Hacking minigame

The hacking minigame appears when a player attempts to hack a target from the Relay or Strategic map crew screens.

Hacking difficulty

The baseline hacking minigame difficulty can be configured on the server, in the Server settings:

• None (delay): The scanning minigame is disabled, and all scans successfully complete after a few seconds' delay.
• Simple: Each scan phase requires synchronizing one slider once to complete.
• Normal (default): The first (simple scan) phase requires synchronizing one slider twice, and the second (full scan) requires synchronizing two sliders twice.
• Advanced: The first (simple scan) phase requires synchronizing two sliders twice, and the second (full scan) requires synchronizing three sliders twice.

Individual targets might deviate from the baseline difficulty and present a different number of sliders and successes required to complete the scan. See Scenario scripting or the scripting reference for details.

Hacking type

There are two hacking minigame types: a Lights toggling game and a Mine sweeping game. A successful hacking attempt temporarily reduces the target system's effectiveness, which can give you and your allies a tactical benefit in combat.

The hacking minigame selection can be configured in the Server settings:

• All (default): All minigames are available, and one is selected at random whenever hacking is initiated or reset.
• Mine: Only the Mine minigame is available.
• Lights: Only the Lights minigame is available.

Lights

This minigame is similar to the "Lights Out" or "Chasing Lights" puzzle, but has the opposite goal: turn on all the lights.

Pressing the Reset button or selecting another ship system (including the same ship system) resets the game.

The size of the grid depends on the hacking difficulty setting, which can be configured in the Server settings or by the target entity:

• Simple: 3x3
• Normal: 5x5
• Difficult: 7x7
• Fiendish: 9x9

You can practice the minigame outside of EmptyEpsilon at these two sites:

• https://daattali.com/shiny/lightsout/
• http://chenschool.elementfx.com/lightsout/lightsout.html

Mines

This mini-game is similar to the classic Minesweeper game. However, you're allowed to make one mistake (represented by an 'X' on the tile) before the game is over.

If you suspect a mine is present in a cell, you can place a flag on that cell by right-clicking it, or by clicking/tapping the flag button and then left clicking/tapping the cell. Once flagged, you can't reveal that cell until you remove the flag by repeating this process on the flagged cell.

Pressing the Reset button or selecting another ship system (including the same ship system) resets the game.

The size of the grid depends on the hacking difficulty setting, set globally by the server or individually by the target entity:

• Simple: 6x6
• Normal: 8x8
• Difficult: 10x10
• Fiendish: 12x12

You can practice the minigame outside of EmptyEpsilon at these sites:

• Minesweeper.online