Science

Science is a Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, and Fallout 3 skill.

Covers a variety of hi-technology skills, such as computers, biology, physics and geology.

Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics
Initial Level: Starting Science skill is equal to 25% + (2% x Intelligence). This formula would mean average characters will have a 35% Science skill (25% + (2 x 5)), with the minimum value being 27% and the maximum 45%.

Fallout 3
Science allows you to hack terminals using the mini-game described below. Terminals have different difficulty levels, and they require different science skill levels. They difficulty ratings and skill levels are: Very Easy (15), Easy (25), average (50), Hard (75), and Very Hard (100). The relative values of your science level and the difficulty rating affects how hard the minigame is.... For instance if you have a very high science skill and try to hack an easy terminal there will be few words to choose. Furthermore there will be many brackets such that you may be able to elimate all the bogus passwords.

The Hacking Mini-game
You will be presented with a list of words interposed with random characters. One of the words is the correct password, and your goal is to guess it. You choose a word by clicking on it, and you be given feedback about the number of correct letters (it will display "x/y correct" where x is the number of correct letters, and y is the word length). It is important to realize that a letter is correct only if it is in the right spot. For example, if the password is “RELEASED” and you choose “DETECTOR” then you will be told that there are 2/8 correct because there are 'E's in the 2nd and 4th place for both (the words have other letters in common, like 'R', but it is in the first spot in one, and the last in the other). You have four attempts to select the correct password.

This game has many similarities with Mastermind (a board game).

There are also things you can do with the characters that are not part of words. Clicking on matching brackets (i.e. []{}<>, even with other characters between) can remove a dud password or even reset the number of remaining guess to four. The brackets must be of the same type and on the same line. Take “.<*%]>)(@” as an example. Selecting the first “<” will highlight everything up to the “>”.

Before you have used all four guess, you can exit the game. You can then start the game again, and you will be given a new batch of words. This is useful if you're running low on guesses. Using all four guesses without getting the correct answer will lock the terminal – you will be unable to hack it again.

Tips and Tricks
You can use past guess to quickly eliminate many words. If you guess a word and are told that it has n correct letters, that means any word that does not have exactly n letters in common (same letter in the same position) with the first word cannot be the correct choice. For example, if you guess “CONVINCED” and are told that 3/9 are correct then you can eliminate word like “CERTAINLY” (1 letter in common) and “COMMITTEE” (4 letters in common). This often narrows your choices down a good deal – in the mini game this example was taken from, choosing “CONVINCED” eliminated all but 3 words (“FORBIDDEN”, “CARDINALS”, and “CLUTTERED”). So after only one guess, being able to win the mini-game was guaranteed (since there were three guess and three words left).

Taking the above approach may require pencil and paper (or one of the programs listed further down in the article), but there are other tricks that do not. Looking at common clusters of letters can also be useful. For example, if any word ending in "ING" gets less than 3/X correct, then the correct answer cannot end in "ING".

To get to the hacking mini-game quickly, you can click the startup screen on the terminal to skip to the next screen.

A simple but effective approach
Choose the first word on your screen, and see how many letters are correct. Go down the list to the first word that has that many letters in common with your original word. Choose that word. Repeat the process as needed and you will generally succeed.

Random guess approach
A less structured, but surprisingly effective, approach is to quickly guess three times, and then exit if you did not guess the correct password. Repeat the process as necessary. Given 21 passwords to choose from, it takes seven times, on average, to get it right. This can be done very quickly.

A structured approach
Read all the words, and you will notice that many look alike. Choose the word that seems to have the most in common with the other words. Several things could happen. Again, note the number of correct letters. You have two more guesses left. Go through the words and find which ones have not been eliminated. There will likely be only one or two word that fit the bill – try them.
 * You could be lucky, and have guessed correctly right away.
 * If only one or two letters are incorrect, choose a word that differs by only one or two letters.
 * Otherwise, choose a word that is very different from your previous choice.

Pencil and Paper approach
Write down all the words on a piece of paper (quad ruled paper is useful -- putting one letter per square will make them easy to compare). Chose a word that seems to have a lot in common with many of the other words. Use the feedback from the computer (x/y correct) to eliminate all words that do not have that x letter sin common with the word you chose. Repeat as needed.

Psychological approach
Often times the password is a word that makes sense for the area (person who owns the computer etc.) at hand. Many have noted synonyms (or close too) in the mini game (eg killer murder. One of these synonyms is often the password.  The first and most obvious example of this is that the vault leaders password is his daughters name.  The typically second is that the bar owner in megaton also has a character appropriate password.  This trend continues through the game...

Use a program
Several programs exist that will make suggestions and do the book keeping for you. The algorithms behind most of the programs are not known. Some appear to suggest words that have the most in common with other words (although what exactly that means varies with the algorithm). The algorithm behind the Vault-Tec 1337 Hax0ring Tool uses the laws of probability to choose the word that will, on average, eliminate the most other words. The Terminal Hacking Tool for Fallout 3 (THTF3) works pretty much the same way. It ensures fail safe result for all the terminals up to "very hard" level. The difference of THTF3 from other online tools is that it is implemented wizard-style, suggesting which word should be selected at each step.

Online:
 * Terminal Hacking Tool for Fallout 3
 * HACK-BOY
 * Terminal Hacking Assistant

Offline:
 * Vault-Tec 1337 Hax0ring Tool