AI War 2:Hacking

Hacking is a fairly useful mechanic, involving the use of a Hacker unit to expend Hacking Points to perform various acts on AI controlled planets and affect certain Factions, such as the Dyson Sphere or the Nanocaust, and here it's explained a bit more in depth.

Hacking Points

Hacking Points can only be gathered normally from planets that are not AI controlled, i.e do not have an AI Command Station on them. You can gather Hacking Points from a planet with the Hacker unit - simply move it to the planet in question, and it'll complete with a bit of time. If you own the planet, i.e have a Command Station on it, then the Station will also gather Points for you - this is purely as a convenience factor, to alleviate the annoyance of shuffling Labs to every planet you take. Hackers are the only way to get Points from a neutral planet, if you do not want to capture it for whatever reason.

Hackers are the only unit able to use this mechanic at all. When on the same planet as a possible target (i.e Mercenary Beacon or AI Command Station), the relevant Hacks will be available in the Hacking sidebar to the left. There, the effect and cost of each Hack is listed. When a Hack is in progress, the Hacker is completely immobile until it is completed, and the remaining time left is displayed on the top in a similar fashion to Wave Warnings. If the Hacker is destroyed mid-way, the Hack is cancelled and must be restarted.

Hacking Response

Nearly every Hack causes some form of response against you - groups of units spawned to try and stop the Hack. The faction that responds is usually the one that controls the thing you are hacking (i.e an AI Command Station will respond with AI units, but hacking the Nanocaust responds with a very scary response of entirely Nanocaust units). Mercenary Beacons are an oddity, and will cause an AI response instead. The Dark Spire do not respond normally, but the force that the Provoked Vengeance Strike spawns somewhat acts like it.

Generally, there are both small, frequent "pulses" of units spawned during a Hack, as well as less frequent and larger pulses. In addition, actually completing the Hack fully has an extra response at the end as well.

Hack Options

Hack Name	Target Unit	Hacking Point Cost	Duration (Seconds)	Game's Description
Covert Science Extraction	AI Command Station	30 for 2000 Science	200 Seconds for 2000 Science	This device hacks into the AI survellance net and data archives in the local planetary system to obtain Science, up to the normal amount. It costs 30 hacking points to fully complete. Be prepared for an AI response against your units.
Swap Schematic Server	Schematic Server	20	300 Seconds	By injecting energy pulses into the Schematic Server, you can cause the AI to store a new design in this Schematic Server.
Download Fleetship Design	Design Backup Server	40	300 Seconds	You can hack the Design Template Server to download the master design plans for a new fleetship type for your own use.
Corrupt Fleetship Design	Design Backup Server	30	300 Seconds	You can hack the Design Template Server to corrupt the master design plans for a fleetship type. You won't get anything, but the AI can't use it anymore, either!
Subvert Super Terminal	Super Terminal	1 Per Second	Until Halted	The longer you hold on, the more you'll reduce (AIP), but you'll also cause a massive incursion of AI forces while doing it. Careful not to kill yourself by holding on too long. You only get one shot at this hack before the AI adapts, so make it count.
Access Mercenary Beacon	Mercenary Beacon	5	120 Seconds	Hacking this beacon will allow you to contact some of the Mercenaries. Since the Mercenaries are subverting the AI communication channels, expect a powerful AI response to this hack.
Provoke Vengeance Strike	Dark Spire Vengeance Generator	20	300 Seconds	Finishing this Hack will cause the Dark Spire to launch a Vengeance Strike, wherein every Vengeance Generator will simultaneously launch a fleet to attack, well, everything.
Download Dyson Ship	Dyson Sphere	20	300 Seconds	Hacking the Dyson sphere will give you access to one of the Dyson Sphere's ship designs, but it will make the Dyson Sphere very unhappy with you.
Increase Dyson Production	Dyson Sphere	20	300 Seconds	This Hack will improve Dyson unit production. It will definitely make the Dyson Sphere unhappy with you as well.
Decrease Dyson Production	Dyson Sphere	20	300 Seconds	This Hack will diminish Dyson unit production. It will definitely make the Dyson unhappy with you as well.
Decode Nanobots	Nanobot Hive	20	600 Seconds	Hack the core Nanobot Hive in order to subvert them into being your allies. From then on, the hive will devote all of its energy to destroying the AI.