Detective

Smoke. Drink. Monologue.

The Detective is responsible for investigating crimes on the station. While security will hopefully quickly note a rampaging traitor with a bloody c-saber in their hands, stealthy antagonists can easily slip beneath the radar and carry out their tasks without regular officers noticing. The detective is well-equipped for investigation but not for actually going out and arresting people. Detectives should remember that while they are part of security, they are not security officers and lack access to the security equipment lockers.

Your Equipment

On your person, you start with:

• A security headset to stay in touch with other Sec. To use it, simply type something like the following in your text parser:
  • say :g Just found a husk in disposals, stay alert!
• A Detective Special revolver , a unique snub-nose revolver that's small enough to fit in your pocket. Use it to defend yourself and avoid becoming a crime scene. It appears in a slick box that looks like a hard-case, bundled with some speedloaders to reload your gun.
  • For ammo, you have the choice of lethal .38 Spc rounds that cause a good bit of damage and bleeding and nonlethal .38 Stun rounds that drain stamina similar to taser shots. The latter is rather plentiful, so don't be afraid to use them.
  • Note that if you use the Claim Job Rewards command, found in the Commands tab, while you hold your gun, you can turn it into a Peacemaker.
• A pair of VR goggles - det_net . Wearing theses takes you private virtual beach fully equipped with a security computer that doesn't require logging in, a camera monitor and a cigarette machine. When used in conjunction with the forensic scanner, you can remotely manage the security records with surprising efficiency.
• A red PDA with the Forensic Analysis Cart. It can scan for forensic evidence, assess people's health, determine chemical composition of mixtures, let you look through security and medical records, control secbots, and, most importantly, issue amusing fines and tickets. It also gets PDA alerts from sec scanners and health implants inside other Security personnel, among other things.
• A shoulder holster , a belt slot item that's a natural companion to your DetGadget hat. While you might think it can only hold your gun, it can actually hold any small object and any of the various weapons used by Security. You can use it to store things the DetGadget doesn't accept, like your revolver, extra ammo for your gun, notes,...or shitons of more cig boxes.
• The stereotypical detective outfit, black gloves, hat, hard worn suit, and coat. Aside from fashionability (or perhaps lack thereof), the hat and suit are rather unremarkable, though the coat does reduce damage from all types of bullets by a third and shaves off a bit of damage from melee attacks. The gloves also help keep your own prints off the evidence, though they still leave fibers.

The Office

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So cool.

So cool.

So cool.

So cool.

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So cool.

The detective's office, in addition to its sleek noir style, features a few useful items:

• A forensic scanner . It scans items, machines, people, and other things for fingerprints, DNA, and other useful info and is your bread and butter for investigative work.
• A security records cabinet, a much easier way to adjust and check security records and search up prints and DNA than the ThinkDOS security computer.
• A security surveillance camera monitor allows you to remotely monitor the station with some ease. Surveying hot spots can occasionally let you spot trouble before it happens or help coordinate security efforts from the safety of your office.
  • A portable camera viewer, a handheld version of the above that has a somewhat clunky interface.
• Your special equipment locker, rather confusingly called a Forensics equipment locker, contains most of your portable equipment as well as spare investigation items. It has, among other things:
  • Some rather specialized forensic gear, including BloodTrak for tracing blood stains, a box of luminol grenades for revealing blood stains, spectroscopic goggles for analyzing chemical mixtures, and a spy sticker kit with stickers that act like audio bugs.
  • A optical thermal scanner . These goggles expand how far you can see in the dark and allow you to see through cloaking devices, potentially allowing you to get the jump on cloak users or at least flee with a headstart. However, they also make especially bright lights stun you longer and hurt your eye, so be careful around flashers and the like.
  • A flash , an additional self-defense weapon. One flash will disorientate most people, making it more difficult to move the way they want to. A second flash usually makes them drop their items, while a few more flashes will drop them to the floor.
  • A DetGadget Hat , better explained below.
• A camera and audio logger for recording evidence.
• Pen and paper for writing notes and reports.
• Some brand of cigarette packet, a lighter, and a bottle of Bo Jack Daniel. Drinking and smoking are vices, but they're minor ones compared to the greed and violence that permeate every inch of station.

DetGadget Hat

A fashionable, novel toolkit for your detective essentials, found in the locker in your office. Shove any of the items accepted below, and when you say/mention the hat's activation phrase with the name of the item, the hat will put it in your hands (or, in the case of cigarettes, your mouth or your hand) or drop it on the floor if your hands are full.

The hat accepts the following items:

• Body bag
• Forensic scanner
• Camera monitor
• Camera
• Audio log
• Flashlight
• Spray bottle, regardless of whether it's luminol or perhaps something spicier or similarly interesting.
• A pair of glasses or goggles
• Zippo lighter
• Individual cigarettes (up to 15).

By default, the activation phrase is "go go gadget" but using the Set Activation Phrase command will allow you to change it. In addition, The hat will only listen to its wearer...but due to the way the hat is coded, it will also listen to anyone standing on the same tile as you, e.g. someone farting on your face.

Forensics

A good detective should be familiar with the abilities and gear of the station's varied antagonists as well as the fundamentals of forensic systems.

If you have enough evidence to support arresting someone who has not committed an overt act of treason, alert security over the secure frequency and set their status to Arrest in the security records. This will have Officer Beepsky and other active securitrons attempt to detain the target. The detective can assist in arrests, but with no armor or taser, should leave the heavy lifting to security officers.

Fingerprints

Many interactions with and between crew members, items, doors, machinery, and many other things leave behind fingerprints, which can naturally be traced:

• Picking up and using items
• Operating computers and other machinery
• Bumping into or clicking on doors to open/close them
• Pulling objects or bodies
• Melee attacks (disarm, grab etc)
• Accessing somebody's Inventory
• etc.

Because this is the future, rather than spraying dust or pressing ink to find fingerprints, you can scan people and objects for prints simply by clicking on them with a forensic scanner.

Everyone's prints are already on file in the security database, though these records can be deleted or tampered with and don't include non-NT personnel, namely Nuclear Operatives and Wizards. You can then click on a forensic scanner or use the key to activate something in-hand (usually C or PgDown); this will prompt you to enter a string of letters for the DNA print, and the scanner will attempt to search through the records for a match. The security records can also be assessed at the detective's file cabinet (Search Records) or a regular security terminal.

Gloves obscure the fingerprints of the wearer, but at least provide you with a couple of clues. Aside from an unique glove ID, every pair of gloves is made of fibers that can be attributed to a certain material:

Type	Material	Typically worn by
Fingerless gloves	N/A. Doesn't mask prints.	Radical dudes.
Latex gloves	N/A. Partial prints obscured by junk symbols.	Medical staff
Black gloves	black leather fibers	Detective, botanist, miner, QM
SWAT gloves	high-quality synthetic fibers	Syndicate operatives
Boxing gloves	red leather fibers	Boxer, Staff Assistant
Insulated gloves	insulative fibers	Heads of staff, engineer, mechanic, QM
Stungloves	[material], electrically charged	Engineer, Mechanic. Also vigilantes.
Rubber gloves	synthetic silicone rubber fibers	Janitor
Power gloves	insulative fibers and nanomachines	Traitor
Concussive gauntlets	industrial-grade mineral fibers	Miner
Cursed white gloves	greasy polymer fibers	Cluwne

Blood DNA

Likewise, many interactions leave behind blood traces:

• Blood stains, naturally.
• Open wounds
• Attacking somebody with a sufficiently powerful weapon covers both the assailant and victim in blood
• Gibs can contain blood traces
• etc.

As with prints, scanning blood with a forensic scanner gives the DNA of the blood. You can then click on the scanner or use the key to activate something in-hand (usually C or PgDown) to search through the Security database for a match. The detective's file cabinet (Search Records) or a regular security terminal can be used for much the same purpose.

For blood stains in particular, you use a BloodTrak to attempt to pinpoint the blood's owner owner. If you click on a blood puddle that's still fresh with the scanner, it will give you a rough direction of where the blood DNA match is located relative to the scanner, with different-colored arrows depending on how far you are, as with other pinpointers. However, it will shut down after a certain amount of time depending on the freshness of the blood scanned. Fresh blood stains give you 8 minutes, while semi-fresh stains give 4 minutes; dried blood doesn't work at all!

Just like in those crime scene investigation shows, you can reveal blood stains on floor tiles that have been cleaned up with luminol. You don't need to shine light on it or darken the room, simply apply it somehow. You have a box of three luminol smoke grenades in the Forensics equipment that apply it over a large area, and luminol works great in a spray bottle for smaller applications. Try asking Cargo for a Janitorial Supplies Refill for its spray bottle, emptying it out, and then requesting the Scientists in Chemistry to make you some luminol.

Ballistics

Ballistic fingerprinting is another of the forensic scanner's applications for weapons which leave physical evidence behind. The scanner will indicate gunshot wounds on a body, and a forensic profile can then be created for bullets dug out of said corpse, or in other words link that revolver you found on a suspect to the murder in question. The forensic signature of kinetic firearms as well as certain energy guns (e.g. lasers and phasers) can also be isolated from bullet holes in the walls of the station.

In addition, firing a kinetic firearm leaves detectable residue on the shooter, as well as spent casings on the floor. Looking at casings closely can give you a rough idea of the caliber, type of ammunition and firearm used to commit the crime. Consider that only a handful of jobs (for instance the HoS, Medical Director and Bartender) have legitimate access to such weapons.

Type	Caliber	Typically fired by
Small handgun	.22	.22 pistol, zip gun
Medium handgun	.38, .357, .41	.38 and .357 revolver, zip gun, derringer (casing looks "fat and stumpy")
Rifle	.308	AK, tranquilizer and hunting rifle
Shotgun blue	12 ga	Shotguns (rubber slugs)
Shotgun orange	12 ga	Shotguns (Frag-12), flare pistol
Shotgun red	12 ga	Shotguns (buckshot)
Grenade	40mm	Grenade launcher

Surveillance

Another tool for gathering evidence is simple vigilance and observation. In absence of a smoking gun, detectives often have to work out traitors based on suspicious behavior, tailing people and listening to the communications from the rest of the crew. Occasionally checking in on really sensitive areas such as the Armory, AI Upload, or Plasma Research lab over security cameras monitor can avert serious disaster. Checking out Waste Disposal or garbage chutes can uncover murder victims or hastily stashed gear.

Photo And Audio

The camera and audio logger are great tools if you can catch traitors in the act of doing something suspicious. Some traitors, when aware that the heat is on, may clean and/or ditch their gear, take a shower to wash off forensic evidence and then attempt to bullshit their way out of imprisonment. Solid evidence is much harder to argue against.

You can, obviously, use the camera to take photos of people, objects, etc. in one tile as photographic evidence. For example, you might take some pics of the perp you spotted making bombs or choking someone. You might also photograph a crime scene to document its original conditions, like forensic photographs.

Meanwhile, the tape recorder/audio logger will record your voice, and yours only, if you hold it. If you put it down on the floor, it'll pick up anything said in a room within a roughly 7 tile radius. You might use it when interviewing or questioning witnesses and suspects or going undercover.

Speaking of recording, your Forensics equipment locker has a special kit with "spy stickers" that basically work like audio bugs. They broadcast to the Security frequency and relay audio within 7 tiles of it. Somewhat limited, but has a bit of utility if you get creative. Stick on someone to bug them! Stick on a random item, put it in a pile, and use Move to Top on the other items to hide it away! Stick on Beepsky and other roaming robots! Just remember: click on the sticker to configure the microphone and speaker.

Tips

• Don't forget to use the *monologue emote; it's inputted just like every other emote that pipes through *say. As you might expect, it makes you spout a monologue based on the area you're in. Most areas have generic lines, but there are some unique ones for different areas.
• You start out with the Professional Drinker trait, which is basically the Alcohol Resistance mutation. That means you can drink all the Bo Jack Daniel and other booze you want and (mostly) not feel any adverse effects!
  • Consider asking the Medical Doctors or Roboticist to give you a cyberliver, which will heal TOX damage when there's ethanol in you.
• You can smoke five cigarettes at once! One in your mouth/mask slot, two in your hand, and, don't think about this too hard, two in your pocket.
  • When there's a cig in your mouth, don't forget to forget to occasionally unequip it to blow a (mostly harmless) smoke cloud for maximum Style Points.
• The optical thermal scanner can be scanned and replicated at the Mechanics Workshop, giving the crew many more eyes against cloakers.

Investigation Tips

• A health analyzer and reagent scanner can be useful for determining how a victim died. Your PDA luckily can do both functions when properly configured.
• Labeling papers and pieces of evidence with a hand labeler can help immensely with keeping things organized.
• Need a place to put your papers besides a box? Try ordering a Bureaucracy Supply Crate from Cargo for its folders.
• Need a secure place to put evidence? Try a safe. It's generally more secure than just putting it in your locker since you need a 4-digit code that only you can know rather than an ID with access that potentially others can gain. Remember: click on the safe to enter the combo or set it, click-drag it to you to access it.
  • If you need to transport the evidence or the map doesn't have a safe, try a secure briefcase.
• Your office and Security often come with evidence boxes. They're not much different from regular boxes, but they're helpful for storing notes, photos, and other small things used for investigations.

Detective XP

Yes, it's possible to quantify/abstract exactly how hardboiled you are. There's actually currently no way to earn it, but that's fine, because the current rewards are all 0-level, meaning you don't need any XP at all to use them. You can redeem these Job Rewards through the Check Job Rewards command in the Commands tab.

Name	Level Unlocked	Icon	Description
The Colt	0		Redeeming this rewards converts your Detective Special into the Colt Peacemaker, a icon of the old frontier of the American Wild West now in the final frontier of outer space. Like the Detective Special, it accepts .38 Spc rounds, but you must use it inhand to cock the hammer between each shot before you fire. This might be useful if you feel like that's more stylish, or if you're worried about your gun being stolen, for the thief will now have contend with a rather slow gun against you and your better armed teammates.
Noir-Tech Glasses	0		Grants a pair of glasses turn every thing you see into shades of grey, black, and white, like those black-and-white noir films everyone references but hasn't actually seen. No real advantage, but nevertheless novel.

Crew Objectives

As a loyal crew member, you can sometimes be assigned some strictly optional objectives to keep yourself busy while you wait for something to happen. As a detective, you can expect to see the following:

Ensure that you are still wearing your coat, hat and uniform at the end of the round
Just don't get mugged, which is very unlikely.

Make sure you are smoking at the end of the round
Just make sure you have your smokes and your zippo, and light up when you're in the escape shuttle.

Make sure there is alcohol in your system at the end of the round
Keep your Bo Jack Daniels on you and take a swig on the shuttle. Before or after lighting up.

Very Loose Cannon: Syndicate Detective

A Syndicate detective has a lot of options to work with. Most captains and HoPs won't object to giving you security access, letting you load up on weaponry. The AI can generally be convinced to let you in wherever if you say it needs investigating. The security records can be tampered with to accomplish a variety of tasks, not just sending Officer Beepsky after the captain and deleting your own record, but also altering fingerprints to frame someone else for possession of traitor gear.

Traitor detectives can order .38 armor-piercing ammo for their revolver, which is handy against armored targets such as the Captain and Security Officers. It's not quite as devastating as its .357 brother, but you get more shots for your money's worth. Six Syndicate currency buys a revolver box with 42 shots (5 speedloaders with 7 each + 7 in revolver); that same 6 also gets 3 .38 boxes, which each have 21 (3 speedloaders with 7 in each), netting you a cool 63 shots. That said, a revolver box can still be a good buy. The Syndicate revolver can use .38 ammo, so you can make use of all those stun speedloaders in the SecTechs to down targets, then finish them with the other deadly ammo it comes bundled with.

Your thermals expand your vision in darkness and thus improve your ability to get the jump on targets in the dark. You can also buy an advanced version that also lets you see people from behind walls and other obstacles, greatly augmenting your ambushing capability. You can further enhance it with a cloaking device or light breaker.

Gallery

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