Ruckingenur Kit

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The Mechanics Workshop. This is where the magic happens!

The Mechanics Workshop. This is where the magic happens!

The Mechanics Workshop. This is where the magic happens!

The Mechanics Lab. This is where the magic happens!

The Mechanic's Lab. This is where the magic happens!

The ruckingenur kit, also known as the ruck kit or simply rkit, is a handy device that can be used to duplicate certain electronics, so you can replace ones that have gone missing or are broken beyond repair and make extras for projects and the like.

With the proper prepwork, this machine can your best friend. Has a Spy Thief made off with the cloning pod? This machine can make blueprints for another one. Is a Blob threatening to consume the ship/station? Convince the Captain or HoS to get their energy gun (and a recharger) scanned and arm the crew. Do the Botanists want more trays? It's easy to make more copies with the rkit. You can do all this and more thanks to this peculiarly-named machine.

Back then, there used be a whole job dedicated to this machine called Electrician. It was later renamed to Mechanic, hence why duplicating devices via the ruckingenur was sometimes simply referred to as "mechanics" (It still is, in some cases.)

Reverse-Engineering for Fun and Profit

Copying electronics with the ruckingenur kit is a fairly involved process. It's more complicated than switching out a lightbulb, to say the least. Still, it's easier than before.

Readying Up

To start off, make sure you have the following tool and items. All of these can be found in the Mechanics Workshop.

• A device analyzer.
• File:Solderingiron.png A soldering iron.
• The ruckingenur kit, of course.
• A manufacturer or fabricator. Any kind will do, but the Reverse-Engineering Fabricator is the most convenient since it's located in same room as the ruckingenur.

Ruckengenuring for Real

Once you have the above, follow these instructions:

1. Click on the item/machine you want to scan with the device analyzer.
   • The device analyzer can't scan everything, but it can still scan a lot of things, including weapons, circuit boards, vending machines, certain machinery, even some things you wouldn't reasonably expect to be made of electronic components. Experiment!
   • If you're scanning something like a disposal unit, a microwave, or something that you normally insert items into, make sure you're not on Harm intent.
2. Go back to the Mechanics Workshop and click on the ruckingenur kit while holding the scanner. The ruck kit will research the item and add it to its database.
   • Alternatively, you skip these two steps if you use an Engineer PDA. If you scan something with its Device Analyzer app, it will send the blueprint straight to the ruckingenur kit (or kits if there are multiple).
3. Click on the ruck kit to bring up its interface. Print a blueprint of the item you want to copy.
4. Go to your fabricator/manufacturer of choice and click on it while holding the blueprint to insert the print into the machine.
5. Click on the fabricator/manufacturer and make a frame. Make sure the fabricator/manufacturer is stocked with enough materials for whatever you're making. Some electronics consume a hefty amount of resources or require certain minerals that can only via mining or smelting.
6. Finally, click on the frame with a soldering iron to deploy it. Some items cannot be moved once deployed, however they can be deconstructed back into a box-frame.

Run Out of Materials?

If you ever run out of materials for your Reverse-Engineering Fabricator, then you'll need to restock it. All you'll need is the portable reclaimer that's already in the Mechanics Workshop and then the actual materials themselves. While more advanced electronics often require materials with special qualities, a lot of the devices on the station/ship are pretty simple and only need only 3 basic types of materials: Metal/Dense Metal, Crystal and Conductive Material. You can satisfy each of these requirements using just steel/metal sheets, glass sheets, and copper wire respectively.

While you can try searching for some of these resources around the station/ship or perhaps salvaging it from various rooms (if you like getting stern talking to from the Chief Engineer), it can take a while to find everything. Don't worry though, you'll get those mats before you know it. How? Through the power of space Amazon Prime of course! Just stroll on over to your local Cargo Bay or Quatermaster's Office and place an order for the 200 Glass Sheets, 200 Metal Sheets, and Electrical Supplies Crate (red) - 2 pack (though any color will do) crates for a total of only 6k credits.

Once you've collected everything you need, go over to your portable reclaimer and place it adjacent to your Reverse-Engineering Fabricator. Click drag the reclaimer onto the fabricator; now the reclaimer will deposit processed materials directly into the fab. Next, put all of the materials on to the floor next to the reclaimer. With the cable wires, you can pick up the boxes in your hand and click drag them on to the floor. This will dump out all its contents. With everything out in front of you, click drag everything into the reclaimer and then just click on it it. After a while of working, it'll sound a beep, indicating that it's finished. You are now free to produce whatever you choose for as long as you can. Enjoy!

History

MushroomCogmap1

Mushroom Station's Mechanics Workshop, then called Electronics, during this obsolete era. Obviously has changed since.

Cogmap1's Mechanics Workshop, then called Electronics, during this obsolete era. Obviously has changed since.

This section documents the old versions of the ruckingenur kit. It draws from the archived Electrician/Electrical Engineer page from the days when Goonstation was hosted on ss13.donglabs.com and the previous iterations of the Mechanic page. For historical authenticity, it also uses the old sprites for the objects mentioned.

The Old Way

Once upon a time, copying stuff with the ruckingenur was super complicated. You had to attach stuff to boards, insert the correct number of resistors and like a dozen other components, stuff like that.

Like today, to scan an item of interest, you would hit it with the analyzer. However, unlike today, the analyzer could hold only one scan at a time. To scan more complex apparatuses with multiple machines, like the cloner, you often had to carry multiple analyzers.

Next, you'd hit the ruckingenur kit with the analyzer to load the scan into the machine. Then, you'd click on the ruckingenur and tell it to "research" the scanned item, which took about two minutes. After that, you'd use the ruckingenur kit to create a data module , formerly called a data disk, and frame of the item.

Now here's the horrible part. You had to complete the frame by manually filling with it electronic components, like capacitors, fuses, and other actual circuit parts, from a special vending machine called the ElecTek Vendomaticotron. Complex machines needed tens or even hundreds of parts, component requirements were randomly generated, and if you made a mistake, you had to click on the frame in-hand to individually remove it. Thankfully, later on, you could add multiple parts in one go with click-drag.

• To check your work, you'd add the data module to your analyzer to load a "schematic" of the item and scan the frame, after which it'd helpfully tell you how many parts where left remaining. Sensibly, the analyzer could hold multiple modules/"schematics" at a time.

File:Solderingiron.png Following that ordeal, you'd click on the frame with the soldering iron to secure it and use it in-hand. If you had satisfied the part requirements, you'd get a box frame and could then use the soldering iron on it again to finally deploy it. If you hadn't, you had to use the soldering iron on the frame again to unsecure it and add/remove components as needed.

The New Way

In early 2014, Goonstation coders I Said No, Keelin, and others replaced the system you see today. The Mechanic page has been updated since then, but the section describing the process is still called "R&D", an vestige of the days when the ruckingenur kit did in fact do research and development. Also, the current MechComp vendor has 30 of each component, just as the ElecTek Vendomaticotron did. Sign of something more or simply a byproduct of lazy copy and paste coding?

The old resistors, screens, batteries, and other circuit components, instantly recognizable by the phrase a "A [NAME] used in electronic projects." in their Examine text, still very much remain. Many of them drop from destroyed Syndicate drones and other robots. If you could get a hold of a frame, you would still be able to add these components to it, but you wouldn't be able to deploy it or anything.

You used to be able to make boards through the general manufacturer, but these were eventually replaced by vending modules for player-made vending machines.