This is such an infuriating feature. I get hacked almost every turn, tried to place tracing programs on my nodes, or firewalls, nothing works. My hacking attemts almost always detected. Can we somehow disable this feture at the start of the game, like when we're chosing victory scenario, maybe we also could disable hacking? I know it will harm UC, but holly shit, i'm so disgusted by it i don't even want to play anymore

You can disable DLCs from the main menu the UC will be gone but they are pointless without hacking anyway. 

I've had Supremacy and Penumbra disabled and have not looked back.

Same, I found both warped gameplay too greatly and added little of value besides the new races. It's kind of unfortunate that behemoths and hacking were both such half baked mechanics, this is the first time I've found myself reluctant to immediately buy new Amplitude DLCs after two misses in a row.

Agreed for me it's also the first time where I've opted to play a game without an expansion that I own. I can think of plenty of expansions that were pretty average but none where I felt it best to play without them.

oh well. it feels bad to lose the content, but i guess i'll be playing without UC too. do you guys know if the new race and a hacking mechanic are the only things i'll miss, or are there other things like small factions and quests inside the DLC?

I recommend you looking for tutorials if you haven't, and give it a second chance. Hacking is fun bu different from most 4x "traditional" mechanics.

If still you don't enjoy it, sadly there's no other think I can recommend.

IRivenI wrote:

oh well. it feels bad to lose the content, but i guess i'll be playing without UC too. do you guys know if the new race and a hacking mechanic are the only things i'll miss, or are there other things like small factions and quests inside the DLC?

The only other thing I believe is the invisibility for ships and thus also the detection modules.

IRivenI wrote:

1) This is such an infuriating feature. I get hacked almost every turn, tried to place tracing programs on my nodes, or firewalls, nothing works. 2) My hacking attemts almost always detected. 

1) I could imagine you expect the source of hacking attack beeing located the wrong place - I guess you still have an enemy backdoor in one of your systems.

2) You could try to extend the route your hack takes to reach its final destination. This case the counterhack will need more time to be successful - time you need for to finish your hack in time.

Groo wrote:

IRivenI wrote:

1) This is such an infuriating feature. I get hacked almost every turn, tried to place tracing programs on my nodes, or firewalls, nothing works. 2) My hacking attemts almost always detected. 

1) I could imagine you expect the source of hacking attack beeing located the wrong place - I guess you still have an enemy backdoor in one of your systems.

2) You could try to extend the route your hack takes to reach its final destination. This case the counterhack will need more time to be successful - time you need for to finish your hack in time.

1) tried that, the thing is defensive programs saying that "it removes enemy backdoors". tried placing them on the way to the system that is being hacked, nothing. tried to place them after the system was hacked, nothing, it gets hacked again without an effort. if i look at the economy screen i can see that enemy hack is being traced into nowhere, because no matter how many defence programs i smash into my system it always end in me being hacked, and i don't know who did it.

i gave up at this point, disabled DLC and moved on. i just don't like it at all, it's a tedious mechanic. if only there were some sort of tech that prevents your nation from being hacked and doesn't allow you to hack in return, but then again it would harm UC, so i just play without them

IRivenI wrote:

Groo wrote:

IRivenI wrote:

1) This is such an infuriating feature. I get hacked almost every turn, tried to place tracing programs on my nodes, or firewalls, nothing works. 2) My hacking attemts almost always detected. 

1) I could imagine you expect the source of hacking attack beeing located the wrong place - I guess you still have an enemy backdoor in one of your systems.

2) You could try to extend the route your hack takes to reach its final destination. This case the counterhack will need more time to be successful - time you need for to finish your hack in time.

1) tried that, the thing is defensive programs saying that "it removes enemy backdoors". tried placing them on the way to the system that is being hacked, nothing. tried to place them after the system was hacked, nothing, it gets hacked again without an effort. if i look at the economy screen i can see that enemy hack is being traced into nowhere, because no matter how many defence programs i smash into my system it always end in me being hacked, and i don't know who did it.

i gave up at this point, disabled DLC and moved on. i just don't like it at all, it's a tedious mechanic. if only there were some sort of tech that prevents your nation from being hacked and doesn't allow you to hack in return, but then again it would harm UC, so i just play without them

^ I want to like to like hacking but I've definitely had some confusing situations where backdoors should probably be revealed but they aren't.

Does anyone know if cloaking tech affects the detection of backdoors?

No, cloaking and detection tech have no effect on detecting backdoors. However, keep in mind that a hack starting from a backdoor will not trip defensive programs on that node, meaning you will need defensive programs elsewhere along the path of the hack to detect it.

IRivenI wrote:

This is such an infuriating feature. I get hacked almost every turn, tried to place tracing programs on my nodes, or firewalls, nothing works. My hacking attemts almost always detected. Can we somehow disable this feture at the start of the game, like when we're chosing victory scenario, maybe we also could disable hacking? I know it will harm UC, but holly shit, i'm so disgusted by it i don't even want to play anymore

I wish, I would have read this before buying the last two DLCs. You are right, it is tediuos. The game is pretty slow anyway and spending all the time on hacking for... not enough gain for all that time. Hacking just makes the game slower and annoying at times. It is unfortunate, that you can't disable this feature without disabling the DLC. The next DLC will have to gather loads of good feedback in the forum to even concider buying it.

Ashbery76 wrote:

I think it needs reworking to be honest.The ends results are the usual spying mechanics but without the immersion of what EL did with hero units.

This practicaly. maybe make rewards more great and also add a cooldown for hacking?

IRivenI wrote:

Ashbery76 wrote:

I think it needs reworking to be honest.The ends results are the usual spying mechanics but without the immersion of what EL did with hero units.

This practicaly. maybe make rewards more great and also add a cooldown for hacking?

This will be a direct nerf to UC, and probably a big one.

View hacking like a separate map. Think of it like cyber warfare. 

Let's say your home system is your castle and the systems surrounding your home system are your walls. It's the walls you need to put defensive programs on, namely Encrypt (at a minimum) and you can put other programs if you have the bandwidth. When your systems trigger a trace (a hacking attempt hits your defensive program), check the map every turn to see where the trace is going, this gives you an idea of where to put new defensive programs to try and cut off the path earlier. The closer you get to the source, the harder it is for them to succeed. 

When attacking your opponent with hacking go through useless jumps to add time to the trace. It makes your hack take longer but it also makes it take longer to trace. 

This one was a uninstall for me as well. Apart from the general nebulousness of the system I was put off by the amount of micromanagement involved. It all felt like dull, mandatory busywork. (I was also slightly bothered by the thematic weirdness of it all as well -- that a race of extra dimensional energy creatures would use the same operating systems as a species of sentient trees... yeah, it's a game, I get it.)

Anyway, it's a mini-game that I no longer want to deal with and I don't miss it a bit.

One of the issues with hacking is that I don't believe you are ever given a popup when your defensive programs start a trace, you only get one when it succeeds or fails. So it feels like your programs are "failing" to detect hacks when in truth they are detecting them, it's just that they aren't enough to stop the hack and you need to layer more defensive programs between the system(s) that keep getting hacked and where the hacking attempts seem to be coming from.

There is also the fact that Sleepers are largely a waste of time unless you are Umbral Choir. One or two for LoS might have their use but you are never going to be able to build up the numbers needed to ciphon off resources before the empire you are hacking starts removing the them as fast as you can place them, unless you can burn pops to embed several in a turn like the Choir.

All in all though, I've enjoyed it. I like how successful hacks build on each other, and that the strongest outcomes rely on multiple hacks or good timing. If anything I wish it had more depth; let me set up how my systems are networked between each other, having to balance limited access to my homeworld with enough reduency that a successful hack at a network chokepoint doesn't leave half my empire in the figurative (or literal) dark now that they are cut off from the central government.

WeLoveYou wrote:

IRivenI wrote:

Ashbery76 wrote:

I think it needs reworking to be honest.The ends results are the usual spying mechanics but without the immersion of what EL did with hero units.

This practicaly. maybe make rewards more great and also add a cooldown for hacking?

You get pretty much the same results from hacking in ES2 as you did in EL. Steal techs, reduce defensive capability, steal resources, getting vision, etc. It's better in a lot of ways, because you don't just stick a hero on a city and wait, but have to sometimes get creative about how you do it. Getting a backdoor near an enemy home system, and/or scouting neutral nodes outside of starlanes for hacking through is pretty important.

If you are getting hacked every turn, then you are not using defensive programs enough/putting them in the right places, and not monitoring where the hacks are coming from. Most hacks come from pirates, which you should be clearing anyway.

I've brough empires to their knees using hacking. It takes some getting used to, but it's a great tool if used well.

The only changes I would make to it is changing how some of the programs work. Some are nigh on useless given their effect/bandwidth cost, while others are essential.

Edit: Though, obviously, if you really don't like it, then disable it. I don't want to come across telling anyone how to play their game.

If they are getting hacked every turn from seemingly nowhere, I would suspect Umbral Choir lurking in the special nodes or even having sanctuaries on their systems.

Abrasax wrote:

If they are getting hacked every turn from seemingly nowhere, I would suspect Umbral Choir lurking in the special nodes or even having sanctuaries on their systems.

Or that. I think the only time I've ever had any real trouble against hacking has been when I've been next to a UC. Given that the UC AI loves their behemoths and doesn't cloak them (can you even cloak them?) they're easy enough to find and eliminate come the mid game.

WeLoveYou wrote:

Or that. I think the only time I've ever had any real trouble against hacking has been when I've been next to a UC. Given that the UC AI loves their behemoths and doesn't cloak them (can you even cloak them?) they're easy enough to find and eliminate come the mid game.

Yes, Behemoths can be cloaked, but Juggernauts, Obliterators, and Citadels can not. I'm not sure why the UC would leave any Behemoths uncloaked.

The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales wrote:

WeLoveYou wrote:

Or that. I think the only time I've ever had any real trouble against hacking has been when I've been next to a UC. Given that the UC AI loves their behemoths and doesn't cloak them (can you even cloak them?) they're easy enough to find and eliminate come the mid game.

Yes, Behemoths can be cloaked, but Juggernauts, Obliterators, and Citadels can not. I'm not sure why the UC would leave any Behemoths uncloaked.

Hmmmmm, next time I see it I'll screenshot for you. It's very possible that it's because I'm already using anti-cloak when I find them.

UC AI is also the most aggresive Obliterator user in my games. And it makes launches, you guessed it, from its home system.

Another question, when you succesfully trace a hack, is there any reason not to shut it down?

eXistenZ wrote:

Another question, when you succesfully trace a hack, is there any reason not to shut it down?

not that I know

It could be a hack through your system but targeting another empire if I understand it correctly.