got ~150 blues to use, already has 1 Quad-frame and trying to decide between:
- another quad frame or
- a cipher bot or
- senary-frame upgrade (enough medal pts in a few days)

i usually run with 300 scan and 700 cloak, no hacking problem.
comments/advice??

i got 3 cypher first . this will help u get more blues.

always get the quadframes first, why people go for the ciphers first is beyond me

upgradeing to sentry will be easisest on you if you are an SSB, if not then I would get another quadframe, on top of that, as the sentry frame almost costs 2 quadframes, if you can still fit 2 more quadframes save the badges and complete the set.

maybe because of this :

more scan = enemies with more scan/cloak will show up in BT
cipher offer 7% increase in hack, so you don't need too much cloak to increase your success rate

if you do the math at low levels you'll find that they extra 7% of a single cipher generally is less than a single dark pyramid...

using your own numbers :
700 *.07 = 49

well, i don't think it works that way - though i'm not too sure about how exactly it works

i believe when the chance is calculated via cloak vs scan (1st roll), each cipher adds 7% on the chance OR each cipher multiplies it by 1.07

Having 3 ciphers means you get your chance increased by 21% or multiplied by 1.07^3, which is increased by 22.5% (regardless your cloak, as long as you are able to hack target)

having a higher cloak than their scan also works, higher it is the easier the hack chance, and you always have a chance to fail.
also note, that scan affects not being hacked back, and also affects the opponents ability to counter hack you.

1. Roll Cloak vs Scan success
2. Roll Scan vs Cloak to determine the amount of RP you get.

1. Roll Cloak vs Scan failed
2. Roll his Cloak vs my Scan -> if failed then the hack is only blocked, if succeed he counterhack
3. Roll his Scan vs my Cloak to determine the amount of RP he get.

Well, in my opinion, increasing 1st roll chance is way BETTER than increasing scan to stop his 1st roll Your reasoning still valid, though, but it's only my preference

a successful hack requires your cloak > target cloak+scan. hacking ability boosts (from cipherbot or hacker profession) only increases the amount hacked IF successful. adding scan changes your bt targets ... they will have a wider range of overall cloak+scan, decreasing your overall hacking success rate as you run into more ships with higher cloak+scan levels.

scenarios:
#1: 1 cipherbot - cloak 45 vs bt targets with less than 5 cloak+scan -> good success rate
#2. 3 cipherbots - cloak 135 vs bt targets with less than 5 cloak+scan -> great success rate
#3. 1 senary-frame - cloak 45 vs bt targets with 0-50 cloak+scan -> poor success rate
#4. 3 senary-frame - cloak 135 vs bt targets with 0-135 cloak+scan -> very poor success rate

so, if you are looking to hack successfully, cipherbots come first. ALWAYS.

this is also the priority order (cipherbots before senary-frames) that you install them on your ship if space-limited. i also put on my cloak-only zolazin jammers before the senary-frames. the senary's are excellent for shaking up your bt tho, if you get tired of picking only on your low cloak+scan targets.

Not to mention Senary-Frames requires 350 Medal and for a beginner like him, it'll be a though one to obtain so IMO bots would be a better pick.

Thx for the all clarifications/explanations! Got past 350 medal pts the other day but I haven't decided yet as my immediate goal is to get the protean armories. The blues are like dessert - to finish a meal of red/yellow/blue.

Hmm... You guys really don't know how hacking works, do you?

If YourCloak>TheirScan then the Hack button is active.

Upon attempting the hack, (YourScan+YourCloak)*YourHackBonus is compared to (TheirScan+TheirCloak)*TheirHackBonus and that ratio is fed into the RNG.

Based on the unknown threshold numbers, a Success, CritSuccess, Block, Counter or CounterCrit then occurs. If it is a Success or Counter, the RP gained or lost is then determined by a second RNG roll with a multiplier of TheirRank/YourRank. Crits just pull a random planet from the appropriate scan list.

my info is what I've read from this forum ... soo ...

but I've read that crit hack/crit counterhack is not affected by scan-cloak rate ?
and getting more scan means more RP gained ?

You do know that's Darth Flagitious, right? He's like the mothe... Err, father of all forum posters.

And never trust this forum. It's full of trolls.