MEDICAL / RESEARCH

Researcher

Difficulty: Medium
Supervisors: Chief Medical Officer, Commander/Executive Officer
Rank: Not defined
Duties: .Research and Develop, inspect any xenobiological elements given to you by Marines. Make chemicals.
Guides: Guide to Research, Guide to Chemistry, Guide to Paperwork
Unlock Requirements: Not available.
Detailed Description: |__________|
You are a civilian, and are not subject to follow military chain of command, but you do work for the USCM.

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

The better name for this job might be "mad scientist" or "jack of all trades". In general, your job is to research and develop new technology in the science lab and study anything xenobiological. Past that, this role can be very open-ended and can be played in several ways. It's unclear whether the Researchers are MDs or PhDs, but it's doubtful anybody will get upset at you for knowing and practising medicine. Unless you're trying to interact and be helpful, it's very possible that no one will pay attention to you at all - but please don't blow the ship up or harm the crew. The Researcher is a good "swing role" to help out an over-burdened medical team or assist other departments.

When dealing with Xenomorphs, this role demands a high level of roleplay. Roleplay doesn’t include:

“Yeah, well it makes you a host for xenomorphs.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen this before.”
“They’re hostile. Kill them all. Don’t worry, I can tell.”
“Just jam it in the cage and forget it exists.”

All variations of this are also pretty horrible, so don’t do it.

Chemical Research

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.

Manufacturing Grenades

Autolathe 2 large beakers (Buckets also work)
Autolathe 1 Large Chem Grenade (it holds 2 beakers)
Grab 1 timer and 1 igniter from an Autolathe
Put potassium in one large beaker using the chem dispenser (Click it in your hand to use a lid)
Put an equal amount of water into the other beaker using the sinks downstairs in the operating rooms (while moving using ladders do not hold open beakers in your hands, the contents will spill)
Place both containers into the Large Chem Grenade shell by clicking on the shell with the beaker in your active hand
Use a screwdriver (from Autolathe or a toolbox) on the igniter to make it ready to attach
Use a screwdriver on the timer until it's ready to attach
Attach that timer to the igniter; use the screwdriver on that assembly to make it "ready"
Add the ready timer-igniter assembly to the Large Chemical Grenade by clicking on it
Use the screwdriver to ready the grenade (it should turn green)
Use the hand labeler to name the detonator and grenade the same thing
DO NOT send the activate the now armed grenade unless you want to breach R&D like an idiot. Give it to a competent marine.

60 units of each potassium and water is a medium boom. 90 units of each is a serious bang.

Try out different mixes of chemicals to find more explosive and damaging reactions. Just remember that certain combinations will instantly react and should not be allowed in the same beaker. For instance, if you filled one beaker with 60u potassium and tried to add 60u of water, it'll blow up in your face.

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.

MachinesItemsHow to do Hydroponics Research

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 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. This can kill the plant, or create entirely new species.
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 nutrient, while others can be toxic. If your plant is unhealthy, it might contain a lot of toxin, be weeded or contain pests. Providing your plants with water and nutrient will make them slowly heal.

Your Skillset

To find out about how the skill system works head over to the skills system page.