Chapt3rs Guide to Getting Started with Bitburner

This is an introductory guide to getting started with Bitburner. It is not meant to be a comprehensive guide for the entire game, only the early stages. If you are confused or overwhelmed by the game, especially the programming and scripting aspects, this guide is perfect for you!

Note that the scripts and strategies given in this guide aren't necessarily optimal, but they will give good progression in the early game and help you get started.

Introduction
Bitburner is a cyberpunk-themed incremental RPG. The player makes progress by raising their stats, earning money, and climbing the corporate ladder. After reaching certain criteria, the player will begin receiving invitations from Factions. Joining these factions and working for them will unlock Augmentations. Purchasing and installing Augmentations provide persistent upgrades to the player and are necessary for progressing in the game.

The game has a minimal story/quest-line that can be followed to reach the end of the game. Since this guide is only about getting started with Bitburner, it will not cover the entire "quest-line".

There are two versions of this guide. One is meant for players who have little to no prior programming experience. The other is meant for players who do have experience and are familiar with basic programming concepts:

Chapt3r's Getting Started Guide for Programming Newbies (WIP)

Chapt3r's Getting Started Guide for Experienced Programmers

How do you connect to another server
'''NOTE: The following only applies for connecting to other servers through the Terminal. If you are trying to write a script, you do not need to do anything connection-related'''

In the terminal, enter the scan Terminal command to see a list of all servers that you can immediately connect to. If you do it from your home computer, you should see something like this:

> scan Hostname            IP                   Root Access iron-gym            42.0.9.1             N foodnstuff           60.7.7.0             Y sigma-cosmetics      15.3.8.9             Y joesguns             33.5.8.4             Y hong-fang-tea        2.6.6.3              Y harakiri-sushi       20.0.5.8             Y

To connect to one of these, just use the connect Terminal command. For example:

$ connect foodnstuff

Later on in the game, you can create a program called AutoLink.exe. If you have this program, you can simply use the scan-analyze Terminal command. For example:

$ scan-analyze 3

In the results from this command, you will see all of the servers that are up to a certain distance away from you. The hostnames of these servers will be white and underlined. You can simply click on these hostnames in order to connect to those servers.

How do you hack?
To hack a server manually through the Terminal, you will first need to connect to that server. Then, enter the following in the Terminal:

$ run NUKE.exe $ hack

The first command,, will grant you root access to the server. With root access, you can simply use the hack Terminal command to hack a server.

Note that for many servers, successfully running NUKE.exe requires you to open that server's ports first. These ports can be opened with programs that you can create or purchase later in the game.

How do you hack with a script?
See the hack Netscript function

How do you open ports?
To open ports, you need programs that can open them. Some examples include the BruteSSH.exe program which can be used to open SSH ports, or the FTPCrack.exe program which can be used to open FTP ports.

Once your hacking level is high enough, you will be able to create programs. You can check if this is available by going to the 'Create Programs' page on the left-hand navigation menu (Keyboard shortcut Alt + p).

Alternatively, you can purchase the programs. To purchase a program, you first need to buy a TOR router. One place you can go to buy a TOR router is "Alpha Enterprises". After you have a TOR router, go to Terminal and enter

$ buy -l

to get a list of everything you can purchase. Then simply enter  to purchase a program. For example:

$ buy BruteSSH.exe

After you have the programs that can open ports, connect to the target server and simply run the program. For example:

$ run BruteSSH.exe

How do you join a faction?
When you meet the right criteria you will automatically receive an invite from a Faction. If you accidentally reject the invitation, you can go to the 'Faction' page from the left-hand navigation menu (Keyboard shortcut Alt + f) and re-accept the invitation under "Outstanding Faction Invitations".

In the future, a full list of all the factions and the requirements you need to get invited to those factions will be posted on this page.

Help! My scripts aren't making very much money
There are many reasons your scripts might not be making much money. These include:


 * There is not a lot of money available on the servers you are hacking. When you hack a server you steal a certain percentage of the money on it. If there is not a lot of money available, you won't make much money from hacking that server. Use the grow Netscript function to increase the amount of money available on a server.


 * The server's security level is too high. A high security level can significantly affect many things, including your hacking time, your chance to successfully hack, and the amount of money you gain from hacking. Use the getServerSecurityLevel Netscript function to check a server's security level and the weaken Netscript function to lower a server's security level.


 * You simply don't have enough scripts/threads hacking a target to make much money.

If you follow this guide, you should be making somewhere between $100-$500/second for the first few hours of your game from your scripts. Later, this number should increase to several thousand per hour.

First Steps
I'm going to assume you followed the introductory tutorial when you first began the game. In this introductory tutorial you created a script called "foodnstuff.script" and ran it on the "foodnstuff" server. Right now, we'll kill this script. There are two ways to do this. One, you can go to the Terminal and enter:

Or two, you can go to the "Active Scripts" page (keyboard shortcut Alt + s) and press the "Kill script" button for foodnstuff.script

If you skipped the introductory tutorial (which I don't recommend doing), then ignore the part above. Instead, go to the "Hacknet Nodes" page (keyboard shortcut Alt + h) and purchase a Hacknet Node to start generating some passive income.

Creating our first scripts
Now, we'll create two scripts that can be used early on in the game (or throughout the entire game, if you want). The first script will be a generic hacking script that can be used for any server. The second will simply be a "weaken" script that is used to constantly weaken a target server.

Generic hacking script (early-hack-template.script)
Go to your home computer and then create a script called "early-hack-template.script" by going to the Terminal and entering the following two commands:

This will take you to the script editor page where you can write code to create Scripts. It will be helpful to consult the Netscript documentation, especially for Netscript Functions and Netscript Script Arguments.

Enter the following code in the script editor:

This script takes in three arguments. The first argument, stored in the  variable, defines the target server that this script is going to hack. The second argument, stored in the  variable (short for "money threshold"), defines the minimum amount of money that must be available on the target server in order for our script to hack it. If there is less money than this "money threshold," then our script will grow the server rather than hacking it. The third argument, stored in the  variable (short for "security level threshold"), defines the maximum security level the target server can have. If the target server's security level is above this threshold, then the script will weaken it before growing/hacking it.

After storing the arguments in variables, this script will call nuke and brutessh (if the player has the BruteSSH.exe program) on the target server in order to gain root access to it. Then, the script will continuously weaken, grow, and hack the target server based on the "threshold" values that were passed in by arguments.

Press the "Save & Close" button in the bottom left of the screen, or alternatively use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + b. This will save the script and return to Terminal.

Weakening script (weaken.script)
Now let's create the "weaken" script. Enter the following in Terminal:

Again, this will open up the script editor. Paste the following code into it:

This script is simple. It takes a single argument that defines the target server, and then continuously weakens that server in order to lower its security level. Finish up by saving the script.

Running our scripts
Now we want to start running our generic hacking script so that it can start earning us money and experience. Our home computer only has 8GB of RAM and we will be using it for something else later, so we'll take advantage of the RAM on other machines for now!

The first server that we can hack is called foodnstuff (it has a required hacking level of 1). Enter the following commands in Terminal: (Tip: Use tab-completion to complete these commands faster! For example, you can type "scp e" and then hit tab and the game should autocomplete the name of the script. This works for most commands in the game!)

$ scp early-hack-template.script foodnstuff $ scp weaken.script foodnstuff $ connect foodnstuff $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 2 foodnstuff 1500000 10 $ run weaken.script foodnstuff

Let's break down what these Terminal commands do. The first two commands, scp, copy "early-hack-template.script" and "weaken.script" (the scripts we just created) from the current server (which is your home computer) to the foodnstuff server. Then, connect is used to connect to the foodnstuff server. The foodnstuff server has 8GB of RAM that we can use to run scripts (you can use the free Terminal command to check this yourself). Next, we run the 'NUKE.exe' virus to gain root access to foodnstuff. This is required for being able to run a script. Finally, we run our two scripts using the run Terminal command.

Notice that when we run our hacking script using, we are passing five arguments after the script name.

The  arguments defines that we will be running the script with 2 threads. Read more about multithreading scripts here. The three arguments after that,, are the three arguments that we are passing into the script. Remember that the first argument, foodnstuff, is the target server. The second argument, 1500000, is the money threshold, and the third argument, 10, is the security threshold. With these arguments, our script will target the foodnstuff server. If the security level on foodnstuff is greater than 10, then our script will weaken it. If the money available on foodnstuff is less than $1,500,000, then our script will grow it. Otherwise, our script will hack it.

You don't necessarily have to use 1500000 and 10! You can try other values for the threshold, and they might be better. Feel free to experiment!

"weaken.script" is run with only a single argument, foodnstuff, which defines the target server.

Now we have our first two scripts up and running, which will passively gain us money and experience. These gains will be really slow right now, but they will increase significantly once our hacking skill rises and we start running more scripts.

Raising our Hacking Level
There are many servers besides foodnstuff that we can hack. But in order to do so, we first need a higher hacking level. The next server after foodnstuff that we should target is called sigma-cosmetics. It has a required hacking level of 5.

The easiest way to train your hacking level right now is to visit Rothman University. You can do this by clicking on the 'City' tab in the left-hand navigation menu (or use the keyboard shortcut Alt + w). Rothman University should be one one of the buttons near the top. Click the button to go to the location. Once you go to Rothman University you should see a screen that looks like this Click on the first button that says "Study Computer Science (free)". You can also choose one of the courses such as "Data Structures", "Networks" or "Algorithms" if you wish but since you aren't making much money right now, this will cause you to go into debt (this just means you'll have negative money, it's not a big deal).

After you choose an option, you will start studying/taking a class and earning hacking experience. While you are doing this you cannot interact with any other part of the game until you click the button to "Stop taking course". You need 72 hacking experience to reach level 5, so just wait until you reach that. You can view how much hacking experience you have by visiting the 'Stats' tab on the left-hand navigation menu (or keyboard shortcut Alt + c). This will take about a minute, so feel free to do something in the meantime!

Hacking additional servers (up to hacking level 40)
This section will walk you through how to run the the generic hacking script and weaken script we created earlier for more servers. 'IMPORTANT: You do not have to follow this guide chronologically. This section covers hacking servers up to level 40, but that could take a while, so I suggest continuing to the next section(s) of the guide and then coming back here when you meet the hacking level requirements for the listed servers'

sigma-cosmetics (required hacking level of 5)
Once you reach a hacking level of 5, you are able to hack sigma-cosmetics. We can do this with the same generic hacking script we created, we just have to pass in additional arguments. Go to Terminal and enter the following commands:

$ home $ scp early-hack-template.script sigma-cosmetics $ scp weaken.script sigma-cosmetics $ connect sigma-cosmetics $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 2 sigma-cosmetics 1500000 10 $ run weaken.script sigma-cosmetics

We are simply repeating the same thing we did for foodnstuff, but for the sigma-cosmetics server instead! Again, feel free to change to tweak the numbers (1500000 and 10) that are passed in as arguments to the generic hacking script.

After getting these scripts up and running, you should return back to Rothman University and continue studying/taking classes until you reach a hacking level of 10. You will need 174 hacking experience to reach level 10.

joesguns (required hacking level of 10)
The next server to hack is called joesguns. After hitting level 10, we'll run our script again for joesguns with the following Terminal commands:

$ home $ scp early-hack-template.script joesguns $ scp weaken.script joesguns $ connect joesguns $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 2 joesguns 50000000 10 $ run weaken.script joesguns

Note that the arguments for this script were changed drastically. The second argument passed in is 50,000,000 rather than 1,500,000. This is the "money threshold" for our generic hacking script. Yes, this is very high, but there's a good reason for this, and we'll see what this is later. Just know that this script might not generate any money for a long time.

nectar-net (required hacking level of 20)
'IMPORTANT: It may take a few minutes to reach level 20. If you don't want to keep studying at Rothman University and waiting, you can move on to the next section of the guide. Then, once you eventually do reach level 20, come back here!'

nectar-net is the next target, with a required hacking level of 20. nectar-net is a bit different because it isn't in the home computer's immediate network, meaning you can't directly connect to it. You will have to search for it inside the network. Fortunately, this isn't very hard. Simply go to Terminal and enter:

$ home $ scan-analyze 2

The scan-analyze 2 Terminal command will display all network connections up to 2 "nodes" away. You should see something that looks like this. Note that your results from running  will probably be slightly different because the network is randomly generated.

In the results from, search for the nectar-net server. In the image above, we can see that nectar-net is connected to joesguns, which is connected to our home computer. Therefore to connect to nectar-net in this scenario we would have to first connect to joesguns, and then to nectar-net. The network in your game will probably be different from this, so instead of connecting to joesguns first and then nectar-net, you might have to connect to sigma-cosmetics or foodnstuff. Just look at your results from  and figure out where to go from there.

For my example above, the procedure for running the scripts on nectar-net is the same, it simply required an extra connect statement:

$ home $ scp early-hack-template.script nectar-net $ scp weaken.script nectar-net $ connect joesguns $ connect nectar-net $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 2 nectar-net 2000000 12 $ run weaken.script nectar-net

hong-fang-tea (required hacking level of 30)
''IMPORTANT: It may take a few minutes to reach level 30. If you don't want to keep studying at Rothman University and waiting, you can move on to the next section of the guide. Then, once you eventually do reach level 30, come back here!''

hong-fang-tea is the next server target with a required hacking level of 30. Just like before, you can use the following Terminal commands:

$ home $ scp early-hack-template.script hong-fang-tea $ scp weaken.script hong-fang-tea $ connect hong-fang-tea $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 2 hong-fang-tea 2500000 12 $ run weaken.script hong-fang-tea

harakiri-sushi (required hacking level of 40)
''IMPORTANT: It may take a few minutes to reach level 40. If you don't want to keep studying at Rothman University and waiting, you can move on to the next section of the guide. Then, once you eventually do reach level 40, come back here!''

harakiri-sushi is the next server target with a required hacking level of 40.

$ home $ scp early-hack-template.script harakiri-sushi $ scp weaken.script harakiri-sushi $ connect harakiri-sushi $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 2 harakiri-sushi 2500000 12 $ run weaken.script harakiri-sushi

Create a new script to purchase new servers
Next, we're going to create a script that automatically purchases additional servers. These servers will be used to run many scripts. Running this script will initially be very expensive since purchasing a server costs money, but it will pay off in the long run.

Create the script by going to Terminal and typing:

$ home $ nano purchase-server-4gb.script

Then, enter the following code into the script editor:

This code uses a while loop to purchase 25 servers using the purchaseServer Netscript function. Note that 25 is the maximum amount of additional servers the player can purchase. Each of these servers will have 4GB. A 4GB server costs $220,000, so the script will check the player's money using getServerMoneyAvailable before purchasing the server.

After the script purchases each server, it uses scp and exec to copy our generic hacking script ("early-hack-template.script") onto the newly-purchased server and executes it with the arguments.

Once this script finishes, you will have 25 additional servers all running an instance of the "early-hack-template.script" that are targeting the joesguns server.

Let me explain why I chose the arguments  for this script, as well as for the earlier instances of the generic hacking script that we ran on joesguns. The joesguns server only starts with $2,500,000 on it. However, the second argument (the money threshold) we passed into these scripts, 50000000, makes it so that none of these scripts will actually hack joesguns until the money available on the server is greater than $50,000,000. Yes, this will take a long time. But the reason this works is because hack, when successful, steals a percentage of the target server's total money and grow increases a server's money by a fixed percentage. Therefore, waiting for there to be a lot of money on the server before hacking it is advantageous because it allows both hack and grow to be more effective. Each hack call will steal much more money, and each grow call will raise the money available on the server by much more.

The reason we are doing this all against one server, joesguns, is because it is only effective if you have many instances or threads of the generic hacking script all targeting a single server. In this case, we have over 25 (each of our newly purchased servers has a generic hacking script targeting joesguns, and we also have the script from before that we ran on the joesguns server itself). If we tried to raise a server's money from $2,500,000 to $50,000,000 with only one script/thread, it would take way too long.

To run the script, go to Terminal and type $ run purchase-server-4gb.script

Note that purchasing a 4GB server costs $200,000, so you will need to earn a total of $5,500,000 before this script can complete. Right now the scripts you have running should be earning a couple hundred dollars per second, give or take. At this rate, it will take a long time to earn the full $5,500,000. Luckily, there are additional ways to make money to speed up this process. These are covered in the next section.

Additional Sources of Income
There are other ways to gain money in this game besides scripts. If you completed the introductory tutorial, you were already introduced to one method, which are Hacknet Nodes. Once you have enough money, you should begin upgrading your Hacknet Nodes in order to increase your passive income stream. Hacknet Nodes are very useful for money early in the game, although their effectiveness tapers off later on. For now, I would suggest only upgrading the levels of your Hacknet Nodes and purchasing additional ones. I wouldn't bother with RAM and Core upgrades until later on.

There are also two more ways to make money right now. You cannot do both at the same time (although you can switch between one and the other), so which one you choose depends on your playstyle. One of these methods is more suitable for a passive playstyle, which is meant for players that simply leave the game open and check in every now and then. The second method is more suitable for an active playstyle, which is meant for players who are more focused on the game. This style involves more regular engagement in the form of clicking (don't worry though, this game doesn't require you to do a lot of clicking). Early on in the game, the active playstyle will be more profitable. I will highlight both methods below.

If you are an Active player
The first part of this method is actually pretty passive. Click on the 'City' tab (Keyboard shortcut Alt + w) and then head to "Iron-Gym". This allows you to train your combat stats. Use the gym to get your Agility and Dexterity to around level 10 each. You need 174 experience to reach level 10 in a stat. Note that training at this gym costs $120 per second and if you aren't making that much money you will go into debt (negative money, it's not a big deal). If this bothers you, buy enough Hacknet Nodes and its upgrades so that they are generating at least $120 per second.

Once you get level 10 Dexterity and Agility, go back to the city and visit "The Slums". In the Slums you can commit crimes which give a lot of money, as well as experience. Each crime option tells you its chance of success, which are based on your stats. Don't worry, there are no punishments if you fail a crime.

Initially the best option is the "Rob Store" crime. This crime takes 60 seconds to attempt and gives $400,000 if successful. I suggest this crime because you don't have to click/check in too often (since it takes 60 seconds to attempt) and because it gives hacking experience, which is very important right now.

Alternatively, you can also attempt the "Shoplift" crime, which takes 2 seconds to attempt and gives $15,000 if successful. This crime is more profitable than "Rob Store" in terms of money/second but it requires constant clicking since it takes 2 seconds to attempt.

If you are an active player, you should continuously attempt to commit these crimes to gain money and experience.

Once you raise your stats a bit, two other good options for crimes are the "Mug someone" and "Larceny" crimes. Mugging someone takes 4 seconds to attempt and gives $36,000 if successful. Larceny takes 90 seconds to attempt and gives $800,000 if successful. I suggest "Larceny" because it gives hacking experience.

If you are an Active player, you can regularly attempt these crimes to earn money. As you continue to commit them, your combat Stats will increase, raising your chances of success at committing these crimes.

If you are a Passive player
Click the 'City' tab (Keyboard shortcut Alt + w) and go to "Joe's Guns". In "Joe's Guns", there will an option that says "Apply to be an Employee". Click this. You will get the job, and then a new option will appear that says "Work". Click this to start working. Working at "Joe's Guns" earns you $110 per second and also grants experience for every stat except hacking. Note that you will not earn your money or gain your experience until you "finish" working, either by clicking the "Cancel Work" button or automatically after 8 hours.

Working at a company is completely passive. You can cancel working at any time, although this will cause you to lose out on some reputation gains. Don't worry about this; reputation isn't important right now.

Once your hacking level hits 75, you can visit "Carmichael Security" in the city and get a software job there (click the "Apply for Software Job" option). This job offers higher pay.

At level 100, you can get a software job at "Alpha Enterprises" for another raise.

Working at company is a good way to passively earn money early on in the game. You can read more about working at companies here.

After you purchase your new servers
After you make a total of $5,000,000, your automatic server-purchasing script ("purchase-server-4gb.script") will automatically finish running. This will free up the RAM on your home computer. We don't want this RAM to go to waste, so we'll make use of it. Enter the following Terminal commands:

$ home $ run early-hack-template.script -t 2 joesguns 50000000 10 $ run weaken.script joesguns

Reaching a hacking level of 50
Once you reach a hacking level of 50, two important new parts of the game open up.

Creating your first program: BruteSSH.exe
On the left-hand navigation menu you will notice the 'Create Programs' tab has a red notification icon in the top right that has a number. This indicates that there are programs available to be created.

Open the 'Create Programs' tab (Keyboard shortcut Alt + p) and you'll see a list of all of the programs you can currently create. Hovering over a program will give a brief description of its function. Click on a program to start working on it. Let's start working on "BruteSSH.exe" for now. BruteSSH.exe is used to open up the SSH Port on servers. Many servers in the game require a certain number of ports to be opened in order for NUKE.exe to work.

When you are creating a program, you cannot interact with any other part of the game. Feel free to cancel your work on creating the program at any time. Your progress will be saved and you can pick it back up any time later. BruteSSH.exe will take about 10 minutes to complete.

Optional (but highly recommended): Create AutoLink.exe
On the 'Create Programs' page, you will also notice another program you can create that is called "AutoLink.exe." If you don't mind waiting another 10-15 minutes, you should go ahead and create this program. This makes it much less tedious to connect to other servers, although it is not necessary for progressing.

Joining your first faction: CyberSec
Shortly after you reached level 50 hacking, you should have received a message that looked like this:

If you didn't, or if you accidentally closed it, that's okay! Messages get saved onto your home computer. Enter the following Terminal commands to view the message:

$ home $ cat csec-test.msg

This message is part of the game's main "quest-line". It is a message from the CyberSec Faction that is asking you to pass their test. Passing their test is simple, you just have to find their server and hack it through the Terminal. Their server is called CSEC. Go to Terminal and enter the following:

$ home $ scan-analyze 2

This will show you the network for all servers that are up to 2 "nodes" away from your home computer. These are the results from my game. Remember that this network is randomly generated so yours may look different!

We can see that CSEC is reachable from hong-fang-tea. Notice that the names of all the servers are white and underlined now. This is because we have AutoLink.exe. AutoLink.exe allows us to simply click one of the hostnames from the results of the scan-analyze Terminal command in order to connect to that server! So you can just go ahead and click the white, underlined text that says CSEC and now you'll be connected.

If you didn't create the AutoLink.exe program earlier, then you will have to manually connect to the server (or create it now).

Now, you need to successfully hack CSEC. Use the following:

$ run BruteSSH.exe $ run NUKE.exe $ hack

Keep hacking the server until you are successful. After you successfully hack the CSEC server, you should receive a faction invitation from CyberSec shortly afterwards. Accept it. If you accidentally reject the invitations, that's ok. Just go to the 'Factions' tab (Keyboard shortcut Alt + f) and you should see an option to accept the faction invitation under "Oustanding Faction Invitations".

Congrats! You have just joined your first faction. Don't worry about doing anything with this faction yet, we can come back to it later.

Using additional servers to hack joesguns
Once you have the BruteSSH.exe program, you will be able gain root access to several additional servers. These servers have more RAM that you can use to run scripts. We will use the RAM on these servers to run more scripts that target joesguns.

Copying our Scripts
First we will copy our scripts onto these servers. Go to the Terminal and enter:

$ home $ scp early-hack-template.script neo-net $ scp early-hack-template.script zer0 $ scp early-hack-template.script max-hardware $ scp early-hack-template.script iron-gym $ scp weaken.script neo-net $ scp weaken.script zer0 $ scp weaken.script max-hardware $ scp weaken.script iron-gym

neo-net
The neo-net server can not be connected to from your home computer. You will have to navigate the network and search for this server, just like you did for nectar-net (the level 20 server). If you chose to create the "AutoLink.exe" program, this will be very easy. If you didn't create it, you might want to do it now (although its not necessary, you can do it manually if you like).

Go to Terminal and enter the following command

$ scan-analyze 3

This will show you the network for all servers that are up to 3 "nodes" away from your home computer. These are the results from my game. Remember that this is randomly generated so yours may look different!



Connect to the neo-net server (remember you can just click the hostname from the scan-analyze results if you have AutoLink.exe!) and then run the following Terminal commands:

$ run BruteSSH.exe $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 4 joesguns 50000000 10 $ run weaken.script -t 2 joesguns

Note that we are running our scripts with TWICE the amount of threads as before. This is because the neo-net server actually has 16GB of RAM rather than the 8GB that previous servers have (you can check this with the free Terminal command.

zer0
Just like before, use the Terminal commands

$ home $ scan-analyze 3

to locate the zer0 server. Then, connect to the server and run the generic hacking and weakening script by using:

$ run BruteSSH.exe $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 4 joesguns 50000000 10 $ run weaken.script -t 2 joesguns

max-hardware
Use the Terminal commands

$ home $ scan-analyze 3

to locate the max-hardware server. Then, connect to the server and run the generic hacking and weakening script by using:

$ run BruteSSH.exe $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 4 joesguns 50000000 10 $ run weaken.script -t 2 joesguns

iron-gym
Repeat the same process as before:

$ home $ scan-analyze 3

to locate the iron-gym server. Then, connect to the server and run the generic hacking script by using:

$ run BruteSSH.exe $ run NUKE.exe $ run early-hack-template.script -t 4 joesguns 50000000 10 $ run weaken.script -t 2 joesguns

Profiting from Scripts & Gaining Reputation with CyberSec
Now it's time to play the waiting game. It will take some time for your scripts to start earning money. Remember that most of your scripts are targeting joesguns and are trying to grow the money on it up to $50,000,000. This will take some time. However, once it gets there, the scripts will be very profitable.

For reference, it took about 1.5 - 2 hours for my scripts to grow joesguns to $50,000,000. Once it got there, the production of my scripts quickly shot up from several hundred dollars per second to several thousand per second, and then to later to over $10,000 per second. The production continuously increased.

After just 10-15 minutes, I had made $10,000,000 from all of the scripts that were hacking joesguns. After 30 minutes, I had made another $40,000,000.

In the meantime, we are going to be gaining reputation with the CyberSec faction. There are two methods for doing this, which once again depend on if you're an active player or a passive player.

If you are an active player
Continue training your combats stats, but now try to increase your Strength and Defense as well. You can do this at either or a gym, or through crimes. The "Mug someone", "Traffick Illegal Arms", and "Assassination" crimes all give Strength and Defense experience, regardless of whether or not you are successful. In fact, attempting the "Assassination" crime a few times (each attempt takes 5 minutes) will raise your Strength and Defense up to level 30+, assuming you started at level 1. Alternatively, working as an Employee at somewhere like "Foodnstuff" or "Joe's Guns" also gives combat stats, although at a slightly slower rate.

Once you get your Strength and Defense to around level 50, start attempting to infiltrate the company "Joe's Guns". You can do this by visiting "Joe's Guns" through the 'City' page (Keyboard shortcut Alt + w) and clicking the option that says "Infiltrate Company". Visit the Infiltration page for more details about infiltrating a company.

'''Warning: When infiltrating, it is possible to lose HP. Recovering HP at the hospital is fairly expensive, especially early on in the game. Each HP costs $100,000 to heal.'''

When you successfully infiltrate and then escape from a company, make sure you are giving your rewards for faction reputation with CyberSec (you can also sell it for money if you want, but I'd recommend getting the reputation).

If you are a passive player
The passive method for gaining reputation is easy, just work and carry out Hacking Contracts for CyberSec! Go to the 'Faction's tab (Keyboard shortcut Alt + f) and from there select "CyberSec". In the middle of the page there should be a button for "Hacking Contracts". Simply click it and you will start earning reputation with CyberSec (as well as hacking experience).

The amount of reputation you gain from this depends on your hacking level.

Purchasing upgrades and Augmentations
As I mentioned before, about 2.5 hours after getting all of my scripts up and running, I had made a total of $50,000,000. Now, it's time to spend all this money on some persistent upgrades to help progress for the rest of the game!

Upgrading RAM on Home computer
The most important thing to upgrade right now is the RAM on your home computer. This will allow you to run more scripts.

To upgrade your RAM, go to the 'City' tab and visit the company "Alpha Enterprises". There will be an option that says "Purchase additional RAM For Home Computer." Select it and follow the dialog box to upgrade your RAM.

I recommend getting your home computer's RAM to at least 128GB. Getting it even higher would be better. There's nothing wrong with only upgrading your home computer's RAM to only 32GB or 64GB, either.

Purchasing your first Augmentations!
Once you get ~1000 reputation with the CyberSec faction, you can purchase your first Augmentation from them.

To do this, go to the 'Factions' tab in the left-hand navigation menu (Keyboard shortcut Alt + f) and select "CyberSec". There is an option at the bottom that says "Purchase Augmentations". This will bring up a page that displays all of the Augmentations available from CyberSec. Some of them may be locked right now. To unlock these you will need to get more reputation with CyberSec.

Augmentations give persistent upgrades in the form of multipliers. These aren't very powerful early in the game because the multipliers are small. However, the effects of Augmentation stack multiplicatively, so as you continue to install many Augmentations their effects will increase significantly.

Because of this, I would recommend investing more in RAM upgrades for your home computer rather than Augmentations early on. Having enough RAM to run many scripts on your home computer will allow you to make much more money, and then you can come back later on and get all these Augmentations.

Right now, I suggest purchasing at the very least the "Neurotrainer I" Augmentation from CyberSec. If you have the money to spare, I would also suggest purchasing the "BitWire" and several levels of the "NeuroFlux Governor" Augmentations. Note that each time you purchase an Augmentation, the price of purchasing another increases by 90%, so make sure you buy the most expensive Augmentation first (which would be "BitWire" in this case). Don't worry, once you choose to install Augmentations, the prices will reset back to their original values.

Installing Augmentations and Resetting
Now we'll install our Augmentations in order to gain their effects. Installing Augmentations is this game's "soft-reset" or "prestige" mechanic. Read more details about it here.

Go to the 'Augmentations' page on the left-hand menu (Keyboard shortcut Alt + a). You will see a list of all of the Augmentations you have purchased, and below that you will see a button that says "Install Augmentations." Select it.

Automating our script startup process
Most of the progress you've made will be reset to the beginning. However, you will keep your home computer RAM upgrades, your Augmentations, and your scripts, and these will help you progress faster and farther than before.

We'll now have to re-run our scripts like we did before. However, having to do this every time we reset would be tedious and annoying. Luckily, we can automate it with a script! Go to Terminal and enter:

$ home $ nano dist-0port.script

Then, paste the following code in:

This script will use the scp Netscript function to automatically copy our generic hack script and weakening script onto every server that has a required hacking level of 40 or less. It will also use the exec Netscript function to automatically run the scripts on those servers as well. To run it, go to Terminal and enter:

$ run dist-0port.script

Next steps and tips
That's the end of this guide, thanks for reading!

After you reset from installing Augmentations, don't forget to re-run the automatic server-purchasing script ("purchase-server-4gb.script"). Also, don't forget to use all of the new RAM you have on your home computer (128GB if you followed my advice!). You can use this to simply run our generic hack template from earlier on joesguns:

$ home $ run early-hack-template.script -t 40 joesguns 50000000 10

Tips moving forward

 * Early on in the game, upgrading the RAM on your home computer is more important than Augmentations
 * The more money available on a server, the more effective the hack and grow Netscript functions will be
 * There is a limit to how much money can exist on a server. This value is different for each server. The getServerMaxMoney Netscript function gives you this maximum limit value
 * After you start making a decent amount of money, visit the "Travel Agency" in the City (or use Keyboard Shortcut Alt + r) and travel to other cities. This will open up some new content!