Guide to Genetics

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Revision as of 11:35, 7 October 2014 by Convair880 (talk | contribs) (Links updated: insulated gloves, auditory headset, prescription glasses.)
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Here we go, time to make superheroes!

In addition to the basic work of cloning, a Geneticist has access to two "GeneTek" consoles and scanners. These devices can, with enough patience, reward you with superpowers, crippling disabilities, or just amusing mutations.

The Building Blocks of Life

When a person (or monkey) is put into the scanner, the GeneTek console menu will show several options:

  • Potential - This is where you go to mess with DNA and activate mutations.
  • Mutations - Shows mutations which are active.
  • Change Appearance
  • Research Menu - Shows the research that is currently taking place, and shows possible research and finished research. It also contains the DNA Samples. DNA materials can also be bought by spending money from the station's research budget.

The printer icon at the bottom left is used to print out the current page onto a piece of paper.

Icons

The following icons and numbers will appear beside the Research Menu button as you perform research

Research Time.png This is the number of seconds you must wait until a piece of tracked research is completed.

DNA Injector Icon.png This is the number of seconds you must wait until the DNA Injectors can be used.

Reclaimer Cooldown.png This is the number of seconds you must wait until the DNA Reclaimer can be used.

Emitter Cooldown.png This is the number of seconds you must wait until the Radiation Emitters can be used.

Analyzer Cooldown.png This is the number of seconds you must wait until the Gene Sequence Checker can be used.

Cracking the Code

Mutations are composed of a series of paired blocks. Each block contains the values G, A, C, T (Guanine, Adenine, Cytosine, and Thymine respectively) or is empty. The GeneTek console allows you to select blocks and modify them. What the geneticist is attempting to accomplish is figuring out what each empty block's value should be, and thus being able to pass that mutation to the occupant. In each pair of blocks, a G block always links to a C block, and a T block always links to an A block. Some values can be figured out immediately, while others need simple guesswork as you go through each possible combination.

Once the correct code is entered, the user can then activate the mutation. It will no longer appear in Potential, and is now located in the Mutations section.

By clicking on the green vertical line connecting pairs of blocks, you can highlight that pair. Useful for marking parts of the mutation which haven't been figured out yet.

Note that within a round, all subjects with a specific mutation will have the exact same DNA code required to unlock it -- This means that if, for example, one human has half the code for Fire Resist and another has the other half, you can simply put the two together to figure out the full code.

Walkthrough

So, we're trying to make someone fat.

Genetek3.png

To start, fill up any half-filled pairs, A goes with T, G goes with C.

Genetek4.png

The unfilled pairs must be filled in with every combination of AT, TA, GC and CG possible until the words "Sequence Stable. Activate?" appear. This can be quite tough if there is more than one pair, however researching the Gene Sequence checker can make this much easier.

Genetek6.png

Click "Activate" and you're done!

Locked pairs

You may notice some pairs have a little lock between them, click on them to begin a game:

 SCANNER ALERT: Encryption is a 2-character code.
 Possible characters in this code: G C 

A specific chain of letters must be entered to unlock the pair of blocks. The only possible combinations here are GG, GC, CG and CC.

If your answer is wrong, the machine will show you how close you are to the correst answer. Let's assume we entered GG and this was the result:

 SCANNER ALERT: Decryption failed.
 0/2 correct characters in entered code.
 0/2 characters in correct position.
 Attempts remaining: 1.

This shows that there is no G in the code, and thus the code must be CC!

Research

Every mutation can be researched to find out what it does. If a mutation has not been researched, it is simply titled Unknown Mutation. Each mutation only needs to be researched once. Research is conducted by spending research materials, which are slowly gained over time. Additional research materials can be bought by spending money from the station's research budget.

Extra features and upgrades to the machine can be bought directly from the Research Menu section. Research starts at tier 1, and higher tiers are unlocked when lower tiers are completed.

Research Tier Research Time Materials Cost Effect
Mutation Research None 100 seconds 20 Shows the name of that particular mutation and gives a brief description of it.
Research Efficiency 1 180 seconds 30 Research costs decrease by 10%.
Research Acceleration 1 200 seconds 30 Research times decrease by 10%.
Hair Follicle Research 1 200 seconds 30 Unlocks additional hair styles when you change the appearance of someone.
Radiation Emitters 1 450 seconds 80 Installs radiation emitters in the scanner, allowing you to re-roll the pool of potential mutations of a person. This will cause severe radiation poisoning that will have to be treated. This can not be used on dead organisms and has a cooldown time of 3 minutes.
Gene Sequence Checker 1 400 seconds 75 Installs analysis equipment in the scanner that allows users to check how many base pairs are stable. It has a cooldown of one minute. Correct DNA pairs will turn blue. Incorrect DNA pairs will turn red.
Advanced Mutation Research 1 400 seconds 50 Halves the base cost and time of researching a mutation.
Biotic Cooling Mechanisms 1 400 seconds 150 Applies genetic research to halve the cooldown times for all equipment.
Improved Research Efficiency 2 400 seconds 80 Research costs decrease by a further 10%, for a total of 20% discount.
Improved Research Acceleration 2 400 seconds 80 Research times decrease by a further 10%, for a total of 20% acceleration.
DNA Reclaimer 2 400 seconds 100 Allows unwanted genes to be converted into research materials. It has a two minute cooldown and has a chance to fail depending on what gene is being reclaimed.
Radiation Dampeners 2 300 seconds 80 Reduces the amount of harmful radiation caused by Radiation Emitters
DNA Injectors 2 750 seconds 120 Allows the manufacture of syringes that can insert researched genes into other subjects. Syringes cost 40 materials to manufacture.
Emitter Coolant System 2 450 seconds 120 Reduces the amount of time required for Radiation Emitters to cool down.
Precision Radiation Emitters 3 600 seconds 150 Upgrades the Radiation Emitters in the scanner so they can target single genes at a time. The gene must have been researched first, and doing this has a longer cooldown and greater irradiation amount than regular emitters.

Testing

The geneticist begins with several monkeys which have mutations just like people do, they are perfect for being tested on. Their mutations can also be researched and activated. When the sequence for a mutation has been discovered, it can be printed out with an appropriate label. This sequence can then be used to provide that mutation for a human who has it in their list of potential mutations.

A PDA with the Genetics Scan can be used on people to scan people and send a copy of their DNA to the genetics consoles. They can then be found by going to View DNA Samples in the View Research tab. From there, you can select the name of the person you want to work on, and their powers can be given to them when they return to genetics later.

Mutations

There are a wide variety of mutations, as such this is not a complete list of them. Some are beneficial, some are detrimental, some are situational and some are just wacky and fun. Your interface will get a Mutation TAB with power verbs if you manage to unlock an active skill.

Power Message Danger Level Effect
Fire Resistance You feel cold. Beneficial You are immune to high temperature and fire. You have a noticeable orange aura.
Cold Resistance You feel warm Beneficial You are immune to low temperature and ice. You have a noticeable blue aura.
Thermal Resistance Your thermal resistances merge into one! Beneficial You are immune to heat changes. This power replaces Fire Resistance and Cold Resistance when both are activated. You gain an aura which flicks between orange and blue.
Alcohol resistance You feel unusually sober. Beneficial You are a bit more immune to alcohol I.E: You can drink Bo Jack Daniel's without passing out, but you will still get fairly smashed. At the start of the round, the detective, HoS and barman will normally spawn with this mutation.
SMES Human Your hair stands on end. Beneficial You are protected from electrical energy. Useful when the AI is shocking everything and you are lacking insulated gloves.
Glowy Your skin begins to glow softly. Harmless You permanently emit a light with a random color and intensity.
Jumpy Your leg muscles feel strong and taut. Beneficial You gain a jump that moves you half a screen in no time at all.
Obesity You feel bloated and lethargic. Harmful Is fat. You are so fat that people may struggle to push your fat ass out of the way. Some of your clothes may also rip due to your extreme girth. Also makes it harder to find your neck.
Dwarfism Did everything just get bigger? Harmless You are smaller. At the start of the round, miners may spawn with this mutation.
Chameleon You feel at one with your surroundings. Beneficial You become invisible while standing still. This can work against you in more ways than one.
Cloak of Darkness You meld into the shadows. Beneficial You're invisible while in the dark. vampires also get this power. Unlike vampires however, you cannot toggle it on or off.
High-pressure intestines Your stomach grumbles unpleasantly. Beneficial Blow away your foes your tremendous farts!
Bad gas Your stomach grumbles unpleasantly. Harmless Your gas will blot out the sun.
Cryokinesis You notice a strange cold tingle in your fingertips. Beneficial You gain the ability to cool people down significantly by firing a ball of ice at them.
Telepathy You can hear your own voice echoing in your mind. Beneficial You gain the ability to communicate telepathically. Don't use this to impersonate admins, lest you want to earn yourself a ban.
Eye beams Your eyes ache and burn. Beneficial You gain the ability to fire laser beams from your eyes.
Close-minded Your mind feels closed. Beneficial You can no longer be mind-read or telepathically spoken to.
Mind-reading You suddenly notice more about others than you did before. Beneficial You can read the minds of others, telling you things such as their current intent, and numbers that might be important to them. Wizards start will a spell much like this, but their's shows the owner of the mind being read's current location.
Radioactive You feel a strange sickness permeate your whole body Harmful You suffer from radiation sickness and cause the same to nearby people. May also give you more bad mutations.
Dissolve Your skin and joints feel loose. Harmful You can turn yourself into a liquid. There is a reason this is marked as "harmful".
Matter eater You feel hungry. Beneficial You can eat many more items than normal, like weapons from disarmed opponents, or even your own limbs!
Immolation You feel like you are burning up. Harmful You set yourself on fire and become a human torch. This is a very bad thing if you don't want to burn alive. If you have Heat Resistance you will look cool like a nerd.
Telekinesis You feel smarter. Beneficial You can interact with the world without being in close range with anything, and yes, this includes things you can see with security cameras. Works great with X-ray Vision.
Hulk You feel your muscles swell to an immense size. Beneficial Your skin turns green, and you can punch through walls. Hulk wears off after a while just like in "real life".
X-ray vision You suddenly seem to be able to see through everything. Beneficial Basically it's just like you put on both a pair of Optical Meson Scanners and Optical Thermal Scanners at the same time, as it lets you can see through walls, see cloaked people, and removes darkness. Works great with telekinesis.
Blindness You can't see anything. Harmful You no longer see action messages about what people are doing. This includes your own actions.
Frontal Gyrus Suspension You are unable to express yourself. Harmful You become mute, you are unable to speak. Mutadone cannot cure this if it is caused by admins, for obvious reasons.
Frontal Gyrus Alteration Possible messages include: You feel Swedish, however that works. Ye feel like a reet prat, innit? You suddenly feel like SHOUTING A WHOLE LOT! Y-you f.. feel a.. a bit n-n-nervous. You feel funky. Harmless...? There are several variations of this mutation, each one effects speech in a different way. Variations include faltering speech, talking funky, talking Norse, talking Swedish, loud-talking, low-talking and more. The chef will commonly spawn with Swedishness, Bork Bork Bork!
Deaf It's kinda quiet... Harmful You can't hear anything. Blessed silence may come as a relief once you've gotten sick of the regular radio chatter. To fix this without modifying DNA, you can equip an auditory headset.
Epilepsy You twitch. Harmful You will occasionally have seizures, being stunned on the floor for the duration of them. You will shake violently, due to a bug the twitching will persist even after the condition is cured.
Tourettes Your thoughts become disorderly and hard to control. Harmless Your speech will often come out as excited shouts in ALL CAPS, be horribly misspelled, and instead of saying "say" before everything you, well... Say, it will say that you "Gibbered". Also, sometimes things you say will be broadcast over the radio if you are wearing one, in all it's CAPS filled glory, whether you want it to or not.
Cough You start coughing. Harmful You occasionally cough, dropping anything in your hands.
Horns A pair of horns erupt from your head. Harmless Makes you look (more) like a doofus.
Near-Sighted Your vision blurs. Harmful Your vision becomes blurred, and darkened outside a small radius. Can be counteracted with Prescription Glasses.
Smellititus You feel sweaty. Harmless Gives you a serious case of the stinks, causing people nearby to get wonderful messages about how nice the room smells.