0- -1- [2] -3- -4- [del]BRICK-0- -1- -2- -3- -4- [del]TANKS-0- -1- -2- -3- -4-
The word must be DUMBO (which is the second move).
During a playthrough of Fallout 3, I noticed that a large number of terminals mostly had "5 move" words with maybe one or two "4 move" words. This means that using the tool, you can play perfectly and beat those terminals every single time... but without the tool, I would abort after three failed guesses.
All you need to do is click a word with a low number of moves.
More information
You can see why MAMBA is the best by clicking on all of the numbers next to MAMBA. No matter what you click, only one other word will be left (or zero).
If you pick a different word, like RAMBO, you might still be left with two choices afterwards. For example, if you choose RAMBO but have 3 positions left, you get:
[del]RAMBO-0- -1- -2- [3] -4- [del] DUMBO -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 2 moves [del] MAMBA -0- -1- -2- -3- -4- 2 moves [del]BRICK-0- -1- -2- -3- -4- [del]TANKS-0- -1- -2- -3- -4-
How it works
"View Source" works fine, it's all JavaScript. If I recall correctly, it recursively calculates the maximum number of moves necessary by examining situations like "what if you choose DUMBO and you have 3 correct". The maxmoves() function is where it's at.
Solution 2:
Use the bracket trick to remove false entries and to refresh your guess attempts.
http://www.gamershell.com/faqs/fallout3hackingguide/1.0/
[II.7] The Bracket Trick
Hidden in the code block you may be able to find what I like to refer to as a "Bracket Trick." A Bracket Trick is a collection of those random punctuation marks that appear between the words that are encased in a bracket of any kind. In the code block above, there is one hidden in there.
The second column of the Code Block and the third row contains this line:
0xFA10 %'%{.@@}#?|+
The Bracket trick in this line is:
{.@@}
Every terminal has a chance to produce bracket tricks, but not every terminal will have one. Some may even have multiple tricks. To tell if you have found a Bracket Trick all you have to do is hover the cursor over the opening bracket. If the entire thing lights up, congratulations, you found it!
A Bracket trick can be between a few different types of brackets:
<___> [____] {____} (____)
Any of these can be any size possible in the scope of the code block and they can be across many lines.
A Bracket Trick will never contain a possible password.
I have found that the best way to search a code block for tricks is to just move the cursor over every character and if something that is not a word lights up, you found one.
Now that you know what they look like and how to find them easily you probably want to know why you want these.
These have a random chance when clicked to either give you another attempt or remove a possibility from the Code Block.
The best time to use one is when you have 3 attempts remaining so you don't try using the word it removes from the block before it does it.
I should mention that the guide linked/cited is for Fallout 3, but the trick is still available in Fallout: New Vegas.