General Tips for Solving Ciphers:

 

1.    Identify Cipher Type: The first step is recognizing what kind of cipher you’re dealing with. Cipheur often uses classical ciphers like Caesar cipher, substitution cipher, or Vigenère cipher.
2.    Look for Patterns: Examine the text for letter frequency, repeating characters, and common word endings. This will help identify the cipher type and make decryption easier.
3.    Use Decoding Tools: Some levels may have tools or hints to guide you through solving.
4.    Trial and Error: Sometimes, a little experimentation with different cipher shifts or keys is necessary.

 

Common Cipher Types in Cipheur:

 

1. Caesar Cipher

• Description: Each letter in the text is shifted by a certain number of places in the alphabet.
• How to Solve: Look for hints in the puzzle about the shift number (or test common shifts like 3 or 5). 

Example: "L" might become "O" with a shift of 3. Try various shifts to see which one produces legible text.

2. Substitution Cipher

• Description: Each letter in the plaintext is replaced by another letter or symbol.
• How to Solve: 

Look for letter frequency patterns (e.g., the letter 'E' is the most common in English).
Commonly used letters like "A" or "E" may help you guess the substitution pattern.
Sometimes, the cipher may give hints by repeating words or characters.

3. Vigenère Cipher

• Description: Uses a keyword to shift letters in a more complex pattern, making it harder to crack.
• How to Solve: 

If the keyword is known, the cipher can be decrypted by reversing the shift for each letter.
If the keyword is not known, you can try frequency analysis or use a Vigenère cipher solver online.

4. Transposition Cipher

• Description: The letters of the plaintext are rearranged according to a pattern.
• How to Solve: 

Try writing the cipher text in columns or rows based on the number of letters.
Look for clues about the grid size or pattern.
A common hint might be the number of columns (like 5 or 6 columns).

5. XOR Cipher

• Description: Uses a bitwise XOR operation to encrypt the text.
• How to Solve: This one is trickier, but often, clues will point to the key used for XOR encryption. 

XOR encryption typically requires knowledge of the key or guesswork based on common keys (e.g., "1" or "0").

6. Atbash Cipher

• Description: The alphabet is reversed. A becomes Z, B becomes Y, and so on.
• How to Solve: Simply reverse the alphabet to decrypt the message.

 

Step-by-Step Example:

 

Level 1: Caesar Cipher with a Shift of 3
Ciphertext: "Khoor Zruog"
1.    Identify Cipher: This looks like a Caesar cipher (letters shifted).
2.    Guess the Shift: Start by trying the most common shift, which is 3. 

• "K" becomes "H"
• "H" becomes "E"
• "O" becomes "L"
• "O" becomes "L"
• "R" becomes "O"

3.    Solution: The plaintext is "Hello World".

Level 2: Substitution Cipher
Ciphertext: "Qeb nrfZh yvzo"
1.    Identify Cipher: This is a substitution cipher where each letter corresponds to another.
2.    Frequency Analysis: Notice that "Q" might correspond to "T" and "e" could be "h."
3.    Decoding: After some trial and error, you might figure out that each letter is shifted by 3 positions in reverse. 

• "Q" → "T"
• "e" → "h"
• "b" → "e"

4.    Solution: The plaintext is "The quick brown".

 

Advanced Tips for Later Levels:

 

1.    Use the Hints: Cipheur often provides clues to solve the puzzle, like a starting letter or a pattern.
2.    Multiple Cipher Types: Some levels may combine cipher types. You may need to break down parts of the puzzle using one cipher, then apply another cipher on top of it.
3.    Keyboard Layout: Sometimes, the cipher might involve mapping letters to a different layout (e.g., QWERTY to Dvorak). Look out for such hints if the game mentions them.

 

Levels 1-10

 

01. Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
02. Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
03. Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
04. People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe.
05. Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.
06. If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.
07. By all means let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
08. A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
09. I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.
10. One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody’s listening.

 

Levels 11-20

 

11. It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.
12. I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it’s the government.
13. I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.
14. How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?
15. Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
16. The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
17. Talk is cheap – except when Congress does it.
18. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
19. A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
20. Bureaucracy gives birth to itself and then expects maternity benefits.

 

Levels 21-30

 

21. There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.
22. America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation.
23. A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
24. Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
25. Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.
26. Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.
27. A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.
28. Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves?
29. Everything has been said before. But since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.
30. If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.

 

Levels 31-40

31. No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
32. I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.
33. It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting.
34. Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe.
35. If ‘pro’ is the opposite of ‘con’ what is the opposite of ‘progress’?
36. Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.
37. Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m schizophrenic, and so am I.
38. Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.
39. The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience.
40. I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

 

Levels 41-50

41. Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
42. Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.
43. If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.
44. I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
45. The great tragedy of science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
46. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.
47. They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
48. The past always looks better than it was. It’s only pleasant because it isn’t here.
49. Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.
50. I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.

 

Levels 51-60

51. The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.
52. The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.
53. Money won’t buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem.
54. Expert: a man who makes three correct guesses consecutively.
55. If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late.
56. It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
57. It’s amazing how much trouble you can get in when you don’t have anything else to do.
58. I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
59. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
60. It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.

 

Levels 61-70

61. Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.
62. To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.
63. Comedy is surprises, so if you’re intending to make somebody laugh and they don’t laugh, that’s funny.
64. I have never been hurt by what I have not said.
65. The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one.
66. I’m a classic example of all humorists – only funny when I’m working.
67. I believe in rules. Sure I do. If there weren’t any rules, how could you break them?
68. Chaos in the midst of chaos isn’t funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.
69. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
70. It’s funny because I’ve made a living off of words, but words get in the way of what you really want to say.

 

Levels 71-80

71. You can’t be funny unless you’re tragic, and you can’t be tragic unless you’re funny.
72. Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
73. To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.
74. The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.
75. Stealing, you’ll go far in life. Actually, there is something funny about getting away with it.
76. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
77. Not all detectives are the same – some play bad cop, some are awkward, some are funny.
78. Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
79. The hardest part, for real, is probably when you just don’t feel like going on stage and being funny.
80. A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree.

 

Levels 81-90

81. Society is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.
82. Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.
83. Memories are like mulligatawny soup in a cheap restaurant. It is best not to stir them.
84. Lead us not into temptation. Just tell us where it is; we’ll find it.
85. The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
86. A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
87. A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It’s jolted by every pebble on the road.
88. I love to go to Washington – if only to be near my money.
89. There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.
90. The first day one is a guest, the second a burden, and the third a pest.

 

Levels 91-100

91. If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.
92. If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.
93. It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.
94. I have a new philosophy. I’m only going to dread one day at a time.
95. A sense of humor is a major defense against minor troubles.
96. A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.
97. You may not be able to change a situation, but with humor you can change your attitude about it.
98. Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.
99. The problem with having a sense of humor is often that people you use it on aren’t in a very good mood.
100. Never take a solemn oath. People think you mean it.