Roboticist
File:Roboticist action.png
Roboticist
Superiors: Research Director
Difficulty: Medium
Guides: Guide to Robotics
Access: Robotics, Technical Storage, Morgue, Research Division
Duties: Create and maintain a cybernetic and robotic army, and build impressive mech suits.
Primarily, the Roboticist's job is to make cyborg bodies, and generally maintain activated cyborgs. Secondarily, roboticists create helpful robots like Medibots and Floorbots. A skilled set of roboticists can even build a powerful set of mech suits, primarily useful for miners, but sometimes useful for security or medical personnel as well.
The Assembly Line
Robotics is your home as a Roboticist. It contains the Exosuit Fabricators for the creation of any robotic component you require, a few cyborg recharge stations, a few mech suit recharge stations, a chest with multiple sheets of metal, power cells, and a coil of wire, and scattered tables with a multitool, tool boxes, a few flashes, a crowbar, a proximity sensor, more scattered high capacity power cells, and a cell charger.
THIS HAND OF MINE GLOWS WITH AN AWESOME POWER
You are going to be building some of the most powerful things on the station. There are a few things you should do once you spawn in your nice and clean Robotics office.
First, before you do anything else, run out of your office and go straight into Tech Storage. Tech Storage is full of things you are going to want to use, and you're going to want to try to grab:
- Both batteries.
- The multitool.
- One coil of wire.
- Both flashes.
- The insulated gloves.
It may be a good idea to stop by Primary Tool Storage as well, for the the batteries, the metal, the glass, the proximity sensor and the tool belt. It's usually the first area hit by your rival civilians though, so don't hold your breath.
Return to your den and meet the cyborg, replace its battery for it, and kick it out. It's keeping you from important work.
{{If you don't have one, harass Engineering until you get a toolbelt. Put your tools in it and toss that heavy toolbox.}} Roboticists already spawn with toolbelts and tools. Now, it's time to start building robots. The first thing you are going to want to build is a cyborg, perhaps two. Fill the Exosuit Fabricators with metal and get them working. Outside of your office, by now you may have 1-2 assistants who want you to 'borg 'em. Oblige, this is what you are here to do after all. Take out their brains after you order Cyborg parts from the cargo department, which you can do with the Requests Console conveniently placed behind the Circuit Fabricator. Once they have been 'borged, it's time to make your first mech.
Assemble your Ripley while you are waiting for the boards, and hopefully by the time they arrive the whole station hasn't gone to shit.
Send the White Devil back to Hell!
Build another cyborg. Try to keep at least 1 cyborg body on standby for the inevitable train of corpses that will be coming through your door. Now you can build the fun mechs, assuming Science has been doing their part. If not, keep busy by stealing a bucket from Hydroponics, or making tons of medical droids.
Synchronise up your R&D console to process any new semi-useful designs researched by your useless colleagues, set your Exosuit Fabricators to auto-sync, and get building. Feed the Circuit Fabricator the acid sitting on it. Make sure that mining has brought you the metals you need. You will have a love-hate relationship with the science division. On the one hand they will be inventing fun toys for you, on the other they are taking all that wonderful silver from you that could be going to making a Durand. Once you do get enough ores though, it's smooth sailing. Make Mechs, give them to people with little-to-no authorization, watch the chaos from your comfy chair. Remember your Mechs are going to be the only thing that can fight some of the powerful things that end up attacking the station, so everyone is counting on you.
Other Tips
- Keep your metal organized, and understand how much each machine will take. (You will always need more metal.)
- Glass and flashes are important for your robotics work, as are various devices, security equipment and rare minerals. Don't waste them.
- Have a plan before you start building anything huge, like a mech suit. (Without the circuitry, they are useless.)
- Make sure to perform maintenance and power cell upgrades on cyborgs that come in; NanoTrasen usually doesn't load them with anything but the minimum required power cells.
- Tech Storage is your friend. It has two flashes, two power cells, and insulated gloves. Raiding tech storage can net you an extra cyborg exosuit before having to beg cargo for a robotics assembly. For bonus points, beg the CE/RD/AI to let you into secure tech storage to get a Robotics/Exosuit Control Circuitboard to control what you make, in case it decides to kill everyone.
- Ensure you have proper eye protection when you weld, or you'll become blind quickly.
- For the love of Darth Vader, unless you want people to get pissed off and break into your lab, (leading to a scuffle along with death, serious injury, and/or more death) listen for when someone calls you to your desk!
Notes
- Do
- Make cyborg bodies and install MMI's in them.
- Try to 'borg antagonists instead of the death penalty. They still fail, but are no longer a danger.
- Cut AI control when the AI is rogue.
- Make useful bots and leave them around the station.
- Make a Ripley before combat mechs, mining usually likes this (and hopefully will like you).
- Put beacons in all mechs lest they get stolen.
- Make a Cyborg and Exosuit Control Console.
- Try to make your own boards by getting acid from chemistry and getting R&D to sync the servers.
- Remember to periodically sync your own R&D console to get the most out of their research data
- Recognise that the QM might be more inclined to get you some metal/robot assemblies if you don't eat up all of their points with Ripley boards.
- Don't
- Put an MMI in a borg without making sure it isn't braindead (the MMI's can speak, you know).
- Blow all the borgs because one was emagged.
- Immediately blow all borgs in malf- instead, tell the RD to remove his console's screen, then lock the borgs and take off your console screen so the AI can't access it.
- Try to make a mech you don't have materials for, nothing is more useless than a pile Durand limbs while you beg for metal and silver.
- Go on mech rampages 'because you can'.
- Be an asshat.
- Build a mech for anyone who just comes by and asks for one.
Being an Evil Genius
Traitoring as a Roboticist is fun and easy, especially since you spawn with flashes, and an expectation of building very dangerous machines. Your high station access, and access to tech storage will allow you to get pretty much everywhere, also you have gloves from the get go. And, of course, emagging any of your basic creations serves to cause havoc and chaos. Emagging the cyborgs can make them do what you want. Some people will ignore, tell others, or attack you.
A great way to grab your own personal cyborg, to meet your own doom, or to gain a new brain to add to your backpack, is to grab a flash and put it in your pocket or hand. Go ahead and grab some of those cable coils and tie yourself up some cable restraints. When you and somebody else are alone, go ahead and flash the living hell out of them and tie that guy up. Just don't let him scream through the radio immediately afterwards - a screwdriver to the eye is best used for this. (Or you can just take off his headset. That works too.)