2. Operation—Alphabet Soup

Head over to the clothing store, meet up with Horatio, and drive both of you to the Nudle Bus Depot. Horatio has already gained access to the bus. You just need to get in and drive it.

Assuming you don’t make any bad driving decisions, it is a straightforward plan to drive a few blocks northwest to the first bus stop, pick up some Nudle employees, gain an insight into their pretentiousness, then drive them roughly south to the next stop, one block northwest of Stanford University. These employees are “literally” the worst. Now drive to your final destination—the sprawling Nudle campus. Get off the bus, and follow Horatio into the building. After a small altercation with Brodie, a fellow employee looking to pin some dirt on Horatio, you’re left to your own devices.

Horatio lets you know the elevator maintenance area on the second floor of Nudle Maps is the place from which to reach the servers, but the place is locked up tight. The first plan is to acquire an access code that can get you into the Nudle Maps building.

ACCESS CODE HACKING

The access code you require in order to fully explore the Nudle Maps building is located inside a restricted area office on the second floor of the main campus building (in the southeast corner). There are two restricted area rooms here. Naturally, there’s more than one way to hack this code (though you can’t hack through the office windows).

SCISSOR LIFT CONTROL

There’s a second method of gaining entry into Nudle Maps; by locating the scissor lift in the grounds of the campus, and using it to raise yourself up to the Roof Access (Northeast) area.

POIs and Objective Points Nudle Employees Chat with any of the four employees who want to speak to you about life working for this wonderful corporation. Laptops There are some laptops you can hack to find out more about the inner workings of this place. None are mandatory to find. Nudle Slides Using the slides on the upper floors for a quick exit to the ground floors is more exciting than you were expecting! Access Key Stored on the laptop in the locked office, in the southeast corner of the upper floor. This can be hacked by you or either of your RC devices. Closed-Circuit Terminal If you’re wanting to manually enter the second-floor office where the access key is, you need to physically unlock this terminal in a darkened office room on the ground floor, directly underneath the restricted areas above. This, too, is a restricted area, with a motion detector at the door and a patrolling guard. However, stealth or the RC Jumper can circumvent these obstacles.

Paths to Completion

Closed Circuit Terminal section

Using Your Noodle

Hack the motion detector above the door (A.1) so it deactivates for a moment (or use NetHack and step through when the detector scanning cone moves out of your way). Enter the office, and throttle the guard without attracting anyone; watch his patrol and enter when he’s facing away from you (or distract him by sparking the junction box). Hack the laptop, then quickly unlock the CCT and retreat the way you came.

Using Your Jumper

Enter the purple-floored conference room adjacent to the guarded office, and open the ground vent. Use the RC Jumper to trundle through into the office, using NetHack so the guard is facing away from the vehicle. Move around the desk (hacking the laptop), avoiding the guard, so you reach the CCT. Unlock it, and trundle back to the conference room.

Paths to Completion

Access Code section

Using Your Noodle (Part 2)

Head upstairs to the room with the door you can now access (A.2), adjacent to the office where the access key is. The guard here can easily raise the alarm, so spark the junction box, opening the door when he investigates; explode the junction box or quickly dash in and subdue him with a strangle. Then simply enter the office (A.3), hack the laptop for the key, and leave the building via any exit.

Using the Vents

Circumvent the CCT entirely: Upstairs, there’s a large executive office (C.1) in the floor’s northwestern area (with a laptop to hack). Enter and produce either the RC Jumper or drone. Open the AC vent on the ceiling, just above the long bookcase. Pilot your vehicle into this vent.

Follow the vent as it winds through the upper floor, until you’re above the restricted area office with the access code (C.2). Check the minimap to confirm your craft’s position. Open the vent that allows you into the office, but remain on the vent lid; just hack the access code from the vent before returning to the executive office. You can now head to Nudle Maps whenever you wish.

Another amusing plan is to unlock the Social Engineering Research skill “APB: Suspect Located”, and call the cops on one of the members of the meeting (through the glass door) and step through during the commotion to retrieve the key.

Infiltration Points NUDLE MAPS Proceed across the main campus exterior grounds, heading northeast to the Nudle Maps building. There are several infiltration points to consider: Main Entrance (West): The corner entrance in the western part of the Nudle Maps building perimeter is the usual place to enter. It offers quick access to the ground floor, where you find your next closed-circuit terminal. Glass Tube Bridge (Northwest): Enter the northern campus structure, climb the stairs, and gather the collectible. Then cross the glass tube bridge and enter Nudle Maps via the second floor, where a second collectible is located. Then head down the stairs to Infiltration Point 1. Explore here to easily gather the collectible goodies. Roof Access (North): This curved overhang with the satellite dish is only accessible from inside Nudle Maps. Exit here if everything is turning a little too violent and you need a place to hide. This is also the place to utilize your RC Jumper to obtain the cunningly placed key data for this area. Roof Access (Northeast): There’s a roof area with AC units, accessible from the interior, or by using a scissor lift from the exterior campus grounds. Aside from having orange warning cones by the exit and a guard, there’s no reason to be up here; unless you’re wanting to obtain the collectible on the roof. Side Entrance (South) The other main alternate way into Nudle Maps is through the doors into the ground floor; then use the access code to open the double doors into the main floor of Nudle Maps. There’s stair access to the Glass Tube Bridge (South) here, too. Glass Tube Bridge (South): Enter the southern campus structure, climb the stairs, and cross another glass tube bridge to enter Nudle Maps on the upper floor. Then descend the stairs to the access code double doors. This is the long way round, but it’s important to learn the layout in case you need to hide from hostiles.

POIs and Objective Points Ground Floor Nudle Employee #5 and Laptop #4 Ground Floor: Talk to this guy about Nudle employee conduct (and not being able to talk to him). He’s by a cubicle wall in the central part of the floor. Also check the conference room table in the large room on the ground floor’s west side for another hackable laptop. Closed-Circuit Terminal (Globe Stage) The ground floor of Nudle Maps is a giant office area with an impressive stage and a blue “display globe” in the middle. Note the guard and the ducts ripe for exploitation with your RC Jumper. This terminal unlocks a maintenance door to a mechanical room (northwest corner), as well as the stairwell (east). Main Stairwell Access this after unlocking the ground floor CCT. There’s a guard at ground level and a motion detector above the door. This is the main way to reach the second floor. Mechanical Room (Ground Floor) Access this after you unlock the CCT on this floor. The mechanical room to the northwest has a guard to neutralize and two ladders to climb up to the second floor and the roof access (IP 3). Head here for an alternate way to the second floor. Second Floor Laptops There are two more laptops up here to hack for optional information, if you wish. Closed-Circuit Terminal (Main Glass Office) Most of this floor is given over to a huge Nudle Maps wall of monitors and a cubicle office area. There’s a patrolling robot, and the terminal is against the far (south) wall, close to a side office with a (human) guard. You must unlock this terminal to access the elevator room.

POIs and Objective Points Collectible (Nudle Campus Roof) Roof: Above the semi-circular overhang of the northeast roof area is a cunningly-placed collectible. You need to exit from IP 3 (the north roof exit, not the northeast one where the collectible is). Produce the RC Jumper (or yourself), and leap the gap onto the lip of the roof with the color wall panels. Then jump or climb left (clockwise) onto the roof section with the solar panels, and over to the overhang to claim your cash. You can also reach this collectible from the northeast roof using the RC Jumper with Enhanced Jump, or with Marcus using the Scissor Lift (at the south corner near the Nudle Sign). Elevator Room The objective is to reach this second-floor room where the elevators run. This is in the northeast corner of the second floor, accessed via a hackable door after you unlock the CCT. To progress, reach the elevator and hack it so the elevator moves up. Then stand on the elevator roof, and ride it down to the server room under this building.

Paths to Completion

CLOSED CIRCUIT TERMINAL – GROUND FLOOR section

Creeper

Enter via IP 1. Jog to the globe stage area (A.1). Step up and throttle the guard. Or zap him by coaxing him to the junction box on one of the nearby walls. Or simply ignore him and walk to the CCT while he’s not watching the stage’s left side. Unlock the CCT, then choose either the stairwell or mechanical room route to the second floor.

In the mechanical room, distract or rush and strangle the guard, then climb the nearby ladder to reach the second floor.

In the stairwell, hack the motion detector (using cameras) so you don’t step into an alarm, hack the junction box at the bottom of the steps so the guard moves out of the way, and ascend to the second floor.

Wheeler

Enter via Infiltration Point 1. Drop behind cover near the employee you can talk to (behind the cubicle wall). Use the RC Jumper to open any of the vents below the stage, and drive into the duct (B.1), hacking the vents on the stage, below the CCT. Then drive and hack the CCT. Other options are to produce an electro-shock bomb, carry it using the RC Jumper, and zap the guard before unlocking the CCT. Or simply leap up the stage steps to the CCT when the guard isn’t looking.

Paths to Completion

ELEVATOR ACCESS – SECOND FLOOR section

Creeper (Part 2)

Move into the nonrestricted hallway on the second floor. Hack the motion detector above the door leading into the main office. Enter via the door closest to the main stairwell (A.2). Then creep to the CCT, avoiding the robot. Retreat via the same route, before unlocking and entering the elevator shaft.

Wheeler (Part 2)

Drive the RC Jumper through the vent to the ground floor stairwell. Spark the junction box to move the guard. This allows you to scoot behind him and drive up the stairs to the hallway on the second floor (B.2). Open any ground vent into the main office (B.3), and drive to the CCT, avoiding the robot. Once the rooms to the elevator are accessible, stop using the RC Jumper, and manually head up the stairs (watch for the confused guard) and into the elevator shaft.

NUDLE SERVER FARM

You manage to descend to the server farm, but the door to the farm is locked. Horatio isn’t picking up, either. You’re patched through to HR; it looks like that prick Brody has caught Horatio with evidence to put him away for corporate espionage. He needs a spot of help: Cycle through the cameras, and begin fiddling with the hackable items in the room.

• Hack the camera under the TV, then the Nudle mascot near the open door so it starts chiming incessantly.
• Hack the camera under the table, then the wireless speaker near the TV.
• Hack the camera in the upper corner, and then the phone, letting it ring.

Brody eventually heads out to find HR, giving you time to hack the light switch (by the door Brody entered), letting Horatio know where you are. He writes the door code on a whiteboard before Brody and an HR advisor arrive. Let’s worry about him later. For now, access the keypad by the door, and you type in the code.

Once in the gigantic server room, your objective updates—you must find the central server. The clue is in the objective; you only need to hack the server in the middle of this farm (entering aisle 6), though the following path shows a complete unlock of the entire farm. At the first security router (on the wall near the line of locked doors), hack it and begin to solve an initially bewildering but actually quite easy Network Bypass:

Unlock the second Network Bypass (as only aisle 6 is needed for access), or complete all the puzzles, and enter aisle 6. Remember, you can go from server tower to server tower (all the hackable ones appear yellow in NetHack), but the central server is ahead on your right, down aisle 6. Or, you can completely bypass the puzzles by using the RC Jumper with Enhanced Jump, and drive it up and onto the overhead cable tracks leading into the server room, though you don’t want to drop into the wrong aisle or you’ll trap the Jumper. Locate the correct server, , analyze the data, install the backdoor, then leave the basement via the cooling room in the server farm’s northwest corner.

Horatio’s predicament is sorted, thanks to the skills of Sitara, and Ray guides you out of the cooling room. Head into the pipe-filled room, hack the drainage conduit opening, and slide down into a secondary chamber. Climb the ladder, up the mesh ramp, and out into the edge of the Nudle campus grounds. Then run (or steal a scooter and ride) to Horatio to tie this operation up in a neat metaphorical bow.

Network Bypass 1: Leave alone. 2: Turn x3. 3: Turn x1. 4: Unlock. Aisles 1, 2, and 3 are now accessible.

Network Bypass 1: Turn x1. 2: Turn x2. 3: Turn x1. 4: Unlock. Aisles 4, 5, and 6 are now accessible.

Network Bypass 1: Turn x1. 2: Leave alone. 3: Turn x1. 4: Leave alone. Aisles 7, 8, and 9 are now accessible.

Network Bypass 1: Turn x1. 2: Turn x3. 3: Turn x1. 4. Unlock. Aisles 10, 11, and 12 are now accessible.