Scientist
File:Scientist.png
Scientist
Superiors: Research Director
Difficulty: Medium
Guides: Guide to Research and Development, Guide to Toxins;Guide to Telescience, Guide To Xenoarchaeology
Access: Research Division
Duties: Do experiments, research, and make bombs.
Scientist is one of the most feared and fun jobs on station. Being a scientist means you can make and test a large number of tools and gadgets through research, construct highly explosive bombs, or study dangerous alien life forms.
The Laboratories
Research & Development
This lab houses the development of hi-tech devices including weapons, batteries, drills, and circuit boards.
Items around the station such as the hand teleporter, stun batons and analyzers can be collected used to improve research tech levels. A good strategy for research is to stick everything you find into the analyzer. After all, it's science, huh?
Many items produced from the protolathe cannot be deconstructed in the destructive analyzer, because they are not reliable enough. For example, a super-capacity power cell from the protolathe can't be deconstructed, but the same item from robotics' fabricator can be.
Your research efforts will cap at a certain point without minerals from mining. It's actually possible to max research without any help from the miners. It's useless though, since you won't be able to make any of the good stuff without those materials. Co-ordinate with the Quartermaster or the Shaft Miners themselves to get the minerals you need.
Toxins Research
This lab focuses on exploring the possibilities of plasma gas, typically in the form of massive explosions. Also provided to you is the Toxins Test Chamber (AKA Bomb Range). Hopefully, this is where you will be testing your bombs.
Bomb making is not all that easy though, as the Toxins Research Lab is really prone to plasma floods, plasma fires and violent explosions that take away people's hopes and dreams as well as their lives. Exploding yourself with a bomb you just made after many failed attempts is actually not shameful, but a victory for science, and a path that every aspiring plasma researcher must take.
Telescience
Zip-zap stuff through space, time and other dimensions. Many telescientists are kleptomaniacs who often end a round with the captain's locker, red space suits, the gygax from the armory, the nuke and much more in their laboratory. If you do this, homever, expect to be brutally lynched and spaced by the people you stole from.
A legitimate and very helpful use for telescience is to build a crew monitoring computer in your lab, teleport in dying/dead people and send them to medbay in a whiff.
The Research Station
There is also a shuttle in the research wing that will allow you to travel to a nearby asteroid. There, you can suit up for excavation and conduct digs to try and find old treasures. Who knows what you can find! When you've discovered something, there are several workstations where you can test your finds for any anomalies and see if they have any practical uses.
Useful Tips
- Unless you're a traitor, don't use the bombs on the main station. You'll get banned otherwise.
- It's a good idea to keep a fully filled oxygen tank on yourself, more so than any other job. Whether it's gonna be a harmful gas flood, a hull breach your colleague just made, or something else, you are always at risk.
- Research. It cannot be said enough times. Research. Research is beneficial to everyone: you can upgrade machines (cloners, fabricators autolathes, etc.) with more advanced parts, you can arm security almost better than CentComm could and much more!
- Don't get a teleboner. Everyone despises people who act like douches with telescience without any particular reason. This includes random teleportations of crewmembers, theft, freeing of prisoners, you name it.
- You don't particularly need a toolbelt, but it's useful in case anything goes wrong.
- DO NOT make weapons for yourself. A stun revolver is alright for self-defense, but do not wave it in front of security personnel. Though lockboxes were recently re-introduced, making this a pointless tip.
- Co-operate with robotics. Research their mech circuits and advanced power cells, and get stuff you can deconstruct in return. When you get materials from mining, be kind, and share.
- If you do xenoarcheology, turn your suit sensors to maximum and speak in the science channel regularly. This was you have a chance to be revived when you eventually touch a death-artifact.
- It's kind of obvious, but don't bring harmful artifacts to the station. Especially not those that generate plasma on touch. Or the statuettes. Oh god, the statuettes.
- The chemical dispenser on the outpost no longer needs to be repaired. It's now fully functional by default - this adds another dimension to the already wide range of opportunities of both non-traitor and traitor scientists.
Traitoring
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! It is recommended that you use your traitor points on things to conceal your identity, or get a space suit for those 'accidents'. Protolathed objects and slime cores can make for interesting weapons as well.
Xenoarcheology is also a great source for weaponry, nothing says awesome like wielding a katana and going on a killing spree, if you're lucky, you may even find a loaded alien gun!