Sandbox:furrycactus2

SERVICE STAFF
Hydroponicist	Access: Hydroponics Qualifications: Bachelors degree in applicable field, or pass (75%+) Horticulture Test. Employers: Idris Incorporated, Nanotrasen Corporation, Orion Express. Supervisors: Executive Officer Duties: Grow plants for the kitchen and operations bounties. Take care of animals in pen. Guides: Guide to Hydroponics

As a Hydroponicist, it's your job to grow stuff for the Chef to keep the crew fed. There are plenty of vegetables to grow, and if you're feeling adventurous, there are some other less edible plants to experiment growing with. You may also come in handy for Medical or the Pharmacist, as many plants can provide useful chemicals when ground up and purified in a ChemMaster 3000.

Duties

Plants

For the full chart with plant types, what they look like, and what they do, please check out the Guide to Hydroponics.

Seeds

The seed storage gives you seeds to start growing. There's a couple of hidden seeds too if you get the tools to hack it, but remember that it's very slightly illegal.

Sometimes, someone might locate rare or strange plant seeds in maintenance, or someone might take a clipping of biohazardous vines that start spreading throughout the ship. Usually these would be given to a Xenobotanist if they're present, but that isn't always the case. Provided you're careful, growing these samples could be a great boon to the crew - particularly Medical, as sometimes these strange plants contain rare or extremely useful chemicals or medications when processed. Watch out though! Some strange plants might have thorns that sting or inject you with chemicals if you're not wearing gardening gloves, or they might start to rapidly spread outside the tray and take over if you don't use the tray lids responsibly.

Fertilizer Types

• EZ Nutrient: The standard fertilizer, keeps plants alive. Won't increase yield.
• Left-4-Zed: Increases the potency by a large amount, but takes forever to harvest. Switch to another fertilizer if it takes too long.
• Robust Harvest: The amount harvested increases dramatically.

The Chef

You play a vital role in helping stock the Kitchen with your produce! Ask the Kitchen at the start of the shift if they have any particular produce requests from you, and try to oblige them as best you can. There are many different foods and condiments the Chef can make from different produce you grow. Additionally, you're in the more unique position of being able to replace other various kitchen supplies with products from your Biogenerator; such as eggs, milk, synthmeat, plant-based meat substitute, fish fillets, butter, and nutrient spread. You also have access to cows and chickens downstairs for milk and eggs direct from the source, provided you feed them some wheat so they can begin production. These animals can also be butchered or put through the gibber in the Freezer for meat, though take care as you'll need to order replacement livestock from Operations if you do.

The Bartender

Though not as vital as you are with the Kitchen, you can still provide assistance to the Bar staff in your line of work! Some of their drink recipes require products that can be a little trickier to acquire - such as cherry jelly from cherries, cocoa powder from cacao, or honey from beekeeping. They will likely not require your services nearly as desperately as the Kitchen will, but there's never any harm in asking if the Bar might be interested in some of your produce, or byproducts thereof.

Operations Bounties

Often, the Operations staff will receive various bounties for fresh produce, and just as often they'll fax a copy of these to your desk. If you have the time and free trays, you can try to fulfill some of these bounties. Operations staff are typically capable of sourcing many of these bounties themselves from the public garden right next to your workspace, but your specialized Hydroponics equipment and plant analyzers leave you uniquely equipped to grow these plants faster and closer to their optimal conditions.

Tools of the Trade

You get a few fun tools as a Hydroponicist that will make your life easier when growing plants. Many of these are found in your locker:

• Plant Analyzer: Use to determine various traits about your plants and seeds. Good to determine best lighting conditions for optimal growing time.
• Plant Bag: Collects harvestables and seed packets in bulk. Just click on the pile with the bag to collect, and click the bag on the fridge or seed vendor to store.
• Hydrobelt: Useful for carrying all your planting needs at hand.
• Hatchet: Use cut down plants from your trays when you are ready to remove them. Also used to chop tower caps into wooden planks.
• Mini Hoe: Use to remove weeds from the hydroponic trays. Weeds are more common on soil beds than in trays, but it's good to check from time to time.
• Plant Clippers: Used to take a sample from a plant and make a new seed packet you can grow before the plant is mature. This harms the plant's health somewhat, and some plants are more fragile than others.
• Plant-B-Gone: Makes plants unhealthy, and easier to chop down. Does minor toxin damage. May cause strange weeds or mushrooms to grow in place of the plant.
• Backpack Water Tank: A quick and easy way to fill your trays (or spray the ground wet) but it takes up your backpack slot. Holds 500 units. Detach the sprayer and use it to fill the pack at the sink.
• Bucket: Fill at the sink and water your trays. Doesn't take up your back slot. Holds 300 units.
• Tray Lids: When setting light conditions, use the lids (alt+click the tray). This will keep the temperature and set light condition stable in the tray. Defaults at level 5 light.

Chemicals

Ammonia is a much better fertilizer than EZ-Grow, and unstable mutagens can cause some interesting plant variations.

Most chemicals can be requested from the Chemist, but you're quite low down on the list of people who need them, so try giving them some useful plants to blend.

Different chemicals do different things to your plants when injected. Feel free to experiment until you find a blend you like!

Traitor

You can use Nettles as an interesting weapon, but they take a very long time to grow to effective potency levels. If you have an easy objective, quickly rush out and get it out of the way, head back and get your plants growing. Your leather gloves leave no prints at a crime scene, so if you ditch your equipment (or hide it) you should be fine enough so no one knows it was you. You can also intoxicate some food if you get your hands on a dropper. Just make sure your give it to the right person!