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Fallout 76 nuke code decryption has already been busted by online tools

Nuke code decryption in Fallout 76 is pretty easy now, thanks to online tools

Nuke codes are supposed to give Fallout 76 players a complex decryption process ahead of launching a nuclear warhead, but people have already figured out how to break the cipher that protects those codes. That doesn’t make the nuke launch process completely trivial – there’s still a lot of legwork involved – but online tools now make some lengthy steps pretty much optional.

If you want to launch a nuke, the first step is to track down code pieces, which drop from high-level scorched and ghoul officers out in the world. Each of the world’s three missile silos have eight code pieces to find, and the codes reset weekly – so you’re probably going to have to work with fellow players to collect them all.

Once you’ve got the eight codes you still have to decrypt them, and this is where the new player-made tools come into play. Fallout 76’s nuke codes make use of a keyword cipher, with the keyword itself slowly unveiled in the Enclave bunker. Once the keyword is known, it’s trivial to decrypt the final launch code, but that means waiting for the word to be revealed at the Enclave bunker – or trying out a whole lot of combinations based on the letters you’ve seen so far.

Sites like NukaCrypt (noted via Kotaku), made by Reddit user Waffle_cop, take most of the work out of the decryption process. There, you can input a few letters of the keyword plus the nuke codes, and automatically receive a handful of possible solutions. Even just a letter or two from the keyword can give you a manageable set of codes to input.

Fallout 76 nukes are less of a PvP tool, and are intended as a way to irradiate certain areas to make high-level spawns and raid them for better rewards. That means these tools won’t have players raining down nukes on your head willy-nilly – especially since you still have to collect the codes, access the silos, and complete the quests (at least once) to reach the Enclave.