Scientist
 Scientist, Circuitry Designer, Xenoarcheologist, Etc. |
Superiors: Research Director
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Scientist is one of the most unique, and interesting jobs on the station. With the implied freedom and expectation to test mechanics out to your heart's desire, as well as a relatively low basis of human interaction, Science is a relatively creative role with a wide variety of expectations and tracks to go down. From devising morally dubious and unorthodox weapons, breeding colorful slimes, creating truly powerful bombs, or fucking with spacetime itself, the science department is rarely quiet if in the hands of a clever enough player. As powerful as scientists are, they are equally accident prone, from the misplacement of an important bomb, or the release of an unintended alien suspect, Science almost always remains one of the most interesting departments on the station.
Bare minimum requirements: Do R&D if nobody else is.
Basic skills: Upgrade machines around the station. Do your job without blowing up the department.
Advanced skills: Do Xenobiology before the Captain calls the shuttle. Make bombs and get your teeth kicked in by security. Actually write research reports.
The Laboratories
Research & Development
Houses the Research and Development console, the science department protolathe, the science department circuit imprinter, and the destructive analyzer. The RnD console is where you research specific tech nodes, which unlock new items, which can be printed out by the various department protolathes and circuit imprinters distributed around the station. The science department protolathe prints out machine parts, which can be used to upgrade various pieces of machinery. The Destructive Analyzer is used to unlock the "Illegal Technology" and "Alien Surgery" tech nodes by deconstructing either Traitor gear, or alien artifacts. It also is capable of deconstructing and refining any artifacts discovered by Xenoarcheology into points.
Keep in mind, the people giving you the materials to do most of your work are the Shaft Miners, so your first priority at the start of each round should at least be basic mining technology, followed by parts for upgrades.
Toxins Research
This lab focuses on exploring the possibilities of plasma gas, typically always in the form of massive explosions. Provided to you is the Toxins Test Chamber, where you can safely test your creations.
While bomb making is reasonably straightforward, it only takes one mistake for the entire room to become flooded with plasma or superheated carbon dioxide. Be patient and cautious while making a bomb, and don't be afraid to ask an admin or a fellow experience scientist for help.
Bombs are primarily used to cause maximum capacity explosions, resulting in an average of 50,000 research points with every successful bomb made. These are incredibly useful to have towards the beginning of the shift, where points are short and parts are necessary.
Xenobiology
The primary purpose of this lab is research on the breeding of slimes, the extracts of which have a variety of fun effects, by feeding them large numbers of monkeys.
It also contains a pen capable of safely housing xenomorphs, in case the miners manage to locate a live facehugger. Obviously, breeding alien killing machines on the station can only end well.
B.E.P.I.S
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The B.E.P.I.S is a wonder of technology, able to spit out hidden research nodes, and rapidly accrue existing ones by stuffing money into the machine, slapping it on the ass, and crossing your fingers hoping you get your favorite whacky tech node. Although the research itself is quite expensive, it's incredibly useful early-game, as it's rapid deployment of semi-lategame researches for free, and at high amounts is easy for rocketing through your research lines.
Experimental Lab
This lab houses the E.X.P.E.R.I-MENTOR, AKA that machine that drives R&D crazy by constantly setting off the fire alarm in their lab. Having only the current niche use of finding 'strange items', which are gimmicky, often dangerous tools found in maint, the EXPERIMENTOR has little to do with the general workings of science, and is best left alone.
Testing Lab
A general purpose lab that goes mostly unused. It features a firing range and can be converted into a backup lab when one of the other labs inevitably blows up. Note that rebuilding Toxins in here is not going to make the crew happy, since you probably had to burn down the original first.
Xenoarcheology
Found on Lavaland, Xenoarcheology is the acquisition, cleaning, and study of ancient fossils and long-forgotten debris to further your understand of the natural world, and it's relics left behind. In reality however, it's digging through eight billion rocks, throwing out toy knives, old shields, and bones until you find a telecrystal, or an alien artifact, promptly hide it in your pocket, and sprint off to do mischief with it.
Circuitry Lab
Science is now capable of building customizable machines, called integrated circuits, to fill any kind of niche imaginable, like a health monitor, a smart turret, a signaller, or maybe just something like a syringe - or something else entirely. Circuits are very complex, though, and take time to learn and work with, so here's a few primers to getting started.
Disclaimer: Simple circuits and even a lot of complex ones are doable just with knowledge about circuits. However, complex circuits can and often do require math knowledge. There are components that use trigonometry, complex flow control components that can operate differently based on conditions, and component combinations to use tons of arithmetic to get the desired result. Be ready!
Hell on earth awaits those who are prepared.
Tips!
- Change the frequency of the remote signalling devices so that other scientists or saboteurs don't set off your explosives themselves.
- It's possible to make bombs that utterly destroy a small area, gib only those people next to you, explode when you die, bring general ruin to entire wings of the station, and more! Experimentation is the key to a scientist's work.
- You can blow up the singularity with a Bag of Holding. Seriously.
- RPEDs can be used to upgrade machines by using a screwdriver on them and then the RPED! It'll replace the parts in the machine with the next best parts in the RPED!
- Using an RPED on a machine will tell you what parts it's made of!
- The BSRPED or the bluespace RPED is an advanced version of this, capable of upgrading instantly from a distance!
- You can upgrade most machines on the station like the teleporter, SMES and even pacmans! Try it out some time!
- Slimes will glomp you if you hug them enough times. This is extremely painful.
- Black extracts turn people into actual slimes, green extracts only turn people into googirls/guys.
- Also black/green slime work even in fairly minute amounts, you can throw 1 unit of green/black extract in 40 units of water and the resulting 5 unit injections would still have an effect.
- The slime processor and the chef's food processor are the same thing. So you can grind slimes in the chef's food processor and make fries in the slime processor!
- Using water on a silver slime core will produce large quantities of booze, including those in large bottles that can be smashed for weapons with an equivalent damage output to a circular saw.
- Tank transfer valve will accept any color of large tank, and it will be reflected accurately in the sprite. It even accepts jetpacks.
- Plasma cutters (AKA infinite welders) can cut through regular walls without causing damage to your eyes.
- You can scan ANY chemical with the Odysseus and have it produce more. Even rare chems such as nanomachines or traitor poisons.
- If an anomaly appears, scan it with an analyzer and then ping the frequency it gives you with a remote signaling device.
- Science's budget card is increased with every successful research technology made. Get to work!
- You can make a generic circuitboard from your circuit printer to make circuitboards from any other department.
Tips for Traitoring
- Test Range firing pins can be emagged to work like a normal firing pin.
- Orange slime extracts can be used as ghetto firebombs.
- Green Eyed friendly spiders will produce
hostileslaved player controlled (if there are any ghosts around) spiders after eating from a corpse and laying a clutch of eggs. Xenobio can easily breed a freakish spider army, and then if for some reason the power goes out...Honk. - People rarely question a scientist asking to be let in somewhere, if you say you're there to upgrade their machines. Use their trust to
upgrade their machinessteal their shit and toolbox them. - A scientist controls what department gets upgrades and who doesn't. Avoid researching security items, and research new gear that you can use to become extremely robust, provided you know how to use it.
- People rarely search science too carefully, and any contraband found can quickly be claimed to be for testing purposes only. Asking for weaponry works similarly.
- Evidence and enemy equipment proving difficult to dispose of can be instantly and untraceable-y destroyed in the Destructive analyzer.
A Terrorist is you!
At any given moment, a scientist out there is a traitor. When half the station vanishes off the face of the map, well, you know who it was. It is recommended that you use your traitor points on things to conceal your identity, as people will want to murder and rape you to death after you set them up the bomb. Or, in the least, get a space suit for the huge void you just made. Research and development currently are useful for terrorism. Grab whatever you can first out of there like laser cannons and stun guns.