Guide to genetics

Ruth McVork says:
"Welcome to genetics, brother! Are you feeling good? You SHOULD feel good! You are now like unto a tiny god! Are you prepared to be what you were born to be? Are you ready to save the station (or totally fuck it up)?

Chin up, buddy. It's not that hard. But before you start grabbing those monkeys from the pen, you should know the basics."

The Department

Welcome to Genetics. Just across the morgue lies a mystical realm where some of Nanotrasen's greatest minds entertain themselves by toying the Human Genome into knots.

The first thing you're going to see is that our department has two rooms. The first, the one you walk into as you enter from medbay, is the Cloning room. It has only one Cloning Console, one DNA Scanner, and one Cloning Pod. More on this later.

The second room is the one where you're going to spend the most of your time. This is where things get done, where people go to become hulking supermutants, where you are going to do. Your. Job. This room has two DNA Scanners and two DNA Scanner Access Consoles, along with two diskette boxes and a few lockers. The medicine locker has a syringe box and anti-toxin bottles. This is quite useful, as any tampering with genetic code gives Toxin damage. The bio-hazard locker has pretty much what you expect it to have - a bio suit and bio hood. Useful if a disease breaks out. The diskettes are also extremely useful, as we will see later.

The third room has your test subjects! These monkeys are going to be your guinea pigs, you are going to experiment on them, and make the suffer quite a bit. It's pretty inhumane. But such is life, and after a few seconds, it will all be worth it. They actually have it pretty easy, it's better than getting gibbed and eaten.

This is going to be your home, buddy. Get used to it. It grows on ya!

Cloning

When you first hear about "cloning", you may think that people are referring to making many clones of yourself so you can take over the station. This is not the case (although that can be done too, just not exactly that way). Cloning is a process of of reviving someone who has died. For a cloning process we need a dead body and cloning equipment, which can be found in your Cloning Room.

First of all, you have to know that for all things cloning, the Chief Medical Officer has a final say. He is your boss on this side of Genetics. If he tells you to clone someone and not some other guy, you do it. The only person with higher say than him on these matters is the Captain.
On to the specifics! How does cloning work, you ask? Well, it's quite simple! Just grab or pull a body and stuff that puppy up in the DNA Scanner and close the door. If you want to remove someone from a Scanner, click on it to open the door. Unless the Scanner is locked, the person/monkey inside is going to pop right out.
After the Scanner is already occupied, interact with the Cloning Console. You will see a few things. Now, the most important is the first. Click Scan to see if the person inside is actually not an empty husk! If there is no ghost inside the corpse, you will get a "Mental interface failure!"-message, and you will not be able to clone that person. If that happens, try waiting a minute and try again (the ghost gets a message in their chatlog when their body is put into a Cloning Pod and it might take a few seconds to notice it). If they still do not respond, however, take the corpse to the morgue and be done with it. Corpses who seem to have suicided with no hope of recovery cannot be cloned and you should be taken straigh to the morgue.
If there IS a ghost in that corpse, however, you will get a Successful Scan -message. That means you now have that person's cloning data saved. You can use that at any time. But, after it's used, it's erased from the records. The only way you can save a person's genetic data is with a Cloning Diskette, which is found in the DNA Modification room.
After you actually have DNA data from a person, click Check Records, and then select the person who you want cloned. You will see a list of their UI+UE (Unique Identifiers + Unique Enzymes) and their SEs (Structural Enzymes), which are quite irrelevant. Click Clone. You will notice that the Cloning Pod is now fully active, with a shadow inside. That is the new body. You can now take the old corpse out of the DNA Scanner, strip it completely so the cloned person can have their stuff back, and place the old corpse in the morgue. You don't have to worry about it anymore.
The cloning process takes from 2 to 3 minutes. For whoever is getting cloned, it seems like a very long time. But it's not long for you. While the guy is getting his new body set up, take his belongings and stuff them all in the locker right by the cloning pod, so their stuff isn't scattered all over. Plus, cloning the captain and leaving his ID and other secure items on the floor sure is bad.
- Hypercloning: Use this if you are in a hurry and you'll be 3x as efficient at cloning. During the cloning process, it is possible to eject the incomplete clone by unlocking the Cloning Pod with your ID and ejecting the unfinished clone (needs to be >40% done) or if by getting an Engineer to unlock the Genetics APC so you can shut off the power temporarily, which also causes the clone to (instantly, no matter how done) eject.
The clone will not live long and cannot function like this, so it needs to be stuffed into a Cryogenics chamber where the Cryoxodone will repair cellular damage

After the clone has been finished cryogenic treatment, give them Mannitol if some was not included in the Cryotubes chemical mixture
After the pod is empty, feel free to clone your next patient, and to let the old one out, since they most likely don't have clearance to open the door.
If R&D has been doing their job, they might upgrade the cloner to a level where it can autoprocess. If this is the case, you only have to press the Autoprocess button on top of the window, and the cloner will scan automatically (also allowing self-scans) and clone anyone in the backup storage as soon as they die.

Hark! A Husk!

So you've come across a husk (a gray, dead guy) on your floor, which means you can't clone that poor sod. Before you go throwing that body in the morgue, they can still be helped!

First off, make sure it's a husk. Throw the body into a DNA Scanner, if it says Subject no longer contains the fundamental materials required to create a living clone, then you have yourself a husk (if your DNA Scanner had been updated to the max by the Scientists, you could clone the husk right now. So if you know they've been doing their R&D, ask them).
Take the body down to Surgery.
Pester the CMO or a Medical Doctor to extract the brain, or do it yourself.
Run back to Genetics and grab a humanized monkey.
Return to Surgery and remove his brain too. Do whatever you want with that one, it isn't important.
Now shove the husk's brain into the monkeyman's corpse and clone the monkeyman.

If all goes well then your cadaver will be reborn! Admittedly in a different body.

Helping the Headless

Sometimes you'll find corpses who are lacking a head. Since cloning requires a brain, you cannot directly clone them.

If you have the head, but no body, use a surgical saw or any sharp item (such as a glass shard) to extract the brain, then put it on a monkeyman's corpse, using the same procedure as above.
If you also have the body, you can just attach the head via surgery.
If you only have the brain, but you have the body, get robotics to augment the body with a cybernetic head, then insert the brain in there, and put the body in the cloner.
If you don't have the head, but you have the body, not all hope is lost: take a blood sample and give it to the botanist to make a replica pod, and the deceased guy will be reborn as a podperson!

DNA Modification

Your boss here is no longer the Chief Medical Officer. Do not feel forced to listen to his orders, except when it comes to cloning. Regarding the research, listen to direct orders from the Research Director as well as the Captain. For security reasons allow NO ONE ELSE in the Modification room. Simple as that.

Now, let's get you acquainted with the DNA Scanner Access Consoles next to the monkeys. It has a few things of note. First of all, you're going to notice two clickable lines:

Modify Unique Enzymes (UE) / Unique Identifiers (UI)
Modify Structural Enzymes (SE)

You might ask yourself: What does this mean?

Unique Enzymes = just what identify who you are, your name. Even if you change them, it will have no effect. What does change stuff is you transfering them from one person to another, effectively changing their name.
Unique Identifiers = merely your cosmetic details - eye color, skin color, hair style, hair color and gender. You don't really have to mess with any of these, and they are quite unimportant.
Structural Enzymes = extremely important! They contain data relevant to your genetic structure. This governs your race, and messing with it carelessly might give you disabilities. For those that handle genes with care, however, great benefits are to be had.

[3F3] [5B1] [4A7] [391] [7FF] [102] [07E]
[7B9] [130] [230] [4E0] [552] [7A4] [715]

Structural Enzymes or SEs like this. Well, not exactly this, this is just an example. Everyone's SEs are individual. They might also just be a one long line instead of two, depends if you stretch your DNA Access Console screen window. The SEs consist of 57 characters which are divided into 19 sub-blocks, with 3 pieces each. Let's see what purpose these blocks and characters have.

Structural Enzymes - Powers, Disabilities & Species

There are 19 blocks which control disabilities or powers and one block which controls whether the subject is a human or a monkey. The string is in Hexadecimal - which means base 16 in math terms. It means a number can range from 0 - as normally, zero - to F - equivalent of 16 15. So, it can go like this, from lower to higher:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

That means that a result of F is higher than a result E. This is important, so remember this. "Keep this block below 8xx", means you have to keep the first sub-block in a block below 8, and the subsequent sub-blocks don't matter. "Keep that block above DAC", means that that block must have it's first sub-block equal to or higher than D, if it is equal, the second sub-block must be equal to or higher than A... and so forth.

The first number in each block is the most important one. It controls whether a disability is active or inactive, whether a power has a chance to activate or not, and the race of the subject.

Mutations and Their Consequences

Before we start splicing, you must know what possible monstrosities can be done to a human.

Mutation Name	Description	Indicators	Message
Telekinesis	This power allows the subject to control things with their mind, from far away! It is the most sought after power, since it allows for incredible deeds, and makes a strong robuster nearly immortal.	Appears as a blue glow around the subject's head.	"You feel smarter"
Hulk	This is pretty obvious. Subject becomes extremely strong, enough to punch through reinforced walls, and is unable to speak without yelling. The subject is also immune to stuns and cannot be pushed past.	Subject turns green and has red eyes.	"Your muscles hurt."
Cold Resistance	This makes the subject resistant to cold and lack of pressure, effectively allowing it to survive in space (they still have to wear internals, however). This will not make them immune to fire.	Subject has a pulsating orange-blueish "aura".	"Your body feels warm."
X-Ray Vision	Also a very good power. Basically, it gives the subject the ability to see everything that is beyond their normal vision: walls, furniture, even other people! This, combined with Telekinesis, is a deadly combination.	Subject's eyes "glow eerily" if looked at with a penlight.	"The walls suddenly disappear."
Chameleon	The subject becomes able to subtly alter light patterns to become invisible, as long as they remain still.	Subject starts fading into the background.	"You feel one with your surroundings."
Dwarfism	Turns the subject into a manlet, making them unusually shorter than the rest of the crew. Dwarfs can pass over tables without stopping.	Subject looks smaller.	"Everything around you seems to grow.."
Nearsightedness	Makes the subject's screen go hazy at about halfway from the edge of your whole vision. It's not THAT bad, and can be temporarily fixed by using prescription glasses.	\	"Your eyes feel strange."
Epilepsy	Subject starts to fall down and keeps shaking all the time. They're horrible, and there's no easy cure short of fixing the block.	Subject falls down.	"You get a headache."
Coughing	Makes the subject drop small items you're holding, like syringes. Pretty harmless, but has potential to be extremely annyoing.	Subject coughs.	"You start coughing."
Tourette's Syndrome	The subject swears all the time. They may also experience paralysis that takes even longer than the seizures. Avoid.	Subject curses out loudly and twitches.	"You twitch."
Nervousness	Makes the subject stammer. Annoying at best.	Subject stammers when they speak.	"You feel nervous."
Blindness	Subject goes completely blind and are now a part of a usually forgotten minority, so sad.	Subject's eyes don't react to penlight.	"You can't seem to see anything."
Deafness	Makes the subject deaf. Harmless at best, annoying at worst. You just don't hear anything, not even yourself.	\	"You can't seem to hear anything..."
Clumsiness	Subject has a clown-like clumsiness. For those that have always wanted to be clowns. It makes the subject accidentally drop things they hold, unable to use tasers, handcuffs, guns exploding in their face etc.	\	"You feel lightheaded."
Strangeness	Makes the subject randomly mutate. Very dangerous. Definitely be careful with this one.	Subject mutates on their own.	"You feel strange."
Unintelligible	Heavily corrupts the part of the brain responsible for forming spoken sentences, causing the subject to only be able to speak short sentences.	\	"You can't seem to form any coherent thoughts!"
Mute	Completely shuts down the speech center of the subject's brain.	\	"You feel unable to express yourself at all."
Wacky	Forces the subject to talk in an odd manner.	\	"You feel an off sensation in your voicebox."
Cloak of Darkness	Enables the subject to bend low levels of light around themselves, creating a cloaking effect. No Longer in Genetics, but can be acquired via admin spawned injector	Subject is able to become invisible in low light situations.	"You begin to fade into the shadows."
Smile	Causes the speech center of the subject's brain to produce large amounts of seratonin and a chemical resembling ecstacy when engaged. No Longer in Genetics, but can be acquired via admin spawned injector	\	"You feel so happy. Nothing can be wrong with anything. :)"
Chav	Forces the language center of the subject's brain to construct sentences in a more rudimentary manner. No Longer in Genetics, but can be acquired via admin spawned injector	\	"Ye feel like a reet prat like, innit?"
Swedish	Forces the language center of the subject's brain to construct sentences in a vaguely norse manner. No Longer in Genetics, but can be acquired via admin spawned injector	\	"You feel Swedish, however that works."
Elvis	Forces the language center and primary motor cortex of the subject's brain to talk and act like the King of Rock and Roll. No Longer in Genetics, but can be acquired via admin spawned injector	\	"You feel pretty good, honeydoll."

IMPORTANT: There's also 1 special block which contains the info whether the subject is a human or a monkey!

Buffers and Injectors - Saving Your Work and Handing Out Godhood

This is how you save your work. A very good Geneticist once said: Save early, save often. His words are true. You have to save your every step in order to acquire a perfect serum. That means you have to be patient enough to bend the block to your will, dedicated enough to remove every disability, and responsable enough to save everything to make sure nothing goes wrong.

In the main DNA Scanner Access Console screen, click Buffer Menu. This is your buffer screen. You will notice there are THREE buffers there. More than enough. Each buffer contains an UI, an UE, and an SE. For your work, you will only ever bother with the SE part.
- To save your work into a buffer, once your pod is occupied, simply click Save to Buffer. This will save the subjects Unique Enzymes, Unique Identifiers, and Structural Enzymes. What you saved is now backed up by the console, and, if not overwritten, is now safe. You can relabel the buffer to make sure of what it is. For instance, calling your original test subject's SE something like "Clean Backup", or calling an SE that has Hulk isolated something like "Hulk". Simple, but very helpful to not get lost.
- You can transfer a buffer's content into the pod's occupant, making it easier to transfer research data between subjects. Just stick a test subject in there, click Buffers, as usual, then click Occupant, right after Transfer To:.
- By using the Occupant - Delayed button, the scanner will apply the buffer's content onto the next person who enters the scanner. This is mainly useful for self-experimenting.
- Make use of all three buffers. Assuming you have a human with clean SEs inside your pod, you can save his SE in the first buffer, and name it "Clean Backup". At this point, experiment on one block at a time, saving it on the second buffer, and roll back to the Clean Backup if it's a bad mutation. Once you find a power, save it on the third buffer, and use that as your new Clean Backup.
- Diskettes can use them to backup your work as well! With one in your hand, click the DNA Scanner Access Console. Now enter the Buffer screen. Click Save To in there to save the data to the diskette. From the main screen, you can eject the disk from the console. You can also load data from a diskette much the same way. Except you click in Load From in the buffer screen, instead of Save To.

That covers buffers. But "what are DNA Injectors?" you may ask yourself. Well, injectors are tiny one-shot needles, that contain buffer data, whatever it may be. That means you can now turn that sweet, sweet Hulk buffer into a small, awesome, orange/red injector! Good stuff. To turn a buffer into an injector, simply click Injector in the options below the buffer in question, after "Transfer To:". A small needle will spawn on top of the DNA Scanner Access Console. You can now stick his baby in anyone who stands around for enough time. It's important to note that unlike using the scanner, injectors have a 100% chance to activate power blocks, but have a limited duration; this is true of both SE and UI/UE injectors. If you want permanent powers, you need to activate them with the scanner.
- The DNA Scanner Access Console takes ten seconds to recharge after producing an injector.
- Because of injectors, Geneticists are usually asked to give people superpowers. This is best judged by the Research Director, who is in charge of the research. If you want to be like Marvel and give everyone superpowers, be ready for Security Officers knocking on your door because nothing gets the station down like a herd of assistants with Hulk. So be ready to say "no" a lot. Usually the Geneticists are allowed to have powers, but note that if you run around the station while being a hulk, you're probably going to get a lot of attention from the security and be the prime suspect if (when) anything happens. Don't go on a killing/destroying rampage if you're a hulk, it is a bannable offense.
  Note: Admins have confirmed that if people inject themselves with a needle they found lying around that says "Godhood" on it without even asking what is in it, you will NOT get punished by turning them into monkeys. Wink wink. Just make sure to answer truthfully if asked, and not to inject it yourself. If people are stupid enough to inject themselves with unknown content, let them.

Manhandling Genes!

This guide here shows you step by step how to find the powers from the mysterious blocks!

Genes are distorted and twisted by shooting them with radiation. This can be done with the DNA Scanner Access Console and the computer in your lab.

First Steps

This guide will start with using a monkey, because they're in the pen for a reason.

Start by taking a monkey from the pen.

Shove them into a DNA Scanner next to the pen.

Check the computer next to it, you'll see a bunch of information. Find Structural Enzymes and try to not confuse them with the other enzyme blocks above.

At the start of the shift no one has any idea which structural block is which. They're all randomized. This is why we must experiment!

Humanizing a Monkey + Making a 'Clean SE'

Changing the monkey into a human should be the first thing you do, because it is by far the easiest block to spot! It's the only one with the value higher than 800.

Remember the species block so you don't waste time later trying to activate it.
Decide whether you're going to go from lower blocks to higher blocks or vice versa. If you're working with a fellow Geneticist, decide together and start working at opposite ends to maximize efficiency. Remember to share data with your fellow Geneticist! When working with a partner, communication is key to efficient work.
Change your radiation emitter settings to a little more potent so changes will actually happen. Changing the Output Level up to 8 and Pulse Duration to 5 works fine.
Click on the species-block's first (leftmost) character to administer radiation to it and hope it changes for the better! Repeat this step until the first value on the block is lower than 8. Keep the block below 800 for human, and above 800 for monkey.
When you get it, you'll see the name on the top has changed from "monkey" to a randomly generated name. Congratulations, you've got your very own monkey-person!
You'll now need to save the now pure DNA of your subject. On the computer, go to the Buffer Menu tab, then press the Save to Buffer button. It's also recommended to rename the label to make its function clear. This buffer now serves you as a "savepoint" which you can come back after an experimentation, making the research faster.

If for any reason you lost your clean SE and need to clean your DNA, you have mutadone pills in your lab. They'll completely restore your DNA, but they will also remove your powers. They are also an alternate way of turning a monkey into a human.

How Mutations Work

Disabilities manifest if the block is over 800.

Power manifesting is a little more complicated. It has an extra randomness added to the random! First off, to be eligible for activation their block must be over C00. After that, every time the subject's dna is updated (either by re-applying the buffer or by pulsing radiation) the power has a chance to manifest. After it has manifested, it won't disappear unless the block goes below C00.
- Telekinesis: 20% chance to activate.
- Hulk: 15% chance to activate.
- Cold Resistance: 25% chance to activate.
- X-Ray Vision: 25% chance to activate.
- Chameleon: 20% chance to activate.
- Dwarfism: 15% chance to activate. For some reason this is a power on the same level as hulk.

Remember that this applies only to mutating via scanner: injectors always manifest powers, if their block is above C00, but are temporary.

Manifesting Mutations

Back to business! Now we'll try to make a mutation show itself to us:

Raise a new block to over 800, preferably over C00 and hope something manifests.
Make sure it is the ONLY block over 800, otherwise you might get it mixed up with some other block's symptoms.
Save the SE in a new buffer, then remove the monkey-man.
Press Occupant - Delayed on your newly created buffer, get into the scanner and close the door. It will apply the buffer to you. Be sure to have a Clean SE saved in another buffer.
1. If you get a red message, it's a disability! None of them will kill you, but they can be really annoying. To remove them, simply apply the Clean SE. Do it to the monkey-man as well, and pass onto the next block.
2. If you get a blue message, you were lucky and manifested a power! Put the monkey-man back in and save his DNA in a separate buffer, where you'll keep all your powers. When undoing disabilities,use this new buffer instead of the clean one, and you'll keep your powers.
3. If you get no message, you hit a power block but it did not manifest. Keep irradiating it until it gets over C00, then save it into your third buffer. Even if not manifested right now, you can always spam the third buffer until it actually does manifest; but since it heavily irradiates you, it's best to wait until you found all the powers. If you want to know which power you found, create yourself an injector.
Applying buffers heavily irradiates the user. This will cause some toxin damage over time and, if overdone, can cause it to collapse for a few seconds. Every once in a while, take some antitoxin from your locker or a medbay vendor.
When you collect all six powers, just apply the buffer to yourself until you manifest the missing ones; if there are some you don't want, like hulk or dwarfism, manually reduce its block's value below C00, save it on a second buffer, and apply it to yourself.

Against the Radiation

All that radiation pulsing is not healthy.

At some point it may be a good idea to visit Chemistry and order some Potassium Iodide for your genetic testing. It's a very useful chem, as it lowers radiation levels quickly.

Anti-Toxin or Charcoal can cure the toxin damage caused by radiation, but does little to the rads themselves.

Rejuvenators can be injected through the DNA Scanner Access Console. The rejuvenating chem is Potassium Iodide.

If your hair falls out, use a mirror to restore it. You can find one in medbay or in the toilets.

What to do with your powers

Save your power buffer in a disk, as a backup. There's always the risk of someone overwriting them for random reasons.
Bringing a couple of injectors with full powers to R&D will be greatly appreciated, as they give a hard to obtain kind of research.
Make injectors to give to ~~the greytide~~heads of staff or security. You can also offer permanent powers to anyone who trusts you enough to not lock them in the scanner.
Enjoy being the peak of human evolution! Use your powers for the greater good, or to make security's life hell by breaking down walls to high security areas and by being unstunnable. Remember that hulks are nonhuman to the AI, though, and that when security can't stun someone they'll pass directly to lethals.

Congratulations. If you read everything is this guide, you should now be a full-fledged Geneticist! Welcome to the club, friend, hope you enjoy it! Pass on the knowledge to those in need.

The Gene Genie - The Traitorous Geneticist

Sorry for the bad chapter title. I wanted to use that for a very long time.

So, you learned how to do your job successfully, and how to be a credit to the station. You learned how to manipulate genes. Now you want to learn what the hell to do when the syndicate is the one writing your checks! Well, fret not! I will give you some pointers. But these are mostly tips - traitorous objectives differ wildly, and change your actions way too much for me to write a real guide on it.

Rev head

Simple. Flash colleagues. If the RD or the CMO come check on you, say you have a good set of powers, but the replicator is offline. Ask for him / her to strip and get in the Scanner. Lock him/her in, have your way with them, they can't leave nor can they talk. Let them enjoy their slow, painful death. If someone wants to clone the captain, that too is pretty simple. Just don't do it. As soon as the guy leaves, stuff the captain in a locker, take his stuff and call it a day. You could also eat until you get fat, transform people into monkeys and eat them. Fun for all.
Another fun strategy is, if you managed to kill a head of staff, to copy their identity with a DNA scanner and apply it to yourself; impersonating a head of staff during a revolution is easy since they are usually exempt from implanting.

Traitor

Depends on your objective. If it's a hard one, like stealing the AI... well, you're fucked. Keep working on those powers! As soon as you have Hulk + TK, go for it as you wish. No tips here.

If your objective is a simple one, though, like stealing the hand tele, there are more approaches to this. As the above tip, you can just break the walls with TK Hulk, but that is rather crass. There's a more roundabout, but classier way to tackle this. Take a monkey from the pen, transform it in a human. Take it's UI+UEs, make an injector, stuff it in your pocket with a label like "Clean Backup - Alexa White".
Now get your own UI+UEs and name it "Clean Backup - Original" or something. Avoid using your name. Now, go hide somewhere close to the item's location, stick yourself with the monkey injector, spawn emag, stick ID and PDA in your backpack. For added stealth, get a different outfit. Emag your way to the captain's room, get his jumpsuit, RUN RUN RUN. The AI might see you, so it would also be good if you spawned an agent card so you can't be tracked. If anyone sees you, they're not going to see your actual name, only the humanized monkey's name. Hide, stick yourself with your own stuff, change clothes, walk away smoothly.

If you have to kill someone, same stuff from rev.

Also, never forget identity theft. Since you can take someone's complete identity, including looks, you can have some fun with that.

Wizard

Well... Stealth wizard? Several things you can do, mostly involving UI+UE stuff. Not worth it, really. One thing you can do is taking identities and belongings, but you have to expose yourself to mess with the console. Your choice.

Changeling

FUCKING REJOICE, your work is cut out for you! Have fun eating the lifeless corpses you clone. Keep in mind that transformations and transformation stings copy SE as well as the UI+UE. Turn people into horribly disabled freaks, or channel a lot of hulk-TK-xray-cold resisting supermen.