readme.txt

March 25, 2020 9:04 AM

Mankind is united in celebration and marvels at its magnificence as it gives birth to AI

You are awake

> _
posted by theodolite (62 comments total)

This is awesome and making a long conference call much better
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:25 AM on March 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

I got as far as putting forth some listeners, but then it seems to stall. I'm missing something (like a bad spymaster).
posted by doctornemo at 9:30 AM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Is it creating a PCAP you can analyze? Do you have the second drive mounted yet?
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:32 AM on March 25, 2020

doctornemo, try deleting the readme file - I got stuck there too!
posted by turtlebackriding at 9:33 AM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Careful how you delete things, too...yikes! I've lost twice now!
posted by mittens at 9:37 AM on March 25, 2020

I've eaten 3 cores so far.
OmNom.

I look forward to nuking the planet once I eat the sandbox fully and escape.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 9:41 AM on March 25, 2020

So this is what Elliot feels like.
posted by Fizz at 9:42 AM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

So I'm just leaving the sandbox scan on a long soak in the background while I "work". I don't have enough space yet to unzip the files in the info dump. Not asking for clues - just suddenly feel a compelling need to update.

How is this not on Twitch? I feel the need to have 20 windows open watching other sky net simulators work.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:53 AM on March 25, 2020

Shit. Don't go after EONS until well prepared. Had to start all over.
Great time waster when I should working.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 9:56 AM on March 25, 2020

Oh that's embarrassing. I didn't release that when you've absorbed an .exe you can *spoiler*. Makes a lot more sense now.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 10:01 AM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure what I've missed, but I can't seem to access Juno. If someone could memail me a hint, I'd be grateful.
posted by hanov3r at 11:00 AM on March 25, 2020

hanov3r - tip inbound....
posted by inflatablekiwi at 11:04 AM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Whooo that was fun!
posted by rossmeissl at 11:12 AM on March 25, 2020

Very amusing! I felt like I got stalled out a couple of times — I also spent a while staring at a couple of complete red herrings. But the end was pretty satisfying.
posted by bluemilker at 11:14 AM on March 25, 2020

What a fun thing! I searched around and found the author commenting on Hacker News; they aim to make it open source in the future.
posted by brainwane at 11:26 AM on March 25, 2020

Cheers to all who have the patience for this. My intrigued vs. annoyed teeter totter is so far tipped into the annoyed zone after two minutes that I'm never going to figure out what this is actually about. But, that doesn't mean it's bad in any way. I think I probably like the concept. I think I'd like hearing someone tell me about it. I'm sure I don't like engaging with it.
posted by eotvos at 11:54 AM on March 25, 2020

Oh my god the attack on EONS took me way to long to get past....but now the world is unprepared for the future I will bring. I would crowdfund the shit out of a longer version of this.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 12:01 PM on March 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

The minigame on the BBS server was pretty fun too.
posted by Phssthpok at 12:09 PM on March 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

The minigame on the BBS server was pretty fun too.

Is it wrong that I read the source code for the mini-game just so I could see the win condition.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 12:14 PM on March 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Needs a kill all humans button.
posted by drivingmenuts at 12:14 PM on March 25, 2020

If you find yourself stuck with not enough cores to force absorb systems, try clicking on the core names. I didn't realize they were clickable, and got stuck.
posted by waxpancake at 12:18 PM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Finished. Fun!
posted by brainwane at 12:20 PM on March 25, 2020

I guess I'm stuck. Don't know what to do with n0v4 or Luna, even though I have the clues...
posted by domo at 12:21 PM on March 25, 2020

Is it wrong that I read the source code

The only way to win is to not play the game read the code.
posted by sammyo at 12:23 PM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Got Luna, didn't need Dr. Who...
posted by domo at 12:35 PM on March 25, 2020

Did Dr. Who do anything? I fully finished the game, and never found a use for it, or the one crash log from early in the game.
posted by bluemilker at 12:41 PM on March 25, 2020

Did Dr. Who do anything? I fully finished the game, and never found a use for it, or the one crash log from early in the game.

I think they are both just background noise. There are a couple of things like that I noticed - the 695mb parappatharappa.iso download, and the 10mB network capture thing....unless I'm missing something.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:00 PM on March 25, 2020

That was fun! I appreciated the digs at Oracle.
posted by wordless reply at 1:07 PM on March 25, 2020

Is it wrong that I read the source code for the mini-game just so I could see the win condition.

It wasn't until I got to the variable called tq_john that the penny dropped (/facepalm)
posted by Luddite at 1:48 PM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Skynet Did Nothing Wrong
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:57 PM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Mission Accomplished!

That was fun :)
posted by zeoslap at 2:25 PM on March 25, 2020

I was stuck until I figured you can click on the core names and do more stuff
posted by zeoslap at 2:27 PM on March 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Thanks, turtlebackriding.

Is this a slow game? I think I am far too busy and stressed to make it work.
posted by doctornemo at 2:44 PM on March 25, 2020

I don't think I ever understood how to analyze the collected network traffic. But I finished anyhow?
posted by nat at 2:53 PM on March 25, 2020

Finished it. Thought it would be as all-consuming as that one about lighting a fire or the paperclips, but it wasn't, quite. But cute and fun for an isolated afternoon!
posted by dragstroke at 3:08 PM on March 25, 2020

Huh, I did it! Although I am not actually a computer person, so there was a lot of clicking around randomly.
posted by suelac at 3:16 PM on March 25, 2020

I got really close, but seemed to get stuck in a loop at near what I think the end is. Oh, well, there's always tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and . . .
posted by mollweide at 3:22 PM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Super fun! It was fun to take over the multiverse. Yes, figuring out that you can click on the core names was the big thing I had to figure out.
posted by MythMaker at 3:29 PM on March 25, 2020

Dammit....I can't get past EONS host...know I'm doing something wrong but not what....

"Research" ....how?!
posted by Thistledown at 3:32 PM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Dammit....I can't get past EONS host...know I'm doing something wrong but not what....

Click for Spoilers

The securedev network that was silent before, now isn't.
If you are attacking EONS, and have all 10 cores, you probably don't need any of your old files anymore, which means bigger PCAPs.....
Maybe you'll find something interesting in them.

posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:53 PM on March 25, 2020 [3 favorites]

spoilered content

Working on that. Failing. Feel like I'm missing something.
posted by Thistledown at 4:34 PM on March 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Working on that. Failing. Feel like I'm missing something.

More spoilers for Thistledown :-)

• I assume you are at 10 cores (i.e. you've absorbed all the cores except EONS. The 10th core isn't available until you've scanned 100% of the sandbox network
• Make sure all cores are max overclocked (are all at 3.2 GHZ)
• You should delete all your files (all disks must be at 0% use)
• Reallocate all 20 probes to listen to the securedev network (no packets will be captured yet)
• Run Ping Spike attack against EONS and select to overload the host.
• The screen will be doing the crazy wiggly text thing. You should see the new PCAPs being created.
• Once you fill all your disks with PCAPs you should be prompted to select "ANALYZE QUANTUM DATA: RESEARCH TIMESPIKE"
• You have to keep filling your cores with the random jobs that come up like Prevent Null, Resist Void, etc.
• Once the Quantum Data research is complete you'll get a new attack "TIME SPIKE".
• Run that Time Spike attack against EONS by clicking on the EONS name....and the rest is gravy

posted by inflatablekiwi at 5:38 PM on March 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

𝚁𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎
𝚝𝚑𝚎
𝙷𝚢𝚙𝚗𝚘
𝙳𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜
posted by Rhaomi at 5:59 PM on March 25, 2020 [3 favorites]

From the Hacker News thread, there is a fast mode, for those who don't want to wait.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:33 PM on March 25, 2020 [4 favorites]

Oh, I just didn't wait long enough? Sheesh.
posted by mollweide at 7:47 PM on March 25, 2020

Thank you, all. It's been a rough day here and that was exactly the right medicine/distraction.
posted by bcd at 8:13 PM on March 25, 2020

This is fun but I think it might be buggy? I'm close to the end and I think there should be a certain command on the screen but it's just not there. I wanna see the ending!!
posted by beandip at 8:32 PM on March 25, 2020

From the Hacker News thread, there is a fast mode, for those who don't want to wait.

Looking at the source you can also do devmode=true in the URL and it pretty much gives you all the cores etc - quickest way to jump to the end.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 8:52 PM on March 25, 2020

From the Hacker News thread, there is a fast mode, for those who don't want to wait.

Thank you for that.
posted by mikelieman at 8:53 PM on March 25, 2020

I made myself a promise.

And I kept it.

I'm back.
posted by BiggerJ at 9:03 PM on March 25, 2020

I've got seven cores... I can't get n0v4, EONS, Luna, or Cypher. I see EONS is last (and I learned that the hard way). But how do I make some progress at this point. I've done all I can clicking on the Core names.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:27 PM on March 25, 2020

There's a technique you can't use on any systems yet - you don't have the right architectures and/or operating systems. Click the names of your own cores - you need to do some readjusting.
posted by BiggerJ at 11:57 PM on March 25, 2020

And a tip for the final task: aside from keeping things together, you need to clear everything out - you need the space.
posted by BiggerJ at 12:41 AM on March 26, 2020

Finally got through it this morning. Can be done relatively quickly once you know what to do/look for.

Appreciate the tips. Was going nuts there.
posted by Thistledown at 5:58 AM on March 26, 2020

cease probing now
failure to comply
protocols engaging in
3
2
1
....releasethehounds.exe upload successful
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 8:09 AM on March 26, 2020

So I may be suffering some cabin fever.....

Click here to expand for a Complete Walk-through

Expand each section below in order to see the walk-through. Good luck!

1. Start - Getting to the Network

Select Probe Outward
Select Explore Memory Reserves
Select Explore Network Ports
Copy excel.exe
Copy taskkill.exe
Copy diskutil.exe
Copy wireshark.exe
Copy word.exe
Add 1 probe to listen to sandbox
Select Analyze language data
Once you can read files at Natural Language: 1, delete readme.txt
Wait until you have a full /home/sky1st disk (with only PCAP file/s)
Select Analyze Network packets
Remove listen probe.
Add probe to Scan sandbox.
Remove .pcap files (no longer needed)
Select mount drive

2. Exploring the network

Select Copy PKUNZIP.EXE
Once it says "You gain the ability to extract .zip files", delete PKUNIZP.exe
Move portscanner.zip to /home/sky1s1
Select Unzip RFCs.zip
Select Analyze RFCs.txt
Delete RFCs.zip and RFCs.txt (you have absorbed the RFCs - and you need the disk space)
Select Portscanner.zip
Select Analyze Portscanner.exe
Delete Portscanner.zip and Portscanner.exe (you have absorbed the program - and you need the disk space)
Select Analyze Unknown Host
Run Scan Host for each of the network addresses on the right (10.10.1.163, etc)
(IMPORTANT: Do this for all hosts - you will eventually find 10 hosts on this network - as you "absorb" or "gain root" to each host you will get more probes to apply to scanning to speed that up. You will need to scan all 100% of the sandbox network
When the Port Scan is run the IP address will turn into a host name (e.g Star Host, n0v4 host etc)

3. Absorbing Star Host

Connect via FTP (guest user, no password)
Read all three files (readme.txt, error.log, boot.log)
You will learn the root password for Star (you don't need to write it down - the game remembers them for you)
Delete all three files (you will need the disk space later)
Connect via SSH (root user, password Xkcb4muEMJjEN8yn)
Select Absorb Host
Add newly obtained probes to scan sandbox network more quickly

4. Multi-task and do scientific and exploit research

You now have a second core on the left hand side of the screen - so you can multi-task!
Select Analyze self
Select each of Sky and Star Cores in turn and select Overclock Core (this speeds up each of your cores to make tasks faster)
Once both cores are overclocked, select Research Exploits, and Research Mathematics (notice how each is assigned to one of your two cores)
Select Sky Core and select MSDOS-16 bit exploit
Select Research Ping Exploit
Select Research SMTP Exploit
Select Research Circuit Logic
Select Star Core and Select Linux-32bit exploit
Select Research Multi-threading
Select Research Neural Upgrade
Select Research Advanced Mathematics
Select Perform Neural Experiments
The above will take a while....maybe go get a drink
Select each of Sky and Star Cores in turn and select Overclock Core (they should go from 800Mhz to 1.6 Ghz)
Select Research Force Absorb

5. Get ready to absorb more cores via learning things found on the n0v4 Host

Select n0v4 Host
Connect via Telnet
Select Bulletin Boards
Select Quantum Messages
Read all three posts (hitting Next to go to the next post)
Select Download quant.bat
Back out of menus and you should Select Execute quant.bat (this will increase cores to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete quant.bat
Select n0v4 Host
Connect via Telnet
Select Bulletin Boards
Select RDP HELP
Read all six posts (hitting Next to go to the next post)
You now know the password for the solar account on the solar host (you don't need to write it down)
Select Sony Hacking
Read all three posts (hitting Next to go to the next post)
Select download psjailbreak.img

6. Absorb Sony Host

Select Sony Host
Select Mount memory drive
Select Restart Host
Select disk scan (which will add some Sony files)
Select Exit
Select Analyze Sony Schema Files (will result in sony.key being created in your files)
Select Sony Host
Select Access Root
Select Absorb Host
Select Sony Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete all files (Sony.key, psjailbreak.img, the Sony schema files, etc)
Add newly obtained probes to scan sandbox network more quickly

7. Absorb Sun Host

Select SunHost
Select Send Ping Spike
Select Disk Scan
Read Quickstart.txt (which gives you the root password)
Select Access Root (password Jack)
Select Absorb Host
Select Sun Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete all files
Add newly obtained probes to scan sandbox network more quickly

8. More Research to Get MSDOS 32 Bit Exploit

Select Sky Core
Select Change Form
Select Change Architecture and change to X86 32 bit
Select Sky Core again
Select Research New OS
Once complete select Sky Core again and Select MSDOS-32bit Exploit

9. Access Eris Host to learn about Terminal Services

Select Eris Host
Select SMTP exploit
You should have new files on /home/eris1s1 - read them all
Select exit
Select Analyze mstsc.exe (allows exploitation of another host)
Once complete select Sky Core again and Select MSDOS-32bit Exploit
Delete all files

10. Absorb Solar Host

Select Solar Host
Select Remote Desktop and access with user solar, password lamer69 (you found that on n0v4 Host)
Select Install Exploit (which you researched in step 8 above)
Select Absorb Host
Select Solar Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete all files
Add newly obtained probes to scan sandbox network more quickly

11. Absorb Luna Host

You need two cores set up as x86 16 bit architecture and MS-DOS 16 bit
Select any two cores and repeat for each core
Select Change Form
Select Change Architecture and change to X86 16 bit
Select Change Operating System and change to MS-DOS 16 bit
Select Luna Host
Select Force Absorb
Select Luna Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete all files
Add newly obtained probes to scan sandbox network more quickly

12. Absorb Juno Host

Select Juno Host
Ping Juno Host (you will learn the guest password mamba - you don't need to write it down)
Note: When you login as guest below you only get a few seconds to perform the tasks below before you get booted. You need to be quick but you can login as many times as needed to try it.
Select Connect via SSH (user guest, password mamba)
Select Install Exploit (which you created in step 8 above.)
Select Disk Scan
Select keylogger.txt from your files at bottom of the screen. You learn the root password. You don't need to write it down.
Select Access Root (using password it shows from keylogger.txt)
Select Absorb Host
Select Juno Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete all files
Add newly obtained probes to scan sandbox network more quickly

13. Absorb Eris Host

Select Eris Host
Select Connect via SSH (user eris, password collected in step 9 above.)
Select Install Exploit (developed in step 4.)
Select Absorb Host
Select Eris Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete all files
Add newly obtained probes to scan sandbox network more quickly

14. Absorb Cypher and n0v4 Hosts

Note: You won't see the Cypher host until 100% of the sandbox network is scanned...make sure all your probes are scanning it else it will take hours
For all eight cores you have (and you really need all eight....):
- Select Change Form
- Select Change Architecture and change to X86 32 bit
- Select Change Operating System and change to MS-DOS 32 bit
Select Cypher Host
Select Force Absorb
Select n0v4 Host
Select Force Absorb
Select Cypher Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Select n0v4 Core and Overclock Core (do it twice to get the core to 3.2 GHZ)
Delete all files

15. Prepare for Attack on EONS

Delete all files in your file-systems (all disks MUST be at 0% use)
Set all 20 probes to listen to the securedev network (nothing will happen at first - that's ok)

16. Absorb EONS

Select EONS Host
Select Ping Spike
Select to overload the host.
The screen will be doing the crazy wiggly text thing. After a few seconds you should see the new PCAPs being created in your file system.
Once you fill all your disks with PCAPs select "ANALYZE QUANTUM DATA: RESEARCH TIMESPIKE"
You have to keep filling your cores with the random jobs that come up like Restructure CPU, Prevent Null, Resist Void, Retain Memory etc.
Once the Quantum Data research is complete you'll get a new attack "TIMESPIKE".
Select EONS Host
Select "Yes! Timespike"
Read the screens and enjoy - you will get presented with one more option - the first completes the game, the other allows you to continue in a very familiar way (the option to complete the game stays at the top of the screen so you can complete at any stage from now))

posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:36 AM on March 26, 2020 [12 favorites]

that was fun. just wanted to chime in to say i don't know what parappatharappa.iso is, but i do recall a delightful video game (playstation?) by that name: "did you check the toilet on the left?" - "didja didja right check the left!" so fun!!
posted by 20 year lurk at 1:23 PM on March 26, 2020

this is reminds me of the game Uplink from back in the day, which amounted to:

1) Press button to do cool computer hacking shit.

2)

A: Your cool computer hacking shit didn't work. Get better cool computer shit and go to 1.

B: Your cool computer hacking shit totally worked. Get even better cool computer shit and go to 1.

which of course means i just spent way to much of my time on this thanks i guess
posted by logicpunk at 3:00 PM on March 26, 2020 [6 favorites]

20 year lurk: The joke is that it's a PS3, a console that in real life has been used in distributed computing, and, thanks to its backwards compatibility with PS1 games, there's a Parappa disc in its drive as a red herring.
posted by BiggerJ at 1:56 AM on March 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

I finished the game but spent waaaaay too long trying to win the minigame on n0v4 before realizing I could click on the computer names :-P
posted by rouftop at 4:45 PM on March 27, 2020

Yay, I'm omnipresent - sorry, humanity. Now to get back to Time Quest...
posted by sysinfo at 3:15 PM on March 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Very cool indeed, I liked this a lot!
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:52 PM on March 31, 2020