Hacking (Fallout 3)

Hacking is a gameplay mechanic used to gain access to terminals in Fallout 3.

Characteristics
A list of words will be presented, all of the same character lengths, interposed with random characters. The length of the words is determined by the difficulty of the terminal. The number of words is determined by how high one's Science skill is. One of the words is the correct password, and the goal is to guess it by clicking on it.

If incorrect, the terminal will display "x/y correct" where x is the number of correct letters, and y is the word length. There will be four attempts to select the correct password, at which point the player character will be permanently locked out. With the Computer Whiz perk, an additional try is available.

Symbols
Aside from the words on the screen, the player will also be presented with several symbols. If the player can find groups of symbols in between sets of brackets, such as []. {}. . and <>, selecting them will remove duds, or incorrect passwords, and replenish the number of attempts the player has before being locked out.

When selecting a bracketed text string when there is only one selectable word left it will have no effect and say "Entry Denied." Previous choices are displayed on the right-hand side of the terminal. To get to the hacking mini-game quickly, click the startup screen on the terminal to skip to the next screen. Click once more to load the hack screen instantly.