THE SCIENTIST

The Scientist is well trained in many different fields, from first-aid to cyber warfare. They are almost always helpful in some form—manning the sensors, executing programs and viruses, collecting research materials and unlocking new talents for the crew, as well as searching for information about sectors and ships through galactic databases. Scientists are well-informed and often have an indirect but profound effect on combat.

SHIP SENSORS

Every ship emits an EM (electromagnetic) signature. This often represents how much power a ship is using. The warp drive also emits a large EM spike when charging. Depending on how loud a ship’s EM signature is, it may be easy or difficult for other ships to detect it with their sensors. The better a ship’s detection, the more information it will have about enemies in the sector.

Sectors located in nebulas make detecting other ships very difficult; this can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your own ship’s detection capabilities.

Tactical sensors are always passively running. They have specific ranges based on how much power is being allocated to the science system from the reactor screen. When objects are within those ranges, they automatically appear under “Detected Objects”. When an object leaves the range of the tactical sensors, it will become “out of range” and disappear from the sensor screen after a short time.

Active Scans are specific actions that temporarily disable tactical sensors. Initiating an active scan will massively increase the range of your ship’s sensors and will allow you to discover objects from a greater distance. Discovering a far away object using an active scan will alert you to its presence, but it will soon become “out of range” and disappear after a while.

The Scientist can click on any entries on the sensor screen to bring up more information about a specific detected object. This can include hostility, whether or not it has detected you, unique weapons it has equipped, or if it matches an entry in the GX database. This window also displays the EM signature of the vessel, as well as its distance from the sensors.

Players can also see the detected object’s power allocation to each of its four reactor conduits. This provides insight into the priorities of the specific vessel. For example, an enemy may suddenly put full power into shields and engineering while removing almost all power from weapons. This suggests the vessel is attempting to avoid attacks and repair its shields quickly.

The sensor screen features multiple levels of detection for each ship it can detect in the sector. The better you can detect another ship, the more data you will have about the ship and potentially ways to weaken it.

• The first level is simply noticing another ship’s existence and location.

• The second level allows you to see their reactor power allocations.

• The third level allows you to view their ship components.

• The forth and strongest sensor level allows you to exploit the ship’s weaknesses via the sensors.

To raise the level of detection on a ship, the Pilot may fly closer to the ship or the Scientist may perform a sensor lock. To temporarily raise a targeted ship’s detection level, the Scientist may fire a probe (which acts similarly to the ship flying past it) or run a targeted scan of the sector. More information on sensor locks and probes can be found under “Sensor Dish” below.

Planets can be detected by the sensors just like ships can. The sensors will provide a brief description of the planet's environment and alert the crew if it poses any extreme hazards.

SENSOR EXPLOITS

Sensor Exploits are offensive options the Scientist may use during combat. They are available to the Scientist when a ship has a detection rating of 18 or higher and are displayed at the bottom right corner of the sensor screen when a target is selected. Just click on a particular sensor exploit to initiate it.

While sensor exploits aren’t as powerful as viruses, they don’t need to bypass an enemy vessel's cyber defense or be charged like a program. Sensor exploits can provide a valuable edge in combat, creating effects such as focusing hull damage to certain ship systems or making the ship more susceptible to viruses.

SENSOR DISH

Each ship comes equipped with a sensor dish that the Scientist can use to not only locate ships that are difficult to find, but also aid directly in ship-to-ship combat.

The Scientist can press R near the sensor screen to use the sensor dish. This will give the Scientist an exterior view of every angle the ship can see. The Scientist can then look around for ships. The direction the sensor dish is facing will have a stronger sensor strength than the areas it is not facing.

When the Scientist finds a ship, they may hold the right mouse button to perform a sensor lock, which will grant an additional bonus signal strength to the locked-on ship. Only one ship may be the target of a sensor lock, and starting a new lock will cancel a previous one.

The sensor dish is also capable of firing probes into space. Probes have three main uses:

• To reveal any cloaked ships that the probe passes by.

• To grant additional sensor strength along the path of the probe.

• To pick up research materials from strange phenomena found in space.

The sensor dish may also pick up scrap from a distance by holding down the right mouse button.

SHIP CLOAKING

Some ships, particularly those belonging to the Alliance of Gentlemen, are equipped with onboard cloaking devices that allow the ships to completely disappear from sensors.

The cloaking system can be activated using the two glowing switches on the cloaking system panel. The cloaking system has a priming sequence and requires constant power to charge and maintain the cloak. If not enough power is supplied, the cloaking screen will flash and the cloaking system will disengage after a short while. If a probe, turret, or nuke is fired from the ship, the cloak will immediately disengage. The cloak will also shut down if the ship takes damage, or if another ship fires a probe close enough to the ship’s location.

When a ship is cloaked, the interior lights will turn blue (overriding the current alert level effect) and all players will see a blue vignette on the edges of their screens (even when manning a turret or piloting the ship). This is to communicate that the ship is cloaking and to avoid actions that could break it. Autoturrets or unmanned turrets will never automatically fire while a cloak is active, even if there is a targeted ship and you are on red alert.

When a ship activates a cloak, it’s not uncommon for other ships in the sector to fire probes towards its last known position. Their search field will slowly widen and then stop after a time.

SHIP COMPUTER (OS)

Each ship is outfitted with a computer system that can execute a variety of programs and viruses.

Programs and viruses are timed abilities that can be activated to benefit your ship or hinder enemy ships. They have charges that are expended when the program or virus is run. When you click on a program or virus, a description of its effect will be displayed, along with a button to execute it.

Programs activate effects that benefit your ship, such as boosting thrusters for your Pilot or healing damage on ship systems. Programs always succeed when executed. Currently active programs will flash blue on the Programs page of the Computer screen.

Viruses have a chance to hinder enemy ships with negative effects, such as disabling their thrusters or quantum shields. When viruses are executed, they will be broadcasted to the entire sector and attempt to infect enemy ships. A virus will attempt to infect an enemy ship or will successfully hinder it until its timer runs out, at which point the virus will be deactivated. Depending on an enemy ship’s cyberdefense, it is possible that a virus will fail to infect the ship. Active viruses will appear on the Virus screen. Green viruses are those you have broadcasted yourself. Red viruses are ones that are infecting your ship.

The status tab on the computer screen displays information about the ship’s current detection and cyber defense ratings.

The readings at the top of the screen illustrate your ship’s current detection rating, its emitted EM signature, and its cyberdefense rating. The higher the EM detection, the more likely your ship will detect other ships in the sector. The lower the EM signature, the less likely your ship will be detected by other ships in the sector. The higher the cyberdefense rating, the less likely viruses will be able to infect your ship.

From the status tab, the Scientist may also adjust the ship’s shield frequency. Based on information the Scientist can gather from examining enemy ship components and observing what types of weapons are installed, they can adjust this frequency for a more effective defense.

There are two main settings:

• Modulate: Increases defense against energy weapons such as lasers but decreases the ship’s detection rating by 20%.

• Static: Increases defense against physical projectiles such as rail guns, missiles and nukes but also increases your ship’s EM signature, making it easier for other ships to detect you.

The type of incoming damage on your ship is represented by the bar on the status screen. This bar will fluctuate to inform you as to which incoming damage type is currently more prevalent.

CHARGING PROGRAMS AND VIRUSES

Each program and virus has a different charge rate, represented by the circles beneath the program’s or virus’s icon. These charges can be refilled through the use of fuel, either by warping to another sector or by performing a manual program recharge in the engineering bay. Manual program recharge is done by loading a fuel capsule on the Jump Fuel engineering screen and then pulling the lever on the Manual Program Charging Station, which is usually located in the engineering bay (see “The Coolant Screen” in the Engineer section for more information on this process).

The order of your programs and viruses will determine which ones have priority in recharging. The topmost, leftmost programs will be refilled first. You can quickly reorder your programs and viruses by clicking and dragging them on the screen. Different warp drives will recharge programs and viruses at different rates.

ENEMY VIRUSES AND CYBER DEFENSE

The Virus Screen shows the current viruses being actively broadcasted to the sector. Viruses labeled in green are ones sent by your ship. Viruses labeled in red are ones that are currently attempting to infect or are infecting your ship and its systems.

The triangle to the left allows players to expand or minimize the details of each virus. The number to the right of the virus name is the amount of time before that virus stops being broadcasted. If your ship manages to avoid being infected during that time, then you have successfully evaded the virus. Below the name is a brief description of what the virus does. Under that description is a list of every ship in sensor range and whether they have been infected. It also displays the time until the virus runs its course through an infected ship. If the virus is unsuccessful, the screen also counts the virus’s attempts at infecting a vessel.

Cyber defense processors can be installed on your ship. The more cyber defense processors you have installed increases your security rating and makes it more difficult for viruses to infect your ship.

Enemy viruses can be cleared from your ship by running an antivirus program or by restarting your ship at the startup switchboard in the engineering bay. See “Ship Startup Sequence” under the Engineer section for more details.

HANDHELD SCANNER

The Scientist will start with a handheld scanner in their inventory. This equipable item can be useful for finding NPCs, locating hostile enemies or fellow crewmembers, and finding doors to interior spaces. Left clicking with the scanner out will allow you to move between the three zoom levels.

If some of the dots are dimmer than the rest, those are not at the same elevation as the scanner. You may need to find a way up or down to reach those points of interest.

RESEARCH AND COLLECTING SAMPLES

Over the course of their travels, crewmembers may stumble upon research materials that can be broken down and applied to research. These items help the Scientist unlock hidden talents for the entire crew.

When research samples are collected, they can be dropped into the Atomizer. When activated, the Atomizer will reduce samples into their unique base components. These particles each hold strange properties which are the basis for research development, and they can aid in providing various improvements for the crew.

Once samples are atomized, the research system will estimate what it may be able to learn from the current samples. Some of these estimations may require additional samples in order to initiate the research phase.

When the Scientist chooses a new talent to research, the system will begin to collect warp energy from either ship jumps or expended fuel capsules (see “The Coolant Screen” in the Engineer section for information on manual program recharging). While the system is researching, no further samples can be atomized. When the research status reaches 100%, the new talent will be available for the crew or specific crewmember to invest in.

Note: Players will also need to spend talent points to acquire any newly unlocked talents. Research materials can be picked up from visiting planets, or by firing probes at certain phenomena in space.

ATRIUM HEALING AND REGENERATION

The “medical aid” atrium is a device usually located in the science bay of the ship. Its purpose is to heal injured crewmembers and regenerate any crewmembers who die.

When a crewmember dies, they will need to wait out a short period of time before the atrium brings them back to life. They will subsequently reappear in the atrium aboard the ship. Atriums can also slowly heal non-deceased crewmembers who stand inside it.

An atrium will only regenerate individuals within its security clearance. You cannot be regenerated aboard an enemy vessel, and enemies cannot be regenerated aboard your ship.

If your ship has been claimed by an enemy crew, you will be unable to respawn in your ship’s atrium and a countdown timer will begin. If you die during this time, you will have to rely on your surviving crewmates to claim a ship so you can respawn. If your crew can’t claim a ship before the countdown ends or if every player in your crew dies, it will be a game over.

CREW DEATH

Crew death is an immediate game over. Crew death occurs when your ship is destroyed, or if your ship is taken over by enemies and you are unable to claim a ship before the countdown timer ends. When your crew dies, the host of the game will have the option to reload from a previous save or restart the galaxy with a new ship.