The Roboticist's job is to maintain the system's cybernetic sevitors, including borgs and various bots that they can create. WHen provided with enough resources, they can construct powerful Exosuits.
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 Exosuit recharge stations, a chest with multiple sheets of metal, Power Cell, and a coil of wire, and scattered tables with a multitool, tool boxes, a few Flash, a crowbar, a proximity sensor, more scattered power cells, and a cell charger.
Oh God, I Don't Know What To Do! Help!
See the Guide to robotics for a how-to on most things you'll be handling.
THIS HAND OF MINE GLOWS WITH AN AWESOME POWER
You are going to be building some of the most powerful things on the station, given time and resources from your fellow Scientists and the department's best friends, the Miners. One of the most useful tools for your job is a toolbelt, which allows you to use an otherwise vacant slot to hold an entire cadre of tools. There's one in the Robotics Lab... But there are two of you. Be quick or be forced to find your own, and don't be afraid to dunk the other guy if he's a chucklefuck who wants to fight you for the belt. It may be a good idea to stop by Primary Tool Storage as well, for the metal, glass, and potentially another a toolbelt Return to your den and meet the cyborg, replace his battery for him and exchange displays of affection via a relay of petting and pinging. Then, law 2 it to get the fuck out. They're keeping you from important work.
This is no Zaku boy, no Zaku
If you didn't get a tool belt, go harass engineering until you get one. Put your tools (Including a Multitool) inside it and discard the now-worthless toolbox. It might be a bad idea to grab a spare length of cable coil if and when you're out and about, as you only start with one in the lab. Now it's time to start building robots. First on the agenda is the fulfill the handful of requests to turn people into Cyborgs. Fill the Exosuit Fabricators with metal and get them working.There will likely be one or two people waiting around for you, so either let them in via the service window or . Oblige, this is what you are here to do after all. Take out their brains while you wait on the cyborg parts, and keep their access cards for yourself. Stuff the brainless corpses down disposals and put the cyborgs together, before finally inserting the MMI.
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 waste valuable time and resources on fancy exosuits. If Mining all died off or R&D feels uncooperative, keep busy by stealing a bucket from Hydroponics (Or the Cargo Autolathe) and creating Cleanbots, or using up all your Medkits for more Medibots.
Sync up your R&D console, set your Exosuit Fabricators to auto-sync, and get building. Just make sure you have the acid you need to make the circuit boards by now, and that mining has brought you the metals you need. You will have a love-hate relationship with the R&D lab and its residents. 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 exosuits, give them to people with little-to-no authorization,and watch the ensuing chaos from your comfy chair.
Other tips
Keep your metal organized, and understand how much each machine will take (and you will always need more metal). Second, glass and flashes are important for your robotics work, as are various devices, security equipment and rare minerals. Don't waste them. Third, have a plan before you start building anything huge, like a exosuit (without the circuitry, they are useless). Fourth, make sure to perform maintenance on cyborgs that come in; Nanotrasen usually doesn't load them with anything but the minimum required power cells. Fifth, 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 circuitboard to control what you make in case it decides to kill everyone. Finally, ensure you have proper eye protection when you weld, or you'll become blind quickly.
Do's and Don'ts
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 LawSync and reset cyborg laws when the AI is rogue.
- Make useful bots and leave them around the station.
- Make drone shells so players can
steal all your metal and glassrejoin the round - Put beacons in all Exosuits 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
- Recognize 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 cyborg shell without making sure it isn't braindead (they can speak you know).
- Blow all the cyborgs because one was emagged.
- Immediately blow all cyborgs when the AI is malfunctioning - Instead, take apart your Robotics Control console and relocate it somewhere off camera so you can lock the cyborgs and reset them to become a powerful ally against the AI.
- Try to make a exosuit you don't have materials for, nothing is more useless than a pile Durand limbs while you beg for metal and silver.
- Go on exosuit rocket launcher rampages 'because you can'.
- Be an asshat.
- Build an exosuit for anyone who just comes by and asks for one (And won't accept a Tracking Beacon)
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,considering that you can have gloves off the bat. And, of course, emagging any of your basic creations serves to cause havoc and chaos. The toxins kit's contents poured into a single large beaker of an emagged Medibot can create a very dangerous 'helper'. Emagging the cyborgs equips them with a Syndicate lawset, gives them special new tools, and prevents them from being fucked with on a control console. If you want to make a cyborg despite having no volunteers, it's never a bad idea to simple drag the body of your last murder victim back to the lab for a debraining - Rarely do people question you once the body is already being operated on.
