Scientist

Gordon doesn't need to hear all this. He's a highly trained professional.

Scientist is a general purpose Research job focused on round progression. Their primary task is the management of the Portal Generator and the general completion of telescience research. Beyond working on the crew objective, scientists also unlock useful upgrades for the crew as they progress.

Telescience or How to Move Through Space

The primary task of scientists is the maintenance of the Portal Generator and the steady progression of the station objective. While this is not a proactive task, it does give the objective a first line of defense against potential sabotage. In the same way that engineers safeguard the station's power supply, scientists safeguard the station's objective.

Scientists additionally hold domain over when to activate Portal Events and advance, but this comes with a reasonable expectation of responsibility. This is reinforced through their toolset, which is designed either to counter the events either directly (through dedicated machines) or indirectly (a shotgun fixes lots of problems).

In general, Science leans the hardest into the crew objective and has the most freedom in pursuit of it. This is a double-edged sword, though, as it means that non-crew scientist must work at their own expense lest their draw suspicion from the crew.

Material Supply

Telescience and portal events serve as a major source of materials for the station. As the portal events teleport in chunks of the alien world, players will be able to harvest resources from them and process them into materials.

This makes the process of material collection more eventful and reactive; rather than salvagers going out and mining ore when they get bored, the whole crew is given regular opportunities when they know there'll be materials on-station for them to harvest. Rather than needing to wait for someone else to collect materials (which can happen randomly at any point during the round) the crew is made aware of when influxes of materials will be coming in and are even given the opportunity to take part in the process.

While scientists are of course free to spearhead the value extraction process, it is first and foremost a democratized crew activity

RR (Research Rogue-likening)

Upon activation of a Portal Event, the scientists will be given an opportunity to unlock a permanent upgrade for the station in the form of a new technology. This creates a mechanical parallel between the advancement of the station's progress and the progression of the crew's abilities. As the objective is completed, the crew will, in turn, become more powerful, placing pressure on other troupes.

The selection process for new technology is fairly simple: 3 random options are given and all scientists must vote on which one to pick. Voting is done generically at a console, so if no scientists are present, the vote can be opened to all crew.

PowerGaming Optimization

This is a general overview of characteristics of technology that I think create the best experience. Study these closely!

1. Generally Useful

New technology should be useful to all people on the station. It should not be an improvement to a single job, but rather a general beneficial mechanic or interaction that every player can take advantage of.

2. New Type of Play

Technologies should offer novel interactions and mechanics for players rather than being strictly better versions of existing items. If something is good enough to tolerate a whole round with, then your upgrade will never be substantial enough to matter.

3. Ease of Distribution

Unlocked technologies are for the benefit of the crew and, as such, should be easy to get into the hands of the entire crew. This ease of access includes both physical barriers like strict material requirements as well as social barriers like being seen as contraband. A system where crew are unable to get these items is one where they might as well not exist.