Anomalous Research
One of R&D's main ways to harvest research points, alongside Xenoarchaeology, and the leading cause of headaches in captains of non-coordinated stations. Anomalous Research is a sub-department of R&D focused around the containment and manipulation of various unique anomalies.
Anomalies
Anomalies are created by the Anomaly Generator, located in the R&D department. They can also be generated by random events. The properties of each anomaly vary wildly, but they all share a set of similar characteristics.
- They cannot be moved by conventional means (pushing/pulling)
- They cannot be interacted with in any meaningful way without the use of anomalous particle acceleration technology
- They all have passive effects on their surroundings
- They all perform "pulses", periodic bursts of energy with varying effects based on the type of anomaly
- They all undergo dangerous "critical events" when their severity stat hits 100%
- They can all be "harvested" by an anomaly vessel for the passive generation of research points
- They all pose varying degrees of hazard to the station and the crew
Stats
All anomalies have three similar stats - Severity, Stability, and Health.
- Severity affects the magnitude of an anomaly's passive and pulse effects, and causes a critical event when it reaches 100%. It also affects the anomaly's point output, if it has been assigned to a vessel.
- Stability dictates whether or not the Severity stat increases each time a pulse occurs, along with the time period between pulses. Lower stability = less time between pulses.
- Health is a hidden stat not available to the player, and decreases when "containment" particles are used on an anomaly. Once an anomaly reaches 0 health, it simply disappears.
Anomaly Types
| Image | Name | Description | Critical Event |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Pyroclastic | Bright pink and extremely hot. Constantly heats up the surroundings. On pulsing, it shoots fireballs in random directions that explode and set things on fire. | Explodes into a huge gout of burning plasma. |
 |
Electric | A small mote of light. Constantly emits light. On pulsing, it shoots out lightning that shocks nearby structures (and crewmembers) | Emits an electromagnetic storm that zaps everyone nearby and destroys electrical systems. |
 |
Gravitational | A dark orb. Constantly pulls nearby light/medium objects toward itself. On pulsing, it violently pushes nearby objects (and crewmembers) away from itself. | Causes a very large explosion. |
 |
Flesh | A pulsating sphere of meat. Constantly converts nearby tiles to flesh. On pulsing, it creates meat structures that evolve into Meat Creatures that are hostile to crewmembers. | Converts tiles into flesh over a large area, creates numerous Meat Creatures and spawns in tendons that attack nearby lifeforms |
 |
Bluespace | A collection of glowing blue rings. Constantly acts as a one-way portal to a random nearby location. On pulsing, it changes it's location. Can teleport people and objects into walls, in which case they will be slowly crushed to death. | Teleports all nearby organisms to a random point in local space. |
 |
Ice | Constantly lowers the ambient temperature. On pulsing, it cools the surrounding tiles, covering them in ice. At higher danger levels, it can shoot out ice shards, favoring living creatures as targets. | Dissolves into a cloud of frezon gas. |
 |
Flora | A strange blue plant. It emits a faint blue light. On pulsing, it spreads floral carpet on the surrounding tiles. Occasionally, it creates Flora Bulbs, which when broken, either create a random crop or hostile Flora Entities, which will attack all crew. | Spreads floral carpet over a very large area, and creates numerous bulbs and Flora Entities. |
 |
Liquid | A floating orb of liquid. It will consist of a singular chemical. On pulsing, it will spill the chemical onto the tile it's on and the surrounding tiles. Periodically, it will switch the chemical it consists of. | Creates multiple Reagent Slimes, which are hostile to all crewmembers, and consist of various chemicals |
 |
Shadow | An eerie rift of space, revealing only darkness. On pulsing, it will spread shadow that behaves like smoke, obscuring vision. While in the shadow, you hear whispers from beyond reality's edge. It also spawns trees that can be chopped for wood. Occasionally spawns in Shadow Portals in the shadow, which teleport you randomly within the shadow. | Spreads shadow over a very large area, creates multiple trees and imbues shadow-stone crystals into the tiles (Cosmetic only) |
 |
Tech | A technological anomaly with a core of energy. On pulsing, it will affect nearby electronic structures like airlocks, lights, etc., which will periodically activate and deactivate. | Affects electronic structures in a very large area for a very long time. |
Containment
In the event that an anomaly is in an inopportune location, or is simply too dangerous to be left aboard the station, it needs to be contained. Containment is simply a term for the controlled elimination of an anomaly, and does not do any major damage to the surroundings.
Anomalous Particles
The main way in which science manipulates anomalies is the Anomalous Particle Accelerator, or APE for short. Several of these can be located in the station's anomalous research lab. The APE can shoot three different types of particles - Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta - at an anomaly to affect one of its stats. Simply right click an anchored APE to select the particle type. The stat which each particle type affects is random between anomalies, so you'll need an Anomaly Scanner to figure out the pairs.
Once an anomaly is scanned, the scanner UI should show the three types of particles, and which effect they correspond to.
- Danger particles will cause an anomaly's severity stat to rise. Use this type to increase the anomaly's point output at the cost of personal safety.
- Unstable particles will cause an anomaly's stability to drop. This type should almost never be used by good-intentioned scientists.
- Containment particles will cause an anomaly's stability to rise, at the cost of anomaly health. Use this type if you want to eliminate the anomaly.
- Transformation particles will cause an anomaly's behavior deviation to change, either adding, removing or changing whatever it had.
An alternate method of using anomalous particle technology is the CHIMP (Acronym stands for whatever you think it stands for), a handheld version of the APE which are charged via a Charger like Lazer Rifles or Disablers. The particles behave similarly to APE particles. These are best used when an anomaly spawns in a place that an APE can't quite reach, like the gas miners in atmos (a scenario which is stupidly common). They can also be used for self defense in a pinch, though they deal pitiful damage with their regular ammunition.
NOTE: Syndicate scientists can order special "Omega" particle upgrade chip for the CHIMP, which adds a new Omega particle option to the CHIMP. It decreases the anomaly's stability 4 times as much as the Unstable particles, and causes the anomaly to go supercritical very quickly.
Harvesting
If an anomaly is deemed safe enough to keep around, the next step is to harvest it for research points. An anomaly scanner with an active scan of a still-existing anomaly can be assigned to an Anomaly Vessel, located in the anomalous research lab. These machines will supply the research server with a constant stream of research points, proportional to the severity of the connected anomaly.
If an anomaly is becoming too unstable or begins to fizzle out, the vessel will make different sounds and change color to notify the science team. A vessel connected to an anomaly when it goes critical will explode violently, destroying most things nearby but rarely causing a hull breach (spacing).