2. Operation—The Future Is In Blume

After introducing two guards to your cue ball, check your surroundings. You are on Level 02. Look at the front desk and glass-walled conference room. Head to a locked electronic door. This one requires an access key (aka access code) in order to unlock.

Open NetHack, and look across to the main server floors. Cycle through the cameras, locating the one nearest the red Access Key icon, which is on a laptop. Hack and obtain the access key, and use it to open the previously locked electronic door.

1. TOGGLE AND TAG

Optionally cycle through the cameras, opening and closing NetHack and tagging any guards you find. These are now visible as you progress, allowing you to more easily maneuver toward them and avoid or neutralize them. This is a technique known as scouting. You can fiddle with the electronic doors, too, confusing these foes (as they react to the sound), though this isn’t necessary.

Head down the corridor to the base of the stairwell. You can:

1. HACK ATTACK

Hack the electronic door to your left (Path 1).

2. STAY ON TRACK

Continue to the right, up the stairs (Path 2).

Either is fine to try, though the latter enables you to clear the office sections of the Data-Center and gather optional intel first.

Infiltration Points BLUME DATA CENTER (INTERIOR) Gantry Entrance/Exit (Level 02): This area offers immediate access to and from the server tower. Start removing guard threats and reach the objectives with haste. Guards are located on Levels 02 through 06. Gantry Entrance/Exit (Level 03): This area offers access to and from the server tower and the “globe” lobby. The lobby is usually devoid of foes, and has offices to check for audio files. It’s a safer way to explore upward to Level 04. Gantry Entrance/Exit (Level 04): This area offers eventual access to and from the server tower and the cubicle offices of Level 04, and the patrolling guard. There are some small security offices by this gantry, separated by glass walls, so don’t run into them!

POIs and Objective Points Gantry Entrance/Exit (Level 06) This is only accessible after you enter the server tower platforms or head out from the server corridor contained here (after setting proximity traps using the Junction Box hack). Northeast Server Room Stairwell (Levels 02–07) Use this as an escape route or to ascend to the server room platforms. This doesn’t go to the basement, so leap over the railing or use the opposite stairs. Southwest Server Room Stairwell (Levels 01–06) Use this to reach the network control room, and descend to the basement from here. Access Key Located on a laptop in Level 03. You already accessed this in order to continue through Level 02. The laptop has no additional function. Audio Files Look at the guide map to learn the location of these audio files, which you can hack from devices such as laptops and tablets. Devices with an audio file appear orange in NetHack view. Audio files grant you more knowledge of your current operation. They are only available during that operation and have no other function. In other words, you don’t need to collect them. Objective—Server Tower (Access Point) You need to reach the rack stack on Level 05 (southern tower pillar) to start shutting down the tower. Note that the server tower has gantries and ladders at each level, so the platforms you’re moving across are not the same for each floor. Also be aware of a “red line” path running from the gantry entrance/exit (Level 06) all the way down to the basement. Follow that route if you get lost. Objective—Server Tower (Hot Aisle) Above the access point, on Level 07 (southern tower pillar), is a ladder up to the “hot aisle” where you must undertake additional hacking. Objective—Network Control This large curved control room is on the western side of the Data-Center, on Level 06. You must access the digital help desk but only after you solve your first Network Bypass. Objective—Server Tower Basement After you maneuver through the two mechanical room chambers comprising this basement area, access the large air duct to exit this operation.

Paths to Completion

Tower of Power

This offers the quickest route and fewest enemy interactions (providing you aren’t spotted). Begin at Infiltration Point 1. Cross to the stairwell ahead and right of you (B.1). Ascend three flights of stairs to Level 05 (B.2).

Tower of Power

This offers the quickest route and fewest enemy interactions (providing you aren’t spotted). Begin at Infiltration Point 1. Cross to the stairwell ahead and right of you (B.1). Ascend three flights of stairs to Level 05 (B.2). You may have two opportunities to subdue guards on the way (or wait for them to continue their patrol). Once at Level 05, check for guards and head across to the server tower.

No Time to Cower

The most proficient way to search out and neutralize all guards, collect all audio files, and clear the Data-Center of foes without them being alerted is to head up to Level 03 (C.1), move to the sofa near the Blume globe, and explore the vicinity. Hack the door at the corridor’s southwest end, enter the office to the right of the stairwell, and hack the laptop for the audio file.

Climb the stairs to Level 04 (C.2). Immediately turn left and hack the audio log through the window of the executive office. Face northeast, work your way through the cubicles, and bring down the guard here. Hack the door to the security office area and gantry to the server tower. Hack the laptop in the security office, then hack open the gantry door.

Step into Level 04 of the server tower (C.3). Use the cameras to scout for all remaining guard locations. Choke out the guard ahead of you, then work your way up through all the floors to Level 06, methodically finding and throttling the guards. Finish the job by moving into the side server at (C.4) and finding the last guard in there. Then drop down off the balcony above the server tower (C.5) to reach the objective.

When you hack the server tower, you begin to initiate shutdown. You can sit and wait for this to complete (while looking out for guards who start searching the area for the source of the hack), or proactively move to the next objective (even though it hasn’t appeared on your map yet):

Hot Stuff

As soon as the “Initiate Shutdown” bar appears, head southwest to the stairs (D.1) and ascend to Level 06. Head into the middle of this gantry platform, looking for the ladder to the north (D.2), up to Level 07. Turn left at the top of the ladder (D.3), moving clockwise around the catwalk to the ladder up to the hot aisle (objective). Climb this ladder, and hack the hot aisle.

Once your hot hacking concludes, hop over the catwalk railing, above the gantry bridge into the network control room on Level 06. Enter the room, hacking the digital help desk. Whoops! That didn’t work! It’s locked, and hacking the security router to the left of it reveals why—there’s a Network Bypass to solve:

Network Bypass 1: Turn x3. 2: Turn x1. 3: Unlock. Puzzle complete.

You are on Level 06. Guards have raised the alert, meaning you must exit swiftly. From your crouching position, create a proximity trap, then attract the attention of the suspicious guard so he inspects the junction box on the right wall. There are two other junction boxes in this side server room to test, too. Retrace your steps back into the server tower chamber.

At this point, you need to descend to the basement exit area of the server tower. Even if you’ve cleared the entire Data-Center of foes before, others have arrived, and the place is swarming with Umeni security. The following are some plans for surviving the descent, with the optimal path listed first.

Basement Descent

Head back into the network control room (E.1), to the gantry and onto the southwest stairwell (E.2). Wait for the guards to fan out across the area, then quickly descend the stairs to the basement (E.3).

Basement Descent II

Head past the sunken server area (F.1) where you just electrocuted the guard at the junction box. Go out onto the gantry and to the northeast stairwell (F.2). Descend while avoiding, dashing past, or tasing guards. At Level 02 (where the stairs end), hop over the lower railing to the basement, when you’re above the concrete steps.

You can also climb down ladders and vault over railings to lower levels on the server tower, if you’re fighting your way down to the basement.

Boxing Clever

Use junction box explosions in the side server room and throughout the server platforms to attract guard attention. Taser them as they enter through the electronic door.

Short Sharp Shock

Descend while employing your taser to neutralize all guards from range.

Grab and Gurgle

Descend while throttling foes or using the Thunderball to neutralize guards from close range, which is a little more daring and has a greater chance for guards to see you.

Enjoy the Violence

Wade into the server tower, charging the guards without any semblance of stealth. Expect eight guard reinforcements and a greater chance of a violent end to your infiltration.

Watch for possible additional reinforcements on each floor you descend to. Continue down the stairwells to Level 05, following the red line on the floor to the stairwell down to Level 01 and the wall of fans. Enter the concrete-walled mechanical room close to your exit. Expect two more guards here. You can:

’Tis Confusion!

Use NetHack, scouting both guards and watching their patrol paths. Creep behind the first and throttle him, and tase the second guard.

See Ya!

Otherwise, a combination of any other offensive techniques is also possible, including attracting guards by exploding the junction boxes here. You can also try sprinting directly for the exit point.

After reaching the giant extractor fan, you exit the Data-Center and meet the DedSec crew on the beach. An evening of celebratory drinks is called for.