Alert Level / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page Alert Level.

bigalphillips 26 Mar 2012 07:20

I've been spading alert levels lately, and here's some tips for how I'm doing it in case anyone else wants to try (or to future self in case I forget again).

Good suite for passing PLs and OAs without driving up alert: daily tester (rapid testing first round)
Good suite for restricting PLs and OAs alert pulses to 2/round : updating firewall + network jammer

The general strategy is to:

1. Hack into the site enough to gain access to the action you want to spade with gaining as little alert as possible (ideally doesn't require full control)
2. Perform the action a few times, bringing it as close to being kicked as possible, without actually being kicked.
3. Hack to the next level with an updating firewall + network jammer equipped. Disable all alarms with Network Silence, and each data pulse will raise the alert by 2%. Count the number of alerts sent, and subtract to figure out how much the previous actions raised the alert.

With Efficient Hacking, you can always do security update every round, which is enough to keep your hardening up against even a 3/3/3 OA. (You can go to http://www.metroplexity.com/hacking.php?submit=Strike&target=0&chain=24-6-25 to quickly attack with the same deck many times in a row, assuming those tools are available.)

For one-time-only actions, it's a bit trickier, but more or less the same:

Incog	Action	Alert	(cum.)		Notes
0	Initial		0
2	Hack level 1	0	0	No alert
2	Hack level 2	0	0	No alert
2	Hack level 3	0	0	No alert
0	Schedule Prof.	x	x	No alert
0	Public	20	20+x	On alert
0	Public	20	40+x	Medium
0	Public	20	60+x	High
1	Hack level 4	20	80+x	Kicked	Pulse (2) x 10

x must equal 20 or 21

Important Note: Network Silence seems to take place immediately as far as disabling alarms goes, contrarily to most all other hacking tools. So if an opponent sends a Data Pulse on the same turn as you disabled alarms, it uses the smaller amount.

(more data here)

Last edited on 26 Mar 2012 07:34 by bigalphillips Show more

bigalphillips 16 Apr 2012 02:06

Logging out seems to raise alert by 1 (EDIT: for some sites). (At least it does for Kimberly Cooper's Teen Specialty Nostalgia, we'll have to see if other sites react the same.) This'll make spading alert values for sites on the net really easy, if I can just log out for free until the alert level jumps to the next level.

EDIT: Also confirmed the ranges for alert. It's always bothered me a bit that there are 24 values for high alert but 25 values for medium and low alert (and 26 for no alert, if you count zero), but that does seem to be the way it is.

+ show block

initial - no - 0
log out - no - 1
log out - no - 2
log out - no - 3
log out - no - 4
log out - no - 5
log out - no - 6
log out - no - 7
log out - no - 8
log out - no - 9
log out - no - 10
log out - no - 11
log out - no - 12
log out - no - 13
log out - no - 14
log out - no - 15
log out - no - 16
log out - no - 17
log out - no - 18
log out - no - 19
log out - no - 20
log out - no - 21
log out - no - 22
log out - no - 23
log out - no - 24
log out - no - 25
log out - on - 26
log out - on - 27
log out - on - 28
log out - on - 29
log out - on - 30
log out - on - 31
log out - on - 32
log out - on - 33
log out - on - 34
log out - on - 35
log out - on - 36
log out - on - 37
log out - on - 38
log out - on - 39
log out - on - 40
log out - on - 41
log out - on - 42
log out - on - 43
log out - on - 44
log out - on - 45
log out - on - 46
log out - on - 47
log out - on - 48
log out - on - 49
log out - on - 50
log out - med - 51
log out - med - 52
log out - med - 53
log out - med - 54
log out - med - 55
log out - med - 56
log out - med - 57
log out - med - 58
log out - med - 59
log out - med - 60
log out - med - 61
log out - med - 62
log out - med - 63
log out - med - 64
log out - med - 65
log out - med - 66
log out - med - 67
log out - med - 68
log out - med - 69
log out - med - 70
log out - med - 71
log out - med - 72
log out - med - 73
log out - med - 74
log out - med - 75
log out - high - 76
log out - high - 77
log out - high - 78
log out - high - 79
log out - high - 80
log out - high - 81
log out - high - 82
log out - high - 83
log out - high - 84
log out - high - 85
log out - high - 86
log out - high - 87
log out - high - 88
log out - high - 89
log out - high - 90
log out - high - 91
log out - high - 92
log out - high - 93
log out - high - 94
log out - high - 95
log out - high - 96
log out - high - 97
log out - high - 98
log out - high - 99
log out - kicked - 100

EDIT again: looking at Johansen's International Ideas, logout seems to raise alert by 3. High incognito seems to reduce that down to 1 though.

(Level 1 arms blog, one PL)
(zero incognito)
Initial - no - 0
Public - no - 8 (+8)
Public - no - 16 (+8)
Public - no - 24 (+8)
Logout - on - 27
Logout - on - 30
Logout - on - 33
Logout - on - 36
Logout - on - 39
Logout - on - 42
Logout - on - 45
Logout - on - 48
Logout - med - 51
Logout - med - 54
(changed to 6 incognito)
Logout - med - 55
Logout - med - 56
Logout - med - 57
Logout - med - 58
Logout - med - 59
Logout - med - 60
Logout - med - 61
Logout - med - 62
Logout - med - 63
Logout - med - 64
Logout - med - 65
Logout - med - 66
Logout - med - 67
Logout - med - 68
Logout - med - 69
Logout - med - 70
Logout - med - 71
Logout - med - 72
Logout - med - 73
Logout - med - 74
Logout - med - 75
Logout - high - 76
Public - high - 78 (+2)
Public - high - 80 (+2)
Public - high - 82 (+2)
Logout - high - 83
Logout - high - 84
Logout - high - 85
Logout - high - 86
Logout - high - 87
Logout - high - 88
Logout - high - 89
Logout - high - 90
Logout - high - 91
Logout - high - 92
Logout - high - 93
Logout - high - 94
Logout - high - 95
Logout - high - 96
Logout - high - 97
Logout - high - 98
Logout - high - 99
Logout - kicked - 100

Last edited on 16 Apr 2012 05:02 by bigalphillips Show more