Just wanted to give a follow up. Thanks again to the person who first posted this topic. I tried the plan laid out here (with defensive measures to counter the pay back), and it has worked very well for me. Not only am I the #3 hacker in the game (and I am coming for your spot Wolverine!), but I also have 200+kills, and only 5 times being disabled. Massive defense and hull has held off all but the most persistant attackers (those who use the energy cubes or refils to keep coming).

I am a little confused with how the Hacker 30% perk works. Does it increase your cloak and scan stats by thirty% during hacking? Is it 30% buffer simply from failing the hack? How does it affect critical chances? Any info would be appreciated!

@ Jugg: yw.

@ Nietzche: The hacker proffesion gives grants a 30% bonus to how much research you steal when you get a successful hack. Spy increases your cloaking so it increases your chance of getting a successful hack, and Explorer increases your scan, so it increases your chance of getting a crit hack, assuming you actually have any scan to begin with. Wether or not the hacking proffession increases your chance to get a crit hack is up in the air as Dan has not confirmed this.