Hacker

Hacker Attributes Endurance: 1 Speed: 3 Melee: 1 Firearms: 2 Special Ability Laptop Traits Tech Expert Skinny Nerdlinger Starting Items Translator Quick Escape Teleporter Hologram Bigfoot (3) Big Quest Hack the Planet Backstory "Has ambitions of hacking the planet, but will realistically settle for your parents' webcam. What Hacker worth their weight in salt doesn't want to take down the system? Joining the Resistance was a no-brainer for this societal outcast. Also no-brainers: Cheetos and not showering. .....Stereotypes."

The Hacker is an NPC and playable character. They wear a red jacket and black and green lensed glasses.

Super Special Ability

• Hacking takes no time.
• Hacking does not cause people to become hostile.
• Most appliances can be blown up via hacking.

NPC

Hackers can be found in most areas of the game, but are fairly uncommon. They can be hired to hack one targetable device for $20, increasing by $2 for each previous floor - for example, costing $26 to hire on Industrial 1. They have access to more hacking options since they possess the Tech Expert trait, such as releasing gas and blowing up Televisions. Unless allied, Hackers stop following players after hacking one device.

Hired NPC Hackers don't cause an alarm by hacking, unlike their playable counterparts or a possessed Hacker. As such, their hacks behave similarly to a Hacking Tool.

If a Hacker is hired, they will vote for you.

Drops

• Money (common)
• Hacking Tool (rare)
• Translator (rare)

Quotes

General chat:

• "Hack the planet!!"
• "Can we chat through direct message? I have social anxiety."
• "I am Anonymous!... Well, I guess not anymore..."

Hiring:

• "You're the boss!" — Upon being hired.
• "You?... No." — Refusing to join because of Antisocial or Malodorous
• "Nah, your posse's already too big.." — Refusing to join if you have too many followers.

Leaving:

• "See ya!" — Upon being dismissed.

At the Homebase:

• "I can literally hack the whole game, that's how 1337 I am."

Tips and Strategies

• How to fight: Hackers have lackluster stats aside from their speed. Although better with guns than melee weapons, it's best to avoid combat.
• How to finish missions: Use the Laptop as much as possible to complete missions. Learn what appliances do when hacked and exploit them to their fullest. Only fight if you have no other option.
  • The Laptop has a 50% chance to sound an alarm. Make sure you are in another building or out of sight, because people will look for you.
    • If you want to hack but know the noise will ruin your plan, consider using a Hacking Tool. It's silent so you won't have to worry about people looking for you.
  • Having Tech Expert allows Hackers to do much more with hacking. You can use this to spew gas, change camera targets, activate traps, blow up TVs, make Supercop alarm switches accessible for everyone, and more.
    • If planning to hack a Turret, remember the corresponding Security Camera must also be hacked so that the Turret can target NPCs. NPCs are fairly good at destroying turrets before they do too much damage; it's best to use it as a distraction or when coupled with something else, like poisonous gas.
  • Always remember to hack the ATM, Slot Machine, and Clone Machines on every floor for extra money and allies.
  • Refrigerators can be hacked to "run," breaking all breakable objects in front of them and dropping food. This is an excellent way to steal food or create entrances to buildings.
• As you start with a Translator, it's much easier to recruit a Gorilla as a follower (at the cost of a Banana), and can also communicate with Zombies summoned through a Necronomicon and Werewolves spawned from Clone Machines.
• Hologram Bigfoots are much more than just a distraction. Enemies swinging at them often hit each other, starting all-out brawls. Just be careful to place them somewhere many people of differing alignments can see them - attracting both enemies and Cops works particularly well.
• If available, Nimble Fingers is an incredibly valuable trait, allowing you to hack much more quickly. This helps in finishing missions before being found, and helps when setting off traps and other hazards while enemies are still in a position to get hurt by them.
• As annoying as Skinny Nerdslinger can be, never use the Augmentation booth to swap it. Doing such will make the Hacker the Poor Hand-Eye Coordination or Tech Illiterate trait, Crippling or outright removing the ability to hack. Its more wise to use the Augmentation booth to instead remove it.
• If you are going to enter a building with any Television, first hack the television to make it make noise and when all possible NPCs come close explode the TV, that way you can kill almost all NPCs in 1 hit.

NPC:

• Hiring Hackers to hack slot machines can be an effective way to make cash, giving an average of $135-Hacker Cost gold per floor if the maximum bet is placed until the machine busts.
• Clones produced by hiring Hackers to hack cloning machines are aligned with the employer rather than the Hacker and follow them between floors, making them a cheaper and longer lasting hire than gangsters, although unreliable as clones can be rivals or combat-weak classes.
• You can use a Hacker to release gas in a building with Gas Vents and a Computer to whittle down the health of NPCs using Poisoned.
• Hiring Hackers is helpful and sometimes necessary to access locked safes.
• Tech Expert allows hired Hackers to perform a variety of actions at computers not normally possible with a Hacking Tool. This includes turning off security systems, releasing gas, and even increasing Electability by 2 using the computer in City Hall.
• In the event a hired Hacker is caught hacking a device they become hostile towards the employer for "setting them up". although they are usually soon dispatched by the employer. This can be exploited to neutralize them without killing as a pacifist.

Trivia

• Alpha 54, which introduced NPC Behavior, allowed NPC Hackers to be hired to hack electronics, where as in previous alphas they could not be hired.