When does passive trace start in Uplink?

Question

In Uplink, I've heard that banks have the fastest passive trace times in the game; but if you have proxy bypass and monitor bypass, the active trace never starts. Do passive traces start from when the active trace would normally start, or do they start when you disconnect from the target host? (e.g. do I have to worry about being connected to such a system for a long time when not being traced?)

Asked by Billy ONeal

Answer

A passive trace starts when the victim discovers the damage has been done (e.g. data destroyed, large money transfers) if they have a trail. Nuking the target eliminates the trail (either via deleting system files and rebooting or running Revelation). If you can, use Log Deleter v.4 just to be sure. If you have a respectable tunnel chain, a passive trace can take days. If you're careful not to pick up any active traces, you can do a bunch of jobs in the space of several hours without worrying, then delete the logs on one of your first hops to prevent any possibility of a passive trace succeeding (The InterNIC server is best for this because they will never trace you).

Banks are a special case, though. You only have 2 minutes to eliminate the money trail by using Log Deleter to remove the statements. Having an account at the same bank as your target will save you a few precious seconds. After you've done that, don't forget to remove the usual log trails, though that is not as time critical as removing the money trail.

Answered by kotekzot

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How do I find rich people in Uplink?

Question

In my current game of Uplink, my uplink rating went up pretty fast, and I end up rather behind in terms of money. I'm #1 and I can't even afford the HUD_LANView...

I'm also trying to keep my Neuromancer up, so I try to avoid doing "trace a hacker" and "ruin a life" type missions, and other kind of missions are getting rare.

So, I decided that I'd try to hack a bank. Everything went right, and my false account now has a glorious... 8000c, after two thefts. How can I find richer peoples to rob of their belongings? I don't want to steal 4000c by 4000c.

Answer

Your best bet is to accept all "trace a recent balance transfer" missions, because the transfer is always huge (between 700k and a cool million credits), and after you've traced the receiver, nothing prevents you from robbing them blind.

The only way anyone ever becomes rich is through these missions, anyway. The money starts existing once the mission is generated.

You don't necessarily have to accept the mission to steal the money, but the only alternative is hacking every bank, jotting down all log-in credentials and then manually checking the account, so you really should. These missions themselves are Neuromancer-neutral; however, I believe stealing money lowers your rating.

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How do I get admin access?

Question

As the title states, I'm wondering if someone could give me an in-depth description of how to gain admin access to servers.

Answer

When you hack a system, especially early on, you're already gaining admin access. Simply get a valid log-in for the "admin" account. There are other types of accounts on banks and government registries.

The problem is, your log-in credentials might be revoked when the company next checks for security breaches. This can happen if:

• The trace was more than 50% complete when you disconnected, or you were caught. (Password is revoked immediately when disconnecting.)
• They find suspicious logs left behind by you, such as logging in as an administrator, or maybe copying their research.
• You disable any of their security systems, and they notice it.
• Their file server was wiped.
• Their system was destroyed completely.

However, gaining administrator access for setting up a bounce is typically not worth it. I'm not entirely sure whether it's a certain number of bounces, or if it's just that the bounce logs are suspicious (because of passive traces), but sooner or later your admin access will be revoked if you abuse the system as a proxy.

Exceptions which will let you keep your admin access indefinitely are:

• Uplink Test Machine
• Uplink Internal Services Machine

InterNIC also never changes passwords, but for some reason does not count as an admin access bounce node.

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How many IPs would be considered too many?

Question

Alright, so, I've recently started playing Uplink. Perhaps you've heard of it? Little gem of an indie game in which you play a hacker. I'm wondering how I've overlooked this title for so long!

That being said, I've connected to the InterNIC and started adding IP addresses to my list so I could bounce my connection off of as many as my computer can handle to avoid being traced. I'm wondering though, is there such a thing as having too many? Or is it simply "the more the merrier?"

Answer

The only limit is making sure you don't accidentally bounce through the computer you plan on hacking. At later stages, connections you don't have admin access to become less and less valuable.

Basically, the more the merrier.

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Should I avoid connecting to my false account when robbing a bank?

Question

When I try to rob a bank, I usually use a false account where I transfer the "generous donation". I create it in the same bank as the bank I rob to avoid IP concerns etc... However, I usually connect directly to it once, trough the finance tab, to check if everything is okay, even tough I create it trough bounces and remove logs.

Sadly, every times I tried to rob a bank, it ended with the dreaded black screen and FBI arrest... Could it be linked to the fact that I connect directly to my false account? if so, how long should I wait before connecting to it, to transfer money to my private account?

Answer

No, banks investigate large transfers as well as hacks. Your problem is that you're not cleaning up after yourself enough; having a dummy account isn't enough.

It's best to follow these instructions. You shouldn't need a dummy account if you're cleaning up after yourself sufficiently.

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Is there ever a reason to have multiple bank accounts?

Question

I always just use one bank account for everything, and I haven't noticed any problems. What good can multiple bank accounts be?

Answer

I don't think so. Having multiple bank accounts is completely useless.

However, banks themselves can be useful for setting up bounces. If you create an account, obviously you have that account on the system, which makes the bank more valuable as a bounce node (dotted line around it; takes longer to process). Your log-in credentials will never be revoked, either.

You could of course hack an existing account, but creating one is much easier and does not start a trace, so this is useful early in the game.

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