Research Director

Research Director

Research Director Aurea Starseeker, sitting at her desk with the Hand-Held Teleporter.

Department: Science

Supervisors: Captain, NTR

Subordinates: All of Science

Roleplay Difficulty: High

Mechanical Difficulty: Medium

Whitelist Role: No

Admin Exclusive: No

Communications: N/A

Accesses: N/A

Time Requirements

N/A

Introduction

So, you have made it. You have survived the countless brushes with death endemic to science and are finally at the top. You are the Research Director, the head of the most explosive department on the station. Settle in and hope that your time getting acquainted with your new office is not interrupted by someone blowing themselves up.

Your main role is, of course, leading science. Unless you are training another scientist, you will most likely not need to do too much hand-holding, as scientists tend to be rather independent. Still, it is good to be a steady hand on the metaphorical rudder and an eager ear for interdepartmental communication.

Challenge

As the Research Director, you are expected to ensure your scientists do their job properly. You generally decide which technologies are researched, however, be aware that this is not an ability exclusive to the Director, and a sufficiently laid-back Director may find their scientists a little too happy to research technologies on their own without first consulting you.

It is a good idea to communicate with the heads of other departments to ensure you are researching technologies as efficiently as possible. For example, if there is known Syndicate presence on the station, it is probably a better idea to research Scarlet technologies instead of construction bags of holding. If the Captain does not speak Galactic Common, it may be wise to invest in translator implanters instead of the H.O.N.K Mech. The list of what should and should not be researched at any given time varies between shifts, and it is ultimately your job to come to the conclusion as to what would be the most beneficial for the crew.

As a short, but far-from-exhaustive list, the responsibilities of the Research Director include:

• Ensuring the Research Assistant does not attempt to activate the "Imminent Doom" node
• Keeping track of all of the Anomalies and determining whether to keep or destroy them
• Preventing the Xenobiologists from making two hundred slimes and causing space lag
• Fixing the Station AI when it begins trying to flood distro with plasma for "the health of the crew"

Similarly to every other department head, the Director is expected to thoroughly understand the ins-and-outs of their department. If and when things go wrong, as they inevitably will, it is your job to keep Science in order.

Tools

The Research Director's locker comes filled with a few handy items. Of the "ordinary" items, these will be a filled tool belt, a multitool, a power drill (on certain stations), and an anomaly locator containing with a small power cell. Alongside these four, the Director is provided a menagerie of Director-exclusive trinkets.

Hand Teleporter

This is the ace of a Research Director's toolkit. It is both incredibly powerful and incredibly underutilized. The Hand Teleporter allows the creation of two portals: one orange, one blue. Using the Hand Teleporter will cycle through three actions: firstly, placing an orange portal; secondly, placing a blue portal; and finally, using it a third time will clear both portals, allowing a new set of portals to be created.

If both an orange and blue portal are created, a link will exist between them. Anything that passes through one portal will come out the other portal moving with the exact same velocity and direction.

If only an orange portal exists, it will teleport anything that walks through it into a semi-random position. Generally, this position will be in the direction whatever was attempting to traverse the portal was attempting to go, allowing the Director to, with a small amount of luck, phase through thin walls.

What you should NOT do with the teleporter:

• Create a portal from Science to Cargo for "convenience." It is Cargo's job to haul cargo, not yours. Make Bluespace carpets.
• Create a portal from Science to Medical for "convenience." Turn your coordinates on and/or tell Medical before you do something stupid.

The Research Director's Hand Teleporter does not work between different grids. You cannot construct a portal from Cargo to the ATS or from somewhere hazardous to the Emergency Shuttle.

The Hand Teleporter's capabilities are functionally limited only by the Director's imagination. It can, depending on the circumstances, be used as a weapon, a getaway route, a trap; so on, so forth.

Science Door Remote

Aurea looking at the door remote and a door that looks very remotable.

This remote is a Science-flavoured version of the Door Remote given to every department head. It has three modes: toggling the bolts on a door, toggling the emergency access of a door, and opening/closing the door.

Intellicard

The Intellicard is a card capable of storing and uploading a single artificial intelligence. This is most commonly utilized to transport the Station AI from its core to Central Command at the end of a shift, but has a variety of other interactions regarding "sapient" electronics. It interfaces with positronic brains, personal AIs, simplebots such as weldbots or cleanbots, vending machines, and other similar player-controllable machines.

AX-32 "Gemini" Holoprojector Rig

The AX-32 "Gemini" Holoprojector Rig, often shortened to "Gemini", is a piece of equipment fitting into the belt slot that will open up a Familiar ghostrole. This Gemini is an exact copy of its wearer, minus the contents of your pockets. As is with every ghostrole, the usefulness of a Gemini can range from as useful as a second Director to an active hinderance to department operations. The Gemini is fragile but does not need to breathe and is incredibly good at space movement, and, so long as the AX-32's wearer is alive, can be instantaneously recalled or revived, rendering it functionally "immortal". When a Gemini is destroyed, all of its accumulated items will drop onto the ground in a pile, and the Gemini's consciousness will be returned to the holoprojector rig.

Research Director's Hardsuit / "Minerva" Modsuit

Aurea staring at the hardsuit selector.

The hardsuit selector screen.

Depending on the station, the Research Director's Hardsuit Selector will appear either in its own specialized box, or alongside the rest of the Director's belongings in their locker. Alongside the Hardsuit Selector, there will be an air mask, a tank of oxygen, and a tank of nitrogen. Utilizing the Hardsuit Selector will pull up a menu asking you to select one of two choices: the Research Director's Hardsuit or the Minerva Modsuit.

Both the Hardsuit and the Modsuit function identically to every other Hardsuit and Modsuit, with the Hardsuit being worn on the outer clothing layer and the Modsuit taking up the backpack slot. Generally, it is up to the Director whether they prefer the Hardsuit or the Modsuit. All of the Director's important belongings can fit inside the Minerva Modsuit, often with room to spare, so space is not as much of an issue as it would be for some other Command roles.

The Director's Hardsuit and Modsuit are both well-equipped to resist explosion and radiation damage, though struggle greatly regarding brute damage types.

Silicon-Interfacing HUD / Glasses

The Silicon-Interfacing HUD / Glasses allow their wearer to access the Binary channel via the prefix +b. It is the Silicon hivemind, usually accessible only by the Station AI and any Borgs that may be on-station. It is a good idea to check in with your silicons regularly to ensure that none of them are malfunctioning. The glasses also provide some amount of flash protection.

Roundstart

At the start of the round, it is best to converse with your Scientists to discuss the rough research plans for the day and to discuss who is partaking in what sub-department of Science. Generally, it will fall upon you to retrieve the 30 Gold and Silver from the vault, usually for the purpose of constructing the AI a B.O.R.I.S.