Bionic Dues:Doodads

Locked Doors are not the only objects that can be Hacked in Bionic Dues. There are hackable Computer Terminals with varying effects scattered throughout missions. As of 1.0, there are only two types of terminals: Intel and Special. In general, hacking Computer Terminals costs very few Hacking Points when compared to Locked Doors.

Computer Terminal - Intel

Description

This computer has secrets. Thankfully, it's actually not even playing hard-to-get about those secrets. It's kind of lonely, so if you give it a truly light bit of hacking, those secrets are yours.

On the other hand, the secrets are pretty near-term in scope: revealing everything within 20 tiles or so (even through walls).

Effects

Works just as advertised. Twenty tiles is not very much in Bionic Dues--it is very easy to increase the Sensor Range of a Science Exo above 20. The real benefit of hacking Intel Terminals is being able to see past all doors and walls, which block sensors. This includes not only seeing enemy bots, but also seeing loot or restoration objects behind locked doors. Do note that Hunter Bots revealed by the hack will become hostile and Hide Bots will still go invisible--the reveal serves roughly the same purpose as sensors.

Computer Terminal - Special

Description

Engaging in Unsolicited Information Management at this terminal:

...honestly, we have no clue. Hacking this terminal may cause monkeys to fly out of your nose. But we do suspect that two terminals that look exactly the same will cause the same effect (within this city). Can anyone say "poison taster"?

General Information

"Poison taster" is a very accurate term for these terminals. Upon starting the game, each Special Terminal will be given a random effect. As the tooltip implies, terminals that look the same will always have the same effect within the game. Furthermore, the game records the effect of the terminal for you. For example, if you find a terminal that Refills Exo Ammo, all other terminals of that type will indicate that hacking them Refills Exo Ammo (replacing the "we have no clue" blurb). Known effects are grouped by 'kindness' and listed below. The type of effect and how many positive/negative effect terminals are in any given game is determined by the difficulty.

Nice Effects

Trust me, you want these. More of these seed in lower difficulties, and they will assist you in various ways during your mission.

Repairs Exo

Have a few dents in your shields? This type of terminal will fully repair the Exo that hacks it. Use it in the same way as a Repair Station.

Refills Exo Ammo

Want to shoot that Plasma Cannon again? This terminal completely reloads the weapons of the Exo that hacks it, allowing it to continue its Bot killing spree.

Refills Exo Hacking Points

Works just as advertised. There is nothing quite as wonderful as finding this terminal after hacking half of the doors in a Hacker mission. Once you have identified this type of terminal, save it for when you run out of hacking points on your main hacker (likely a Science Exo) to maximize the benefit.

Drives All Bots in Sensor Range Beserk

Sews more dissent in the bot ranks than the death of a hundred Recoil Bots. All bots within sensor range are immediately converted to the "Hates Everyone" faction. Once alerted, they will attack anyone, including other "Hates Everyone" Bots and the player's Exos. While just mentioned, it is worth repeating: beserk enemies can and still will attack you! Typically, though, they will blow each other up, leaving only a small trickle of survivors for the player to pick off.

Neutral Effects

These are a mixed bag. Sometimes, they will hurt you and your plans. However, they can also be used against the enemy--at least, once you know what they are.

All Cover Objects in Sensor Range Explode

Works similar to a ThunderBot attacking cover objects for everything within range. If there are cover objects near your Exo, you can expect to lose that Exo. However, this will also kill enemy Bots hiding near cover, and allow your longer-ranged bots to see farther.

Destroys all Trap Objects in Sensor Range

This type of terminal immediately removes all traps within Sensor Range. While this might seem like a good effect, there are times where you will want those traps for the enemy--especially once you have an Exo or two with decent trap skill.

Mean Effects

Hope you weren't planning on having a good day. These effects range from crippling an Exo to outright destroying it.

Drains All Hacking Points from Exo

Immediately sets Hacking Points of the Exo to zero. That means no more hacking for that Exo during the mission (unless 'restored' by Rey's ability).

Drains All Stealth Points from Exo

Immediately sets Stealth Points of the Exo to zero. The Exo in question will be unable to cloak unless its Stealth Points are restored by a Stealth Generator Bay.

Explodes

I said you should have hacked the red code. The resulting explosion deals 2000 damage to the Exo and everything else within around 5 tiles. Typically, your Exo will not survive this, but nearby enemy bots probably won't either. That makes it slightly better than...

Kills Exo

...this terminal. This is another terminal that works exactly as advertised. Hacking this terminal will immediately destroy the hacking Exo. Unlike Explodes, there is no upside for the player whatsoever.

Very Mean Effects

You shouldn't have said, "it couldn't possibly get any worse." These effects have an immediate, brutal effect on the entire mission.

Enhances Attack of All Bots

Increases the Attack Damage of all enemy bots by 50%. [verification needed] Note that this bonus is applied to every bot within the mission, not just visible bots.

Enhances Attack Range of All Bots

Increases the Attack Range of every bot by 5, making it much more difficult to take them out without taking damage. Note that this bonus is applied to every bot within the mission, not just visible bots.

All Bots in Sensor Range Gain Range+2 Invisibility

Arguably the most brutal terminal effect in the game. Every single enemy bot within sensor range gains 2 range on all of their attacks. Even worse, they become Invisible. Invisible bots are only revealed if the player crosses within a certain range. Note that invisible bots can still be attacked by using attack ground--if you run into this at an inopportune time, your best bet may be to switch to the Exo with the strongest AoE and start shooting. Alternatively, if you have an Exo that can take a few hits, you may be able to determine where enemy shots are coming from, and kill them with single-target attacks.

Recommendations for Hacking Special Terminals

As you can see, there are a lot of good effects, and a lot of very bad effects that can happen when hacking a terminal. Thankfully, Bionic Dues is actually very good about allowing the player to soften if they choose to show a little bit of discretion when hacking terminals. Here are a few tips to avoid the worst scenarios:

1. Avoid trying new terminals until you have completely cleared the mission. In this case, cleared means: no more enemy bots, unexplored territory, locked doors (assuming you have enough hacking points to open all of them), or mission objective targets. That way, you do not have to worry about getting yourself into a scenario you can't win.
2. This should go without saying, but do not try new terminals when you have only one Exo left. If your luck is that bad, you will probably get Explodes or Kills Exo.
3. If you must hack an unknown terminal with enemies still alive, use the Exo with the lowest sensor range possible. That way, if you get a bad effect dependent on sensor range, you won't completely shoot yourself in the foot.
4. Try new terminals with the Exo with the least hacking points possible. That way, if you lose the Exo or the terminal drains your hacking points, you still hack other terminals.
5. Once you know a few terminal types, equip each Exo with a few hacking points. Then, you will be able to make the most of terminals that only affect one Exo