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Science
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last edited
by RyleyRA 4 years, 4 months ago
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 easier for the enemy to hide from the Artemis in nebulas or by using certain Skaraan special abilities.
Science: 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, which cannot be selected as described below.
- Using the zoom control (the vertical line of dots) to the left, 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 on objects in the sector will highlight the object with a pulsing green reticle, and bring up an analysis screen which will show:
- Distance and bearing to friendly ships and bases. The type of ship or base and its shield strength will also be displayed.
- Distance and bearing to enemy ships. Enemy ships and BioMechs will at first appear as unidentified white markers, and their identity and shield strength will not be displayed.
- Distance and bearing to monsters and other creatures such as whales. In Artemis 2.1 and earlier, monsters and whales will appear different and the information screen displays their ID. In Artemis 2.2, all monsters, including whales, appear the same and their ID is hidden until the monster is scanned.
- Distance and bearing to anomalies. (Artemis 2.3+)
- Science can see through nebulae, and it can see ships that have the ability to hide from Long Range Scan.
- Unidentified objects can be scanned using the Scan button, located to the bottom right. The scan process takes a few seconds, during which a progress bar will appear around the ship. The scan may be interrupted if another scan is started before the first is complete.
- Unidentified enemy ships and BioMechs must be scanned twice. The Level 1 or "surface" scan will identify the target, while the Level 2 "detailed" scan provides additional information important to Weapons and Comms.
- After a Level 1 scan, the analysis screen will show the race and class of each ship or BioMech, and the strength of its front and rear shields. A Level 2 scan will show shield frequencies, Intel 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). A detailed explanation of this system can be found on the Beam Frequency page.
- Intel on the enemy can also suggest which taunts Comms can use to have the best effect on that enemy.
- If an ship takes damage to an Internal System, this will show up below the Intel section. The system damaged will not be usable for a short time. This 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.
- In Artemis 2.2, monsters have to be scanned as with enemy ships, and a Level 1 scan will identify the monster and display its type. Monsters cannot be scanned a second time, although monsters may be tagged for more detailed information.
- Monsters have no shields, but a bar will appear which represents that monster's health. This bar was added in Artemis 2.3, along with a description and some "scientific" information. As of 2.7, this bar only appears after a monster is tagged.
- As of Artemis 2.3, anomalies can be selected by the Science console. A Level 1 scan will reveal the Upgrade it will provide when picked up.
- While friendly ships and bases do not have to be scanned, the information they display is similar to a Level 2 scan. This is true even for enemy bases.
- 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 a red, rotating ring. This can be used to facilitate communications between Science and Weapons,
Science: 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.
- The long range scan only shows colored blips with target designations. Only Science can see the type of ship that each blip represents. 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)
- If sensor range is limited, you may need to get close to 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.
- 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. Fortunately, if you click on the same ship too soon, the extra click will be ignored. The scan will complete as normal, and then you can start a second scan.
Science: 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.
- Probes, added in 2.7, add to the strategy when sensor range is limited. A probe basically acts as a friendly ship with a limited duration and extremely high speed. Coordinate with Weapons to fire Probes into areas where you suspect enemies may be. If a probe gets close enough to an enemy, you won't need to perform the Level 1 scan on it!
- You should also coordinate with Weapons to tag monsters, so you can monitor their health. Some monsters may already be tagged, saving time and tag ordinance.
- The ability to scan anomalies, added in 2.3, 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.
- Bio Beacons, added in 2.7, appear as anomalies on the science screen once dropped. While Science does not have to interact with a beacon, it should be monitored in order to detect when the beacon runs out of power and stops working. The beacon can then be picked up and reused.
- Science is one of the few major consoles that can be selected by multiple players. It is highly recommended that the extra players select a Captain's Map instead. Otherwise, the extra players could interfere with the Science officer's ability to select targets and scan them.
Science: 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.
Official Help Text: This is a transcription of the official helptext from the game
The science station is the eyes of the ship, and shows a big map of the sector. Click and drag to move the map around. Click on an object to select it. Once you've selected something, click the 'Scan' button on the lower left to begin scanning. Once a scan is complete, you'll be able to see more information about that object. Enemies can be scanned more than once, to reveal more information about them.
Along the left side, you can click on the dots and arrows to control the zoom level of the science station.
After scanning an enemy twice, you'll be able to see a set of shield frequencies for that enemy, labeled from A to E. The LOWEST frequency bar is the weakest frequency. Tell this to the Weapons officer, who can tune the ship's beams to that frequency for maximum shields damage.
Hot Keys
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F1: Help
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F9: Prev Console
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F10: Next Console
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Y: Closest Contact
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U: Next Contact
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I: Prev Contact
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Enter: Scan Contact
Science
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Comments (2)
Artemis Editor said
at 4:16 pm on May 11, 2011
The lowest bar is definitely the weakest.
eurobusker said
at 10:50 am on May 19, 2015
Science Station Hotkeys,
MAP_MOVE_LEFT = UI_INPUT_KEY_A
MAP_MOVE_RIGHT = UI_INPUT_KEY_D
MAP_MOVE_UP = UI_INPUT_KEY_W
MAP_MOVE_DOWN = UI_INPUT_KEY_S
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