man-man Posted:

It’s almost certainly been asked before, but I’ve not answered it before so I really don’t care.

Best hardware is the Beastor cable, get 4 of them. If they’re too expensive then the Haxtor 50TB hard drive will give you the same offense/defense but without the luck boost. Eventually, if you want to go moar grinding, being able to manipulate your luck to whatever value you want will be useful, so you can get 4 of each to swap in/out. Lets me put my Luck stat to pretty much anything between 1 and 76.

That leaves you somewhat deficient on Processing Power, because you get none of that from a Beastor, so you’ll need to get some good moar files to make up for that. Riprogrammatori is the king for that – 7 in every stat except Frugality plus 160 PP. Kevin Mitnick Interview is good too – 6 offence and defence, 135 PP. If you can get your hands on a Duke Nukem screenshot, that also gives a nice chunk of PP, and is good in most other stats (except offence, got none of that). If those are too pricy, there’s a list of files that give PP on the Hacker wiki page, just get enough so you don’t run out in the middle of a fight.

Also very good for making up for a PP deficit is the Hacker’s surgical option (Prosthetic Finger Implant) and Book (I Almost Had Sex With a Woman: Memoirs of a Hacker Hero).

Beyond that it’s the standard “best” files – Pink Floyd, Blood Spatter Art, Incit Photos, Useless Program… all expensive to buy, might be easier to get hold of some weaker ones first, but those are the best you’ll find. Might also want some spare files around that have bonuses to Frugality, or Luck + Charisma, for rollover or shopping.

Add a Master Ball and some Versnatche Earbleeders just for the hell of it and you’re golden.

Side note: whilst you’re speccing up, hardware can be an expensive **** to repair, put some points into Upkeep, takes about 5% off the damage you take (and hence the cost of repairs) with each point you add. Upkeep of 20 means I hardly pay a damned thing to Bruce. Sink the rest into Egomania and Offence.

i only have the four Beastor cables and the Riprogrammatori and i’m already kicking bum harder than i ever have before. Log in to see images!