So, the way I understand hacking, the only thing that can cancel a hack is to trace it, but tracing is a pretty all-or-nothing system that can be defeated simply by distance. Using defensive programs on the capital at best slows the attempt down, and even using Lockdown on nearby systems doesn't provide a solution, because the hack can from any distance, and indeed distacne ensures traces will fail. Distance just makes it take longer still. 

Mind you, I have never even got a notice that a hack attempt was detected and a trace was initiated. I don't know if you're supposted to get such notifications, just that I'm not getting them even though my capital system has at least Encrypt running on it at any given time. 

Seems like a system that is not fully-baked, and there should be a little more to tracing that makes it feel like a tug-of-war rather than a mathematically-solvable trifle. Maybe it's just me. 

You should, if you have defensive program on the node that being breached. Perhapse hack comes from elsewhere then you expecting. Worst case scenario is when your home system is right next to enemy system behind wormhole(s). I suggest military intervention in that case.

What exactly happened, what makes you think you got hacked?

To understand hacking and use it to its full potential I suggest playing some games as UC or Horatio. Those are two factions that don't have bandwidth problems and can experiment with the mechanic without much backfire.

Groo wrote:

What exactly happened, what makes you think you got hacked?

Well, I keep getting the messag that Cram has been compromised. It has Encrypt running on it, yet I'm never warned than a trace has initiated. 

Whether there's a backdoor next to me or ten hops, what difference would that make with me getting notified of a hack being detected? When I have a backdoor next to another system's captial, it's the worst place in the world, because the hack is detected and the hack can't possibly complete. The same should be the case for enemies. 

And, again, every path to it has a Lockdown or Interrogate running on a periprhal system. 

I don't think you get a pop up when you have started a trace. But you can see the blue swirly lines in scan view of active traces and they should be in the queued messages at the top of the scan window.

The way hacks work is if there are pirates hacking you, you are at a disadvantage. They are crazy good at it but their hacking doesn't really do much to you. If it is another empire dong the hacking you are likely to see way more detrimental effects. I just get rid of the pirates and there are much less hack alerts to deal with.

Hmm. Pretty late game (300<), so I'd tend to think pirates are out of the picture, but maybe.

I'm not seeing anything demonstrable like my government being toppled, but they could just be stealing tech. Which is right there something it seems like I should be annoyed about happening repeatedly.

steveg700 wrote:
Should I be getting a notification if my empire has initiated a trace? Because I've never gotten one, and the cyber-view I don't see red streams coming out of my capital.

Perhapse you don't know about hacking notifications. You can see them while in Scan View at the top of the screen.

I've used the scan view--I couldn't initiate my own hacks without it, and I have about 60 assimilated Kalmats generating extra bandwidth so I got horsepower to spare...for all the good it's doing me. 

Do Interrogate and Lockdown deal with backdoors immediately? It's not clear to me, so I'm not moving them around to sweep my systems very quickly. 

I did eventually notice that there's a little tiny red indicator when a trace is being initiated. Thanks . 

I'm not sure what else I can do at this point. I got a good 150 extra bandwidth thanks to Kalmats, so I'm tossing out defensive programs like mad to see if I can figure out what's going on.

steveg700 wrote:

I did eventually notice that there's a little tiny red indicator when a trace is being initiated. Thanks . 

I'm not sure what else I can do at this point. I got a good 150 extra bandwidth thanks to Kalmats, so I'm tossing out defensive programs like mad to see if I can figure out what's going on.

Is there an Umbral Choir in your game? If so, they have highest hacking speed bonuses and you can't help but find their home system and force them to relocate, then clean up sanctuaries nearby. I made that in one of my recent games, because even if I placed encrypts nicely to protect the capital, my outer systems got hacked quite a lot. Encrypt -50% hacking speed stacks so you might try them + interrogate all the way to your capital.