Difficulty: Medium Supervisors:Chief Medical Officer, Commanding Officer/Executive Officer Rank: Second Lieutenant Duties: Research and Development, inspect any xenobiological elements given to you by Marines. Develop new weaponry such as Chemical Grenades in cooperation with the Ordnance Technicians and discover new chemicals. Guides: Guide to Chemistry, Guide to Paperwork Unlock Requirements: Five hours as medical roles. Detailed Description:
|__________| You're a commissioned officer of the USCM, though you are not in the ship's chain of command. You are tasked with researching and developing new medical treatments, helping your fellow doctors, and generally learning new things. Your role involves a lot of roleplaying, but you can perform the function of a regular doctor. Do not hand out things to Marines without getting permission from your supervisor. |__________|
"I wish you could understand what we're trying to do here. The potential for this species goes way beyond urban pacification. New alloys, new vaccines. Nothing like this we've ever seen on any world before." ―Dr. Wren, Alien Resurrection
Role
As the Medical Researcher it is your job to research and develop new technologies in the science lab and study anything xenobiological. The nature of the Researcher means the role is very open-ended, and can be played in several ways.
Ultimately, your job is to focused around analyzing chemicals, alien blood/liquids, storing alien corpses. Synthesizing experimental drugs and creating prototype explosive grenades. Furthermore you are fully qualified to assist the Medical staff with surgeries, should Medbay be overwhelmed in triage.
Chemical Research: Pharmacology
Research has its own chemistry lab that can be used to help out medical by pumping out useful healing chemicals. It is also possible to mix chemicals together to get multiple benefits; however, be aware that there are certain chemicals which will cause more harm if they are used together. Consult the chemistry guide for more details.
Researching Chemicals
As a medical researcher on-board the USS Almayer you're tasked with creating new medications that might be useful to the marines. But what can you do that the silly doctor in chemistry downstairs can not? Discovering completely new medications of course! Every round there will be new chemicals for you to discover. You'll even start with a note in your old lab coat pocket to get you started. Researching a new chemical requires two important tasks to be completed: discovering the recipe and the properties of the chemical. The latter requiring either thorough testing or sufficient data clearance. So what are you waiting for? It is time to do SCIENCE!
A lot of your work will require a resource called Research Credits. These can currently be earned by identifying new chemicals, including xenomorph blood, or by gaining 5 points every 10 minutes.
The Company has provided your laboratory with an Advanced X-Ray Fluorescence Scanner to help you identify chemicals. On your journey, you will be expected to use this and analyze research samples received from colonies. If you identify a valuable chemical, The Company's interest in your lab will increase. They might even pay USCM High Command.
Research Machines
Picture
Name
Explanation
Advanced X-Ray Fluorescence Scanner
The A-XRF is an advanced spectrometer that can not only detect what a sample is, but also its chemical composition. It does this by nuking the sample with high energy radiation and detecting the emitted fluorescent x-ray patterns. By comparing this to the database it can identify the unique pattern of a sampled chemical, and the combination of chemicals that make the pattern possible. Although there might be chemicals which composition can't be fully identified. This means that you must acquire a sample of the unknown chemical first, and scan it with the XRF. Whenever the XRF scans something unknown, it will save that chemical's emission pattern to its database. Successfully identifying a chemical increases Company interests."
Samples are inserted using a vial filled with a pure chemical sample. After scanning, the XRF searches its database for any available information on the identified chemical. It is not actually able to figure out the properties of the chemical, that will require testing.
While the A-XRF can read data from the Company's private chemical database, your clearance level is limited and some information may be classified. Use the Research Data Terminal to purchase higher clearance or get a clearance grant by a corporate official.
Chemical Centrifuge
The centrifuge is a research machine meant to assist working with the A-XRF and vial management. By using centrifugal forces it can separate chemicals from a beaker into a set of vials. To operate, insert any beaker with a mixture of chemicals and a vial box containing any amount of vials. The centrifuge will try to fill the vials with different chemicals from the beaker best possible. It will also label pure vials for you.
Additionally the centrifuge also accepts autoinjectors. To do this, load empty autoinjectors into a vial storage box and insert the box into the centrifuge. The centrifuge will recharge the autoinjectors.
The centrifuge operates under the following logic:
Cycles through reagents in the input beaker starting from the top.
Will fill pure vials containing the same reagent or an empty one. Purity of vials is first priority for the purpose of operating the A-XRF.
Will not fill multiple vials with the same reagent. Unless the beaker only has a single reagent, then it will try to fill all as much as possible. This is useful for when filling autoinjectors.
Will not transfer reagents from the input beaker if it is within an impure vial inside the box. Use this feature to make impure vials act as filters.
Turing Dispenser
This advanced dispenser is only available to researchers and allows for a level of automation in chem production. While it is relatively complicated to use, it can become a powerful tool in the right hands. Use it to automate the production of advanced research chemicals or complicated drug mixes.
The Turing Dispenser operates by following a set of instructions for what it should be dispensing. These instructions are provided by inserting a vial box, with the vial containing the amount of the chemical you want to dispense. The dispenser reads the vials in order from left to right. The dispenser will run until either: the output beaker is full, all program cycles has finished or a setting is changed while running.
Unlike the normal dispenser, the Turing Dispenser can directly dispense a wider range of chemicals. It can dispense any chemical the normal dispenser can with the exception of ethanol. In addition to any chemical available from the medical vendor with the exception of oxycodone. It can also directly dispense simple chemical compositions such as Sodium Chloride, Methane and Ammonia. Any other chemical requires the use of the Smartlink to be dispensed.
Programs
The Turing Dispenser has two programs: Box and Memory. The Box Program is the currently inserted vial box, while The Memory Program is a Box Program that has been saved to the dispenser’s internal memory. The dispenser can run with just one of either program, or with both; in which case the Memory is run before the Box. This allows up to 12 dispensing steps to be configured (as each box can hold 6 vials).
Settings
Program Multiplier: Multiplies the amount of the reagent that’s dispensed on each step. For example, a step with 20 water and a 3x multiplier will dispense 60 units of water.
Program Cycles: How many times the full cycle of programs will be run before the dispenser goes to sleep.
Autorun: If ON, then the dispenser will run the program automatically when both a vial box and a beaker is inserted.
Smartlink: If ON, then the dispenser will check the nearby Smartfridge for the required chemicals before spending energy to dispense it. Additionally, this allows the dispenser to dispense exotic chemicals stored in the Smartfridge, making any recipe possible. If the required chemical can not be found and can not be dispensed using energy, then the dispenser will pause the program until the chemical is stored in the Smartfridge. Once available, the program will continue automatically. (Beware that, the dispenser will read the Smartfridge from top to bottom and use any beaker or bottle it finds containing the required chemical, even if that container is contaminated. This theoretically allows for more than 12 different chemicals to be dispensed in a cycle.)
Research Data Terminal
This terminal found inside the research study allows control of all research assets. It contains the database for all saved research documents, such as A-XRF scans and Synthesis reports. You can read the documents directly from the terminal, or print a copy. Additionally, the current status of research credits can be checked, and used for various functions. Any document can be added to the database by clicking it with a paper in hand.
Purchase Clearance
Upgrades the current clearance access by one level. Increasing the clearance level this way costs more the higher your clearance. Colony CLs can increase clearance for free, Up to a certain level. It also gives you one free research chemical each time you buy clearance to help you with your studies.
Publish
The CMO's data terminal has the special function of publishing documents. This allows anyone with a HealthMate HUD to view the document remotely. Any paper scanned in the research terminal can be published in this way, even handwritten ones. It is thus a useful method for the CMO to provide precise information to medics on new chemicals that are being distributed in the field, or any other useful documentation. Be sure to ask your CMO to publish your hard work, and for him to announce over medical comms that a new paper has been published.
Synthesis Simulator
This computer uses advanced algorithms to perform simulations of reagent properties, for the purpose of calculating the synthesis required to make a new variant. It needs a complete data sheet from an A-XRF scan to function, meaning that all components and properties of the chemical must be known. All simulations requires research credits. Any time you modify a chemical property of a reagent, Its OD threshold will decrease. Mixing a chemical with another variant of itself will cause it to react back into its original form.
Amplify
This function increases the level of the selected property by one. The credit cost increases based on the level of the property.
Suppress
This function is the opposite of Amplify, meaning the level of the property is decreased. The credit cost for this function is always 2.
Relate
The relate function makes it possible to change the actual properties of the chemical. To do this, an A-XRF analysis of a reference chemical must also be inserted. The target and reference property must be of the exact same level for relation to be possible, and the target must have more than one property. The credit cost is equal to the level of the targeted property.
Chemical Naming Conventions
When a chemical property is changed, the simulator will automatically label the chemical with a code telling you about the changes. The codes are three letter combinations followed by a number signifying the new level of the property.
Properties
This is a list of all chemical properties and their effects. They are sorted in the same categories as in the code. <POTENCY> is the level of the property.
The DISABLED rarity means this property can't appear in randomly generated chems. The same goes for ADMIN, with the addition that very few non event exclusive reagents have properties with this rarity level.
All effects are applied once per life tick. Life ticks happen once every two seconds.
Makes you drunk. Confusion, sleepyness, etc. All chems that have this are subtypes of ethanol, which also has snowflake code for this. Therefore the effect is way stronger than it should be.
You can combine some properties to create special properties, You don't actually need to do anything to combine them, Just have them both on the same chemical. -Thank you Jarek
Dealing with an unknown chemical is like walking blindfolded. The chemical can have any combination of good and bad properties. Discovering what these are will require testing and organized procedures. How to best approach this will be up to the individual researcher. But here's some things to keep in mind:
You need 30 units of a chemical for the XRF to work. If you don't have enough, you might want to save it until you know the recipe. If you scan a chemical with the XRF you will know everything about the chemical's properties, given enough clearance.
Pay attention to research notes brought back from the colony. Colony notes can describe chemicals that are much stronger than the ones you can discover in the lab.
You can scan basic chemicals like Peridaxon and Oxycodone for properties like painkilling and organ-stabilizing.
Scanning any new chemical without requested clearance will still give you points, including xenomorph blood.
There are only 6 chemicals possible in hydroponics, 3 is clearance one and another 3 are clearance two.
Distributing a new chemical can still get you in trouble if you overlooked a really bad effect.
If you can't rely on the marines to bring back research materials, you can try to kick-start your research by mutating plants in hydroponics.
Your goal is not to get every single person a sample of your new drug, but to help as many as possible. Use the Turing Dispenser for mass production and persuade your superiors to assist with the distribution.
Chemical Distribution
While it might be fun to inject a monkey (or coworkers) with your wonder-drug, your ultimate goal should be to distribute it to where it is most needed. You should always seek the CMO's approval before performing mass distribution, because if an accident happens it will be your medical license that is threatened otherwise. Below are some suggestions to how to distribute your chemicals.
Picture
Name
Explanation
Pill bottle
The old classic, but also the slowest in terms of production and ingestion. It's an efficient way to store a lot of chemical volume, but that's the only upside, really.
Hypospray
An experimental high-end chemical injector, used for instant injections. Can be unlocked using a screwdriver, to allow the vial capsule to be ejected as a magazine. Pairing a hypospray with a vial pouch can be an excellent way for one person to distribute a series of research chemicals in the field.
Custom Autoinjector
If you have a lot of your experimental chemical on hand, then making custom autoinjectors is a good way to distribute it to the masses. A few boxes with empty autoinjectors can be found in your lab. You also can print more of them in Medilathe. You can fill a bunch of autoinjectors easily by loading them in a vial storage box and inserting it into the centrifuge for filling.
ACID Harness
Automated Chemical Integrated Delivery Harness. This is the most advanced form of chemical distribution available. Why rely on someone to know when your wonder-drug should be injected and then to actually do it, when you can leave all the work to a computer that does everything for you? The A.C.I.D. will monitor the vitals status for its user constantly, and depending on your configuration, automatically inject the chemical from an internal vial into the user. Additionally the A.C.I.D. will never overdose its user.
While the storage slots in the A.C.I.D. can technically be used for anything that would fit in the webbing, the A.C.I.D. specifically requires both a battery and a vial inside the storage slots in order to operate. A high capacity cell battery will last approximately 50 minutes.
A couple of harnesses will be available in the test lab, but if you need more then you can make one by filling a black or brown vest webbing with the following items and then using a wirecutter on the webbing: hypospray, health analyzer, battery, radio, cables.
To configure the A.C.I.D. use a multitool / security access tuner on the webbing.
A.C.I.D. Core Configuration
Config
Type
Description
Injection Amount
Setting
How much to inject at a time. The A.C.I.D. will recheck its user's condition after 20 seconds for each unit injected to see if the conditions are still true. If it is, then it will proceed to inject again.
Damage Threshold
Setting
How much damage must be present in any damage type configuration. If no damage type configurations are enabled, this setting is not used. Damage type configurations are each considered their own condition.
AND / OR
Setting
To use AND or OR logic for the configuration. For OR configuration, it injects if any condition becomes true. For AND configuration, it injects only if all conditions are true at the same time.
Brute
Damage
External brute damage.
Burn
Damage
External burn damage.
Toxin
Damage
Internal toxin damage.
Oxygen
Damage
Internal oxygen damage.
Genetic
Damage
Genetic cell damage.
Heart / Liver / Lungs / Kidneys / Brain
Damage
Damage to the respective organ.
Vitals Level
Condition
Whether or not to inject based on vitals type configuration. If this is not enabled, vitals type configurations are ignored.
Bleeding
Condition
Whether or not the user is bleeding.
Internal
Condition
Whether or not the user has internal bleeding.
Bloodloss
Condition
Whether or not the user has less than 40% blood.
Fracture
Condition
Whether or not the user has a bone fracture.
Splinted
Condition
Whether or not the user is wearing a splint.
Organ damage
Condition
Whether or not an organ has 10 or more damage.
Organ failure
Condition
Whether or not an organ has 30 or more damage.
Death
Condition
Whether or not the user is currently dead.
Defibrillation
Condition
Whether or not the user has just been defibrillated.
Concussion
Condition
Whether or not the user has been knocked down or knocked out.
Intoxication
Condition
Whether or not the user is dazed, slowed, confused, drowsy, dizzy or hallucinating.
Foreign Object
Condition
Whether or not the user contain a foreign object.
Optimal
Vitals
User is 100% healthy.
Nominal
Vitals
User is between 80-100% healthy.
Low
Vitals
User is between 40-80% healthy.
Very Low
Vitals
User is between 10-40% healthy.
Critical
Vitals
User is between -10-10% healthy.
Emergency
Vitals
User is less than -10% healthy, but not dead.
Requisitions Delivery Unit
If you want Requisitions to send your chemicals to the surface for you, then you can use this delivery chute to send any item directly down to the Requisitions.
Alien Research: Xenology
The art of Xenology. Throughout the operation you will have the opportunity to conduct preliminary research on the Aliens. While this research is more esoteric in nature, providing technical data for the Marine Corps and the Company to use.
At its core, Xenology is accomplished by analyzing alien blood and other liquids, storing dead alien bodies in the research containers, and containing a live alien in the research pen.
Xenology Blood Research
Each alien will have two or more unique liquids/blood samples to collect. To analyze alienblood you will need a corpse, an empty beaker, and either a syringe or an IV Drip. After collecting the blood sample, you can place it into a Chemical Centrifuge to split up the different samples. Afterwards you can analyze the samples at the XRF Scanner.
Xeno Blood properties:
Acidic Blood - Deals 3 burn damage.
Dark Acidic Blood - Deals 6 burn damage.
Pheromone Plasma - Makes you high, fixes stuttering, confusion, blurry vision, drowsiness, dizziness, and jitteriness.
Catecholamine Plasma - Makes you faster.
Chitin Plasma - Prevents fractures.
Neurotoxin Plasma - Deals 7 brain damage, deals 1 toxin damage, makes you jittery and hallucinate.
Anti-Neurotoxin - Neuro-Shielding, Prevents being stunned by all neurotoxin.
Purple Plasma - Deals 2 brute damage.
Egg Plasma - Infects with Xeno larva, useful in research.
Royal Plasma - Infects with Xeno larva, makes you addicted, deals 4 brute damage, makes you hallucinate, makes you high, makes you jittery, useful in research.
Xenology Body and Live Specimen Study
You will need the Marines' assistance in securing egg samples, To grow a Xeno, you will need a monkey in a containment cell and an egg, plant the Egg In the containment cell, then wait.
However
Making Xenos on their own is not useful and is actually be more of a detriment. This might stall the game out, and if the proper precautions were not taken, Xenos may even break out of containment. Not very good.
The better solution is making Corrupted Hive. These are potentially friendly Xenos that can be used to help in combat and ship security.
Materials
Clearance Level 5X
Egg plasma - extracted from Xeno eggs
Royal plasma - extracted from an Empress OR can be made by mixing Egg Plasma and Dark Acidic Blood (extracted from a praetorian)
Let's Start Making Xenos
Make sure you have Level 5X clearance.
Scan or re-scan Royal Plasma.
Relate with a randomized chemical one unique property of Royal Plasma in the Synthesis Simulator called Cyphering. It will cost 10 points. Different levels of unique properties will make different Xeno hives. Level 2 - Corrupt, Level 3 - Alpha and etc.
Make sure the monkey you are using is connected to a blood supply, such as an IV, as the monkey will lose a lot of blood in this process.
Infect monkey with egg or Egg plasma.
Inject 5 units of modified Royal Plasma, before larva hatches.
Good work! This may take some time before the Corrupted Hive hatches so be patient. Do not try to speed up the process.
Hydroponics Research
Note that hydroponics is currently undergoing a rework, much of the information here is subject to change.
Hydroponics is the process of growing plants without soil. The Company has provided The USS Almayer's research wing with a hydroponics laboratory. Here, researchers can grow and experiment with plant genetics.
Machine:
Description:
Hydroponics tray
A specialised tray to grow plants in. You may right-click the tray and select Flush Tray to reset it, removing everything including nutrients and refill it with water. The lights on the tray correspond to the state of the plant:
Green: Plant is ready to be harvested.
Red: Plant is unhealthy, old-aged or dead.
Orange/Red flash: High amount of weeds or pests.
Yellow: Low amounts of nutrients in the tray.
Blue: Low amount of water in the tray.
MegaSeed Servitor
Vendor that contains the basic seeds needed to get started.
Seed extractor
Extracts seeds from harvested plants. Insert a plant sample to obtain seeds.
Lysis-isolation Centrifuge
By inserting a flora data disk and any plant material (such as seeds or samples), this machine allows you to process the genome of said plant. The plant material is destroyed in the process.
Once analyzed, a set of genes can be extracted. This can be done only a certain number of times before the genes decay completely. The extracted data is saved to the floral data disk. This disk can then be used in the Bioballistic delivery system.
Bioballistic delivery system.
Uses data disks with extracted genomes from the Lysis-isolation Centrifuge. By inserting a disk and a target plant sample, you can override the existing gene with the stored one. Use this to positively select your plants. If you modify a sample genome too many times, the genome will decay completely.
Item:
Description:
Flora data disk
Data disk for storing plant genes. Used with the lysis-isolation centrifuge and bioballistic delivery system. Can only contain a single gene. Empty data disks can be found in the flora disk boxes inside the hydroponics locker. They can also be stored in the disk cabinet for better organization.
Plant analyzer
Used to analyze plants quickly and get a reading of its general properties.
Mini hoe
The mini garden hoe can be used to uproot weeds from hydroponics trays. Using the garden hoe will damage the plant slightly.
Plant Clippers
A specialised clipping tool for taking samples off plants. Use this if you want a sample from a plant before maturity, or if you want to harvest without removing the plant completely. Alternatively, other cutting tools may be used.
Hatchet
Used to cut down large plants into smaller parts. Usually wood.
Spade
Used to move dirt around. But we don't have dirt onboard, so it has little purpose right now.
Bucket
Its a bucket. Fill it with water and pour it somewhere.
Plant bag
Lets you carry a large amount of plant goods around. Click on a tile to store all the plants on that tile in the bag. Use the bag again to drop everything on another tile.
Hydroponics spray
Functions similarly to a space cleaner spray. Comes with ammonia. You might want to empty it and fill it with your own special mixture. You can spray this on hydroponics trays to add chemicals to them.
Subject:
Description:
Identifying Genes
Modifying your plants can require a lot of work and you may want to take notes during it. Gene labels are reordered and randomized each round, so identifying them requires some trial an error in figuring out which gene corresponds to what trait. Using the plant analyzer will be a great help during this. If you see a plant has a desired trait, try to extract one gene at a time from that plant and apply it to another. Once you see that the desired changes have occurred, you've identified the gene. A gene label represents the same trait across all plants.
Some traits won't do much, while others can have drastic effects.
Mutating plants
Radioactive compounds might mutate your plants. Unlike the above process, this relies on RNG. It can kill the plant, change its properties or create an entirely new species. The plant might even start producing new chemicals. To mutate a plant, you need to put 60-120u of Unstable Mutagen in the hydroponics tray that contains the plant you wish to mutate.
Keeping your plants alive
Plants are living things and they can die of old age or if not taken care of. Make sure to remove pests and weeds. Some chemicals are beneficial and provides nutrients, while others can be toxic. If your plant is unhealthy, it might contain a lot of toxins, be weeded or contain pests. Providing your plants with water and nutrients will make them slowly heal.
Your Skillset
To find out about how the skill system works head over to the skills system page.