Science Station: Player Guide

The Science console is manned by the Science Officer, who is responsible for tracking enemy ships and locating bases and environmental hazards in the sector. The Artemis's powerful long range sensors can be used to scan enemy ships and uncover their weaknesses, as well as identify anomalies or xeno-organisms that can be used as a source of energy or lured into attacking your foes.

The Science console is an optional station, as many of its functions are duplicated by the Long Range Sensors map. However, without a Science officer, the Weapons Officer will be unable to select a Beam Frequency to deal more damage against enemy ships. It will also be harder to seek out the enemy instead of just defending your bases from attack.

Abilities and Responsibilities

Science can do the following things:

• Use the cursor pointer to "sweep the sector" looking for information. Just hovering the cursor over a point will show the distance and bearing to that point.
• This is particularly useful for objects such as mines, asteroids, black holes, and so on. 
• Using the zoom controls, (the three radar-like icons) or the mouse wheel to zoom and holding and dragging the cursor to scroll the map allows the Science officer to zoom in on areas of interest and distinguish the individual ships in fleets of two or more.
• Clicking the zoom icons will recenter the map on the player ship. For best results, use the mouse wheel or gestures to zoom in on enemy ships. 
• Contacts within 30k of the Artemis will appear as an icon on the map. Note that most consoles, including Long Range Sensors on the main screen, can only see Tactical data, which is limited to 10k.
• Friendly ships and bases will appear at any range, as will asteroids, nebulae, mines and black holes. Non-lethal terrain will not be visible at maximum zoom levels. 
• Enemies that are within 10k of an allied ship or base station will appear on the map, even if more than 30k away from the Artemis. 
• Science can see through nebulae, and it can see ships that have the ability to hide from Tactical or LRS. 
• Clicking on contacts in the sector will highlight the icon with a circular green reticle and display that contact in the analysis panel to the upper right. This will show:
• Range and bearing to friendly ships and bases. The type of ship or base and its shield strength will also be displayed.
• Range and bearing to enemy ships. Enemy ships and BioMechs will at first appear as unidentified purple markers, and no information will be displayed. The target will need to be scanned. 
• Range and bearing to bio-organisms such as whales. As of the latest version of Artemis Cosmos, the only space monster available is the Classis Space Monster, Typhon.
• Range and bearing to anomalies. An anomaly must be scanned to identify its type. 
• Range and bearing to terrain features such as asteroids and nebulae. Terrain is identified as "unknown", and no information will be displayed. This is new to Artemis Cosmos. 
•  The contact's height above or below the Artemis will also be displayed. This is useful for Helm to match attitude to contacts that are far away, since they can only see height differences at close range.  
• Clicking on the list of contacts in the panel to the right will select that object on the map and display the object's information in the analysis panel above the list. This lets Science select enemies to scan without having to search the map for them. 
• The light up indicator buttons above the list are filters that can display only ships from a certain race. 
• If all filters are turned off, terrain features will appear in the list.  
• The currently selected object is indicated in the list with the label "<sci". The object selected by Comms, if any, is also displayed here as "<com". This can be used to facilitate communications between Science and Comms. 
• Comms will be able to see and send commands to the contact, even if it is outside of the 10k scan range. The target will disappear when it is no longer selected by Science. 
• While in combat, Science can make use of this list to scan enemies while still monitoring the immediate area around the ship. If Weapons needs information on an enemy ship nearby, Science does not have to reorient on the Artemis in order to switch to the requested target.
• Anomalies can be selected by the Science console.
• A Level 1 scan will reveal the Upgrade it will provide when picked up.
• No further scans are necessary and only the "scan" tab will appear. 
• Friendly ships and bases need to be scanned to provide Status and Intel information. This is new to Artemis Cosmos.  
• By selecting an object, Science can point out that object to Helm or Weapons, as they will see the green reticle on their own console, if the object is in range. Science can also see the target selected by Weapons, highlighted by the same reticle in red. This can be used to facilitate communications between Science and Weapons,
• Other consoles will be able to see the target even if it is outside of the 10k scan range. The target will disappear when no longer selected by Science.  

Scanning a Contact

Once a contact is selected, information is displayed in the analysis panel above the contact list. The analysis panel is divided into four tabs, each representing a type of scan.

• The default scan level is simply called "scan" and is used to identify unknown enemy ships. To begin an identification scan, click on the button marked "Scan". A progress indicator will appear in the button.  
• The level 1 scan will show the race and class of each ship or BioMech, and the strength of its front and rear shields. Friendly ships and bases will show this information automatically. 
• If an enemy ship gets within 5k of a friendly ship or base station, this scan will be performed automatically, and the information will be visible.  
• The Level 2 scan is called "Status". All ships must be scanned in order to display this data. Enemy ships must be scanned twice, once to identify the ship and another to scan for its status, unless it gets within automatic scan range.  
• After a Level 2 scan the analysis panel will show shield frequencies and system damage. 
• A bar graph depicts the shields' ability to absorb damage at different beam frequencies.
• The higher the bar the stronger the shield at that frequency, and conversely, the lowest bar is the weakest shield frequency. (and therefore, the optimal beam frequency to do maximum damage)
• Color is also used to indicate shield strength, with yellow for the strongest to red for the weakest. 
• Between the shield strength and beam frequency is displayed Subsystem Status, measured as the effectiveness of that subsystem from 0-100%.
• As a ship takes damage to internal systems, these values will be reduced.
• Note that Artemis 2.0 merely displayed damaged systems as a flag, indicating when a subsystem shut down. Artemis Cosmos allows Science to monitor internal damage and tell when an enemy's subsystems have been weakened. 
• Subsystem Damage should be reported to the Captain, so he can change his tactics accordingly.
• Note that an enemy ship will typically take a lot of internal damage just before being destroyed, and this can usually be ignored. However, any ship that starts off damaged or is damaged by Weapons in Manual mode should be reported.  
• The Level 3 scan is called "intel". This is primarily used to suggest which taunts Comms can use to have the best effect on that enemy.  
• A third scan is required to gather Intel. This is a new feature of Artemis Cosmos.  
• The special abilities of Skaraan ships will also be displayed in this tab. 
• The captain and ship special abilities/personalities defined in Artemis 2.0 are no longer used in Artemis Cosmos. They are not displayed in Artemis Cosmos and don't have any effect on gameplay.  
• The Level 4 scan is called "bio" and mainly used for xeno-organisms. 
• This requires a separate scan, but xeno-organisms usually do not require scanning Status or Intel.  
• Xeno-organisms, or monsters, are scanned just like enemy ships. Typhon, the only monster defined at this time, has no shields or internal subsystems and will not display those values. Other monsters may display health or biological data in this tab. 
• If a friendly ship or base is scanned the bio tab may reveal information about a biological threat such as a disease or intruders.
• This may lead to a side mission. (This has not been confirmed but would seem consistent with Artemis 2.0 gameplay) 
• The amount of time taken for a scan depends on the distance to the target and the amount of power put into the Sensors system by Engineering.
• At extreme ranges, a scan can take up to 20 times as long.  
• Damage taken by the Sensors system will cause the display to flicker, as if power had been set lower than 100%. Scans may also take longer.

Basic Play

• As a Science Officer, remember that scanning is your friend - it gives you a wealth of information on your target. Scan everything you can as soon as you can. The second (Level 2) scan of a ship is the most important as it shows the frequency the Weapons Officer's beams should be set to for the most damage.
• The Science Officer has access to more information than any other player. Develop a sense of what information would be helpful to who and be ready to provide it at the moment it is needed. Handy things to be ready to provide:
• If coming out of combat in battle-ready shape: Bearing to the next cluster of targets
• If coming out of combat damaged: Bearing to the nearest starbase (and/or the nearest starbase with nukes, with assistance from Comms)
• If getting ready to make a long transit: Location of any anomalies near the route to pick up on the way
• If entering combat: Composition of the fleet, most dangerous ship, weakest ship, and shield frequencies for each. 
• While Artemis Cosmos provides a lot more information to the other crew members, the Science Officer still has the greatest amount of data over the sector. Helm and Weapons will usually be focused on what is going in the immediate vicinity of the ship, and they cannot see hidden enemies like Science can. Remember the hierarchy of enemy ships and help your captain pick his or her battles carefully:
• Cruisers are weakest,
• Battleships are in the middle,
• Dreadnoughts are the strongest.
• Torgoths and Arvonians are support ships and should be saved for last. Keep in mind the hierarchy of support ships too. (i.e. a Goliath will be a easier fight than a Leviathan) 
• You may need to get to within 30k of targets before you can see them. However, all bases and friendly ships in a sector will share their sensor information with you, and you can scan enemies that are in range of a base or allied ship. Be sure you understand how bases and allied ships extend your ship's sensor range.
• Once an enemy ship is scanned, it will always be scanned, even if it moves out of scan range and back. The same holds for enemy ships that have the ability to cloak. 
• Be aware that the outermost ring around the Artemis marks the limit of Tactical sensors. Helm and Weapons cannot see enemies outside of that ring. 
• If you see an enemy approaching that outermost ring, be sure and warn the Captain of the imminent threat.  
• Contacts can be seen from even further away on the LRS on the main screen, if run on the server. (Not a Mainscreen console) This may be a bug, but you can ask the Captain to ask for Long Range Scanners to give your sensors infinite range. 
• You can guess at where that outermost ring would appear on a base or allied ship to estimate the range of their sensors. Or imagine a ring just outside of a base's shields, at Zoom level 3.   
• Don't get impatient. You must finish a scan before you start the next one. If you try to scan another ship too soon, your previous scan will be aborted. You can cancel a scan by clicking on the button again if you need to scan another target. 

Advanced Play 

• In combat, knowing the enemy's shield weaknesses is very important. In fact, poor use of beams can result in dealing just 37.5% the damage that would otherwise be possible. Therefore, it is imperative that the Science officer coordinate with the Weapons officer to adjust the ship's beams to match the weakest frequency of the enemy shields. This requires that the Science officer keep track of the various enemy ships and their frequencies. 
• Since friendly ships can extend your scan range, it can be helpful to coordinate with Comms to position allied ships in the sector to keep an eye on the enemy, if sensor range is limited.  Be careful not to let them get destroyed, though!
• Fighters and shuttles from your ship can also extend your sensor range, as can friendly player ships.   
• There are no Probes or Tags in Artemis Cosmos, but they can be expected to be added later. 
• The ability to scan anomalies adds to the strategy of using Energy Upgrades to extend the ship's range. Make sure you know not only what anomalies are nearby, but what type they are. The Captain should never have to guess whether an anomaly will provide energy or not. 

Multiple Ship Play 

• When multiple ships are working together in a fleet, they share Science intel automatically. Each ship has their own selection cursor, but all ships can see enemy targets being scanned. Science officers in a fleet may want to coordinate to work together to scan a sector, or they may assign a single Science officer to accomplish the task.

Zoom/Scroll: 

• As with most consoles, the map display may be zoomed or scrolled by clicking and dragging or using the scroll wheel. Although the map centers on the Artemis as a default, it may be moved to view other targets out of visual range. 
• The three radar-like icons at the bottom of the screen select between 3 Zoom Ranges, allowing you to focus on the area around your ship, a longer ranged view, or a view of the entire sector. The latter may be useful for plotting a course for one base station to another, or to a group of enemies targeting a distant base. 
• Zoom level 2 is somewhat redundant with the Tactical screen and Zoom level 3 with the LRS screen. The zoom ranges may be reduced in later revisions of the game, on Helm and Weapons.  
• At the different zoom levels, the compass ring has the following approximate radius:
  
  

  Zoom 1	Zoom 2	Zoom 3
  3500m	13,000m	70,000m

    

Relative Display Mode:

• The Options button in the upper-left corner lets you change to Relative Display Mode. With RDM turned on, the top of your screen is no longer 'north'. Instead, the top of your screen is always in front of your ship. As Helm performs a turn, your ship remains pointing up and the map rotates around it.
• To turn on Relative Display Mode, press "O" or click or the "Options" button and select "UI Play Options" or click "N".  Then click on the button marked "Relative 2D Display". A small light will appear on the button to indicate that the mode is active. This option is local to your console and will not affect other players.  

Showing Weapon Arcs: 

• The UI Play Options screen also lets you turn weapon arcs on or off. Click on the button marked "Weapon Arcs: All" and it will cycle through the available options: 
• Weapon Arcs: All: This will display all weapon arcs for both player and enemy ships. 
• Weapon Arcs:  Players: This will display only the weapon arcs for the player ships. Enemy and allied ships will not display firing arcs. This option is useful for Science or Comms to remove clutter from the screen, but keep in mind that Science may be asked for the firing configuration of ships that are out of range of Helm or Weapons. 
• Weapon Arcs: None: This will display no firing arcs at all. Again, this is primarily intended for Science or Comms, which do not need to track the player ship's firing arcs.

Hot Keys

• H: Closest Contact

• J: Next Contact 

These keybinds do not work. They may have been replaced by those below

• Delete: Next Scan Tab

• Insert: Previous Scan Tab 

• End: Next List Filter

• Home: Previous List Filter

• Pg Dn: Next Contact in List

• Pg Up: Prev Contact in List 

Customizing the GUI

The Science console can be rearranged to suit the Science Officer by pressing and holding the "F5" key. This will cause the widgets that make up the display to be highlighted. The widgets may be moved with the mouse or resized by clicking on a corner of the rectangle and dragging that corner. Different resolutions of the window may define different locations for each widget.