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The Gravitational Singularity

Of the most feared anomalies in this universe, the Gravitational Singularity is the most terrifying. When at its full potential, it will consume all matter, abiotic and organic. However, it has been discovered that the radiation produced from these singularities can be harvested and converted in power via plasma. This has spawned the invention of the Singularity Engine. Due to the Supermatter's overall safer nature and much higher power generation potential, the singularity engine is currently mostly a novelty, and would usually be run alongside other engines.

This Guide serves as a how-to for setting up your very own Singularity engine. It includes the step-by-step construction process, what to order, what equipment to wear, and pointers on how to prevent it from consuming your station!

The Stages

The singularity comes in levels, growing with the more energy it collects. It collects energy with the Particle Accelorator, which sends waves of energy into the singularity. After reaching a specific amount of energy, it will grow in size up until stage 5, which needs to consume a Supermatter Crystal to progress to stage 6. With higher levels comes more power, but that means more pull and more radiation. If it progresses to stage 4, it is not unlikely that it could pull up the catwalk of wiring which is powering containment.

Singularity 1x1 (Stage 1) Too small - Turn the PA to 2	Singularity 3x3 (Stage 2) Poor size - continue waiting	Singularity 5x5 (Stage 3) Perfect size - Stop here
Singularity 7x7 (Stage 4) As large as can be contained Feed it too much and it Will break containment	Singularity 9x9 (Stage 5) Too late - Call the shuttle	Singularity 11x11 (Stage 6 - Supermatter Charged) Captain, we have an uh-oh

Singularity Safety

The singularity engine is quite dangerous. Aside from needing constant monitoring so it does not escape containment, it also has a set of additional hazards to deal with:

• EMPs : These will messup with any robotic organs, implants, radios and modsuit that you maybe using. They will also mess with APCs, drain SMES and even explode PACMAN's within range. Try reducing the amount of electronics you are using near the singularity, and stay out of EMP range whenever possible. Also, build the engine away from SMES and APCs and keep all PACMAN's you might use to start it far away from it.
• Gravitational Pull: The singularity will pull stuff towards itself. At level 4 it can also rip the plating away from floors and pull items out of your hand. Aside from obvious dangers, like repeatedly being pulled towards the containment field and getting stunned by it, pulled objects like pulled floor plating and loose items can damage the radiation collectors and emitters around the containment field, potentially leading to a loose singularity. Make sure you clear the chamber completely from plated floor, catwalks and every loose item before activating the engine. Additionally, always keep your magboots on near the singulo and do not approach it if it is at level 4.
• The Stare of The Abyss: Looking at the singularity without messons will stun you. Put your messons on.
• Radiation: The singularity engine produces power primarily through radiation collectors. This radiation, however, is also quite dangerous causing damage and mutations. Wear radiation protection such as a radsuit, or advanced modsuit around the singularity engine, and keep away from it when possible.

Containment

The singularity can be contained by a containment field, produced by field generators powered by emitters. The singularity can break that containment in any of 3 conditions:

• The field generators lose power, or are destroyed, either by sabotage, meteors or any other reason.
• The singularity grows to level 5. Nothing can contain a level 5 singularity.
• The singularity will escape containment if it has enough energy to go up 2 levels. A containment field with an internal size of 3x3 can constrain a singularity to level 2 so long as it doesn't get enough energy to go up to level 4.

For the safest setup, make a field with a 7x7 internal area, which can support a level 4 singularity, around it build a large solid container constructed out of reinforced walls to keep out intruders/meteors as well as house all the equipment needed to run the engine, and add a soft barrier constructed out of lattices and grilles to sop up meteors.

Energy Field

An energy field is the only thing a singularity cannot travel through. If this fails, the singularity will breach containment. In other words, don't fuck up this step. You will need:

• A minimum of 4 field generators
• A powerful energy source
• A minimum of 4 Emitters
• A 9x9 area

All of this equipment can be acquired from either R&D or Cargo. From Cargo, this is 2 emitter crates and 2 field generator crates, the energy source can be a PACMAN generator, or it could be connected to a Solar Array.

Begin by placing plating down in an open space, this is where your Singularity generator will go. Follow this by building four tiles of lattice out in each direction. Place lattice to make a box out of each of these. Make plating on each corner. Place a field generator on each of the external plating. Make sure that they are properly secured by wrenching and welding them to the plating. Once secured, place 2 tiles of lattice out in any direction from the corner field generators and add plating on the ends. This is where the emitters will go after wiring.

Layout and Wiring

Before attaching the emitters, you will need to build a perimeter out of either catwalks or plating so that you can lay cable all the way around. Make nodes (cable endpoints or dots) in each of the places for the emitters. Ensure that the emitters are facing the field generators and secure them in the same way which the field generators were secured. You will turn them on later once everything is set up.

Maching Placement

Hard Containment

Hard Containment and Control Room

Whenever making an engine that is susceptible to being tampered with or fragile to high-speed space rocks you will likely need a barrier from space. Build walls or reinforced walls around your current constructions. You can build your wires around the interior perimeter of this containment too. Ensure that there is an airlock leading in and out that is accessible only by engineering.

Soft Barriers

Along the outer walls, build 2x8 sections of grilles to absorb the impact of the damage caused by meteors and further impede the incursion of intruders into the engine area. Alternatively, station shields could be deployed around hard containment if that is the station goal for that shift or CentCom is generous enough to accept a request for some.

Particle Accelerator

Next, you will need to order a Particle Accelerator (PA) kit from cargo. Don't open it until you have it where you want to install it. The Particle Accelerator is T-shaped and it fires in the direction of flat side of the T. Each piece will need to be properly oriented, wrenched down, wired with cable coil, and screwed closed. It has 3 main power levels, each sending a different amount of energy into the engine, which can increase the size, sustain the current size, or let it shrink. It could also be hacked, allowing for a higher power output, which can be useful when initially growing the size of the singularity, providing you are careful.

Power Generation

The singularity engine works by generating radiation, which the radiation collectors will soak up and convert into energy. As long as there is at least one collector, it will produce energy, though having more is better if power generation is important in this engine instead of fun.

Radiation Collectors

These can be ordered from cargo, coming with 3 collecters per crate. Place radiation collectors on the perimeter of the containment field on bare plating with a wire node. Secure them with a wrench and fill with plasma tanks before turning them on.

SMES

It is recommended to use a dedicated SMES to supply the emitters, this should largely prevent a loss of containment due to power generation issues. Make sure to keep the SMES out of the EMP range of the singularity.

Turning on the engine

Before doing anything else, ensure that everybody is following the correct safety measures

• Once everything has been constructed clear the area around the containment field from all loose items, make sure the floor is made from bare plating, with only wires on it.
• Once the room is cleared and the emitter SMES has charged up a bit turn on the emitters, then the field generators
• Once containment is up make another pass to verify the room is clear, and also look at the green bar on the field generators. If it isn't going down to zero you are clear to proceed.

Once containment is up, walk over to the Particle Accelerator and turn it on to power level 2 or 3. Wait for the singularity to reach size 3 and then set the PA to 0 and leave it running. It will not grow in size, unless it gets more energy from somewhere. This is the safe setup
The strongest setup in terms of power production is a level 2 singularity with nearly enough energy to go to level 4. This is achieved with a 3x3 internal area and gambling on every PA shot. Although this setup is even less safe than the singularity normally is there is a way to estimate how much energy the singularity has. By counting how many shots from the PA we fired, and at what level they were we can know how much energy we put it. The singularity needs 1000 units of energy to reach stage 4, and 200 to reach level 2, additionally a level 2 singularity dissipates 5 units of energy every 5 process cycles, or half an energy unit per second, whereas the particle accelerator produces 5, 10, 15 or 50 energy with each shot. By firing one level 0 shot every 5 seconds the singularity can be kept at the same energy level, in theory indefinitely. By shooting a singularity with level 3 shots 14 times after is reaches level 2 we will bring it up to 900 energy, at which point we can give it a low power shot every once in a while just to keep it from decaying. Needless to say this is a risky endeavor and any miscount or unaccounted energy from the singularity consuming matter will lead to oblivion.

Turning off the Engine

Occasionally, bad stuff happens. Sometimes it is necessary to deactivate the engine as safely as possible because nobody can maintain it. Other times meteor showers and bombs endanger containment machinery. Whatever the crisis, if the steps above have been followed it should be safe to simply turn the accelerator off. The engine will continue to generate power as the singularity loses energy and shrinks, so containment SHOULDN'T fail until the singularity is sufficiently small enough that it cannot move and pull stuff into it. However, the fickle baby singularity will take a long time to die completely, leaving it exposed to potential suicidals jumping into it, giving the singularity energy to expand again. (Cool fact: Engineers provide a singularity with a lot more energy than you'd expect).

Sometimes it's a good idea to charge the SMES quickly and then turn off the engine safely until you need power again. This means that poor solo-engie can actually go do other stuff and leave engineering for a bit without inadvertently destroying the station.