A Xenobotanist is a Scientist who works to determine and manipulate the genetics of plants in space. A xenobotanist works in Xenoflora.
Plants have twelve genes, labelled and ordered at random each round. Each gene represents a set of traits from the plant. These include:
A gene label from any given plant represents the same trait across all plants; in other words, if gene F6 represents products for tomatoes, it will also represent products from ambrosia.
This piece of machinery accepts a seed packet or cutting as well as a data disk. When used to scan a seed, it destroys the seed in order to reclaim its genetic information, which can be loaded onto a data disk a certain number of times before the stored genome degrades completely.
When loaded with a data disk and a seed, this machine is used to apply the gene stored on the data disk to the loaded packet. It will overwrite the corresponding gene on the target packet. Seeds can only be overwritten a certain number of times before they degrade completely and can no longer be modified.
Identify your genes.
Pick two plants whose genes are very different from each other. Since all the plants from the seed vendors have the same Resistance, Environment, and Consumption genes, it helps if one of the plants is an exotic seed that you've planted and harvested more seed packets from, either through tasking cuttings or by extracting seeds from fruit. If you don't have exotic seeds, you can mutate an existing species to have genes that are different. Have three or four identical seed packets from each species.
Using the lysis-isolation centrifuge, add a seed packet from Species 1. Analyze the genome (this will destroy the seed packet!). Then add a flora data disk to the centrifuge and copy each gene onto the disk. Eventually, the genetic information in the lysis-isolation centrifuge will be exhausted, and you'll need to add and analyze another Species 1 seed packet. Repeat this until you have a disk for each of the twelve genes.
Using your plant analyzer, analyze Species 2 and make a note of its characteristics.
Put a seed packet from Species 2 into the bioballistic delivery system. Add one of your flora data disks with genes from Species 1, and apply the modification.
Eject the seed packet and analyze it again with the plant analyzer. Note which gene has changed. For example, if the plant from Species 2 now has a trait from Species 1, you know that's the trait you have transferred, and that that's the gene on the disk.
Label your disk with the gene, or make a note of which gene is which. Repeat this with the other five disks, each time making a note of which gene is which. If the modified plant doesn't change at all, it's likely that you've transferred a gene that is identical in Species 1 and Species 2–usually the Flowers gene. Eventually, modifying any given seed packet will no longer be viable; the machine will tell you when that happens. You'll have to switch to a new seed packet.
Now that you have your genes identified, think about which genes you want to transfer from which plant to which. Typically, with exotic seeds, you'll want to make them viable for growing on the station.
Vigor is a good gene to transfer to plants that grow or produce fruit slowly. Choose a plant which produces fruit quickly or in large quantities and transfer the Vigor gene to the exotic plant. Vigor genes from a plant that doesn't grow kudzu-style can be transferred to one that does, to make these plants more manageable. (Or you could transfer the kudzu vigor gene to a non-spreading plant; we're not judging here.)
Environment genes from station-adapted plants will help the target plant to grow on the station.
Consumption genes from plants that are particularly frugal, or which can eat weeds or pests, can be transferred to plants that don't.
Resistance genes from resistant plants can be transferred to plants that are vulnerable to pests, toxins, or weeds. Bioluminescence can be transferred from one plant to another via the Flowers gene.
The Products gene is special: Instead of replacing the gene on the target plant, it's added in. Your target plant will now produce two types of fruit, one from the source and the other from the target, and each fruit will contain chemicals from both fruit types. However, transferring a Products gene will result in a generally less vigorous plant with less potent fruit.
Kudzu, and other spreading vines, will spread from their tray into the lab. Given time and open doors, a vine plant could spread throughout the station. It will also entangle people who step into an area with thick growth, and may inject any chemicals from its fruit into the people it has entangled. Garden-variety kudzu isn't so dangerous; the dylovene it contains is not toxic. But beware the vine which contains cyanide.
To control a spreading vine:
Before you plant, modify a vine-type plant by splicing in a Vigor gene from a plant that doesn't spread. Plant a vine-type plant in the isolation area of the Xenoflora lab.
A hatchet can cut down vines more quickly than most tools.
Plant-b-gone and other chemicals that kill plants can also kill vines.
A goat will eat vine plants quickly and effectively (but is also ornery enough to bite you). Order one from Cargo.
If the plant injects something poisonous, don't be where the vines are. Borgs are safe from poisonous substances.
If the plant has the trait that makes it very carnivorous, it will drain blood from people it captures in its vines. Once again, don't be where the vines are.
Some exotic plants emit gases ranging from nitrogen to phoron. Some of these gases are dangerous only when the plant has created so much of them that the pressure in the room is dangerously high; others are dangerous even in small quantities.
To grow a plant that produces gas:
Always plant unknown exotic plants in an isolation tray connected to a port.
Your PDA includes an atmospheric scanner. Pull it up and monitor the air to detect gas-producing plants before you're unconscious or poisoned.
If a plant produces gas, toggle the tray lid on the tray. This will isolate the tray, but it may not be the kind of environment the plant likes. Plants grown in isolation trays with the lids up will need careful tending and a lot of diethylamine.
Call for Atmospherics if the problem has gotten bad enough to contaminate the room (an atmos alarm panel flashing orange or red).
If you were exposed to Phoron gas, leave the room immediately, decontaminate and get to Medical.
Your general purpose as a Xenobotanist is to find out which gene mask corresponds to which trait and use this info to make bizarre mutant plants.
You can click a disk in hand to clear the contents and reuse it. You have a limited number so keep an eye on them. More can be ordered from cargo.
Plants have varied traits. Using a given plant to isolate a specific trait may be worthwhile (ie. kudzu for spread, poppies for flowers).
Other traits should be fairly easy to find (product trait will cause the target to grow extra fruits, etc).
Guide to Xenobotany Contents 1 Genetics 1.1 Gene Groups 1.1.1 Gene Interactions 1.2 Gene Editing 1.2.1 Lysis-isolation Centrifuge 1.2.2 Bioballistic Delivery System 1.2.3 How to Edit Seeds 1.3 Gene Mutation 1.3.1 Mutations and Traits 1.3.2 Floral Somatoray 2 Generally Accepted Roundstart Method 3 Alternate Roundstart Method 4 Making Plants 4.1 Vines 4.1.1 Taming Vines 4.1.2 Loosing The Kudzu 4.2 Atmospherics 4.2.1 Atmos Control 4.3 POWER!!! 4.4 Weaponry and Poisons 4.5 Super Blunts 4.5.1 Plants to Splice 4.5.2 Exotic Seed Chems 5 Tips and tricks Xenobotany is the study and manipulation of all plant phenomena, from the types of fruit it makes to whether or not it can eat people.
Genetics Gene Groups All plants have 8 distinct gene groups, each controlling a set of traits and stats from a plant.
Phytochemistry: Controls the chemicals that the plant can produce and the plant's potency. Higher potency equals more units of all chemicals inside. Mutated by Unstable Mutagen or Untable Mutagen. Morphology: The different fruits or growns that the plant can produce, the Thorny, Chemical Stingers, Juicy, Slippery and Ligneous traits. Mutated by Radium. Bioluminiscence: Whether or not the plant glows and the colour of that glow. Mutated by Uranium. Ecology: Ideal heat level, ideal light level, tolerance to heat variation, tolerance to light variation and tolerance to pressure variation. Mutated by Bicaridine or Opium. Ecophysiology: The plant's endurance and lifespan, toxin affinity, pest tolerance and weed tolerance. Mutated by Kelotane or Tannic Acid. Metabolism: How much water and nutrients your plant consumes. The Voracious, Hematophage and Carnivorous traits. Mutated by Hyperzine or Cocaine. Development: Maturation and production time. Yield per harvest. The Creeping, Vine, Multiple Harvests and Self Harvesting traits. Mutated by Creatine. Xenophysiology: The Bluespace, Gas Creation, Gas Consumption, Temperature Manipulation and No Reactions traits. Mutated by Dexalin or Thymol. These genes can be directly swapped with previously known samples via Splicing and Purging or manipulated in a semi-random way via Mutations.
Gene Interactions Genes are independent of each other, changing the bioluminescence, for example, will not touch the ecology or development. They do interact though. These are most of the currently known gene interactions. Duplicates will not be included:
Phytochemistry Interactions
Phytochemistry: -Higher potency will increase reagent yield.
Morphology: -Reagents inside the fruit get transfered upon grabbing a plant with Chemical Stingers or getting splashed by a Juicy fruit. -Banana peels will slip longer the higher the potency.
Bioluminescence: -Potency directly controls the intensity of any bioluminescent glow.
Xenophysiology: -Gas Creation, Gas Consumption and Temperature Manipulation speed increases with potency. (Not really sure with this one) -Chemical reactions that might happen on harvest, such as EMP on an iron-uranium plant are blocked by the No Reactions trait. They will still happen upon grinding/consumption. -Bluespace teleportation distance increases with potency.
Morphology Interactions
Morphology: -Juicy or Slippery Rocknuts will not break teeth.
Development: -Creeping and Vine plants with Thorns will latch onto people. -Creeping and Vine plants with Chemical Stingers will latch onto people and inject any chems they have inside. -Creeping and Vine plants with the Ligneous trait are harder to cut down. Xenophysiology: -Fruit with the No Reactions trait will still inject/splash their chems inside, which can be used for exotic purposes, such as edible pacid smoke grenades.
Bioluminescence Interactions
Development: -Creeping and Vine “pieces” will glow as well.
Ecology: -Bioluminescent glow can self-iluminate the plant. If the plant prefers dark places it will self harm until death.
Ecology Interactions
Ecophysiology: -Higher endurance and lifespan can compensate for non-ideal pressures/temperatures/light levels.
Xenophysiology: -Plants with the Temperature Manipulation trait will move the temperature to their ideal.
Ecophysiology Interactions
Ecophysiology: -High endurance and lifespan can compensate for lack of toxin, if applicable. -High toxin affinity will make the plant resistant to most poisons, including Plant B Gone, it will however make it vulnerable to water.
Metabolism: -Higher endurance and lifespan can compensate for lack of water, nutrients or blood. -Pest and Weed tolerance will affect just how easily the plant gets pests or weed, both of which consumed by Voracious plants.
Development: -Longer lifespans mean the plant can be harvested more times before death.
Metabolism Interactions
Metabolism: -Voracious plants will get nutrients/blood and water from pests and weeds.
Development: -Creeping and Vine plants with the Hematophage trait will suck blood from anyone trapped within. -Creeping and Vine plants with the Carnivorous trait will EAT people trapped within, leaving only the head. Xenophysiology: -Consumed gases compensate for some missing nutrients. (Not really sure with this one either)
Development Interactions
Development: -Low maturation time will make Creeping and Vine plants spread faster. -Creeping and Vine plants with the Self Harvesting trait will self harvest on every mature and budding “piece”, which can quickly lag and crash the server.
Xenophysiology: -Creeping and Vine plants with the Gas Creation, Gas Consumption or Temperature Manipulation will consume/exude gases or manipulate temperatures with each “piece”.
Gene Editing Replacing unwanted genes with known and desired ones sampled from other plants.
Lysis.png Lysis-isolation Centrifuge This piece of machinery accepts a seed packet or cutting as well as a data disk. When used to scan a seed, it destroys the seed in order to reclaim its genetic information and store it in its buffer, which can then be loaded onto a data disk. You can load as many disks with genes as you want until the buffer gets overwritten by another seed or erased manually.
Bioballistic.png Bioballistic Delivery System When loaded with a data disk and a seed, this machine is can apply the gene stored on the data disk to the loaded packet.
It has two modes of operation: PURGE and SPLICE. PURGE mode will completely overwrite the genes on the seed with the genes on the disk, removing all traits not on the disk. SPLICE mode will average the numerical stats on the seed with those on the disk and will add all valid traits without removing any. For example: If you PURGE the Morphology gene from a Thorny apple seed packet into a Ligneous orange seed packet, you'll get a Thorny orange seed packet, but you'll get Thorny AND Ligneous oranges under SPLICE mode.
How to Edit Seeds Think about which genes you want to transfer from which plant to which. Typically, with exotic seeds, you'll want to make them viable for growing on the station. Development is a good gene to transfer to plants that grow or produce fruit slowly. Choose a plant which produces fruit quickly or in large quantities and transfer the Development gene to the exotic plant. Development genes from a plant that doesn't grow kudzu-style can be transferred to one that does, to make these plants more manageable. (Or you could transfer the kudzu Development gene to a non-spreading plant; we're not judging here.) Ecology genes from station-adapted plants will help the target plant to grow on the station. Metabolism genes from plants that are particularly frugal in their nutriment or water consumption can be transferred to plants that aren't. Ecophysiology genes from resistant plants can be transferred to plants that are vulnerable to pests, toxins, or weeds. Bioluminescence can be transferred from one plant to another, or you can obtain a mix of colors between the two plants if you set the injector to Splice mode. Using the Phytochemistry gene to your advantage can bring you extremely beneficial (or extremely deadly) plants that create every medicine (or poison) you can splice into them. If you don't mind losing the traits or specific stats from exotic seeds, PURGE their Phytochemistry onto an already spliced seed, then splice potency. This saves you 3 splices from the other disks. Gene Mutation While gene editing is very powerful and can enable impossible gene mixes, you still need to find said genes to mix them, which require you to mutate the plant to find the desired trait or remove an unwanted one.
Mutations and Traits Mutations happen on distinct groups. To remove a chemical from a plant you need to mutate phytochemistry, roll the chemical mutations and roll the chemical removal mutations. Chances are exclusive. You can't roll both Ligneous and Thorns on the same cycle.
Gene Group and Mutagen Mutated Data Effects Numbers Mutation Gain message Mutation Loss message Phytochemistry Unstable Mutagen Untable Mutagen
Potency Chance to increase potency. 50% chance per unit up to a cap of 200. The exact formula is: seed.potency += round(min(200 - 200/2*round(log(10,seed.potency/200*100),0.01),0.1*200),0.1
quivers! N/A Chemicals Chance to add or remove a random chemical. This can leave you with empty fruit. 50% chance per unit, with a further 50% chance to select either adding or removing and yet another 50% chance to succeed or not. The [seed.display_name] develops a strange-looking gland. A gland on the [seed.display_name] withers and dies. Morphology Radium
Produce Add a random fruit to the produce list. This fruit is valid for its recipes despite the looks. 16% chance per unit, crop selection is random. The [seed.display_name] seems to be growing something weird. N/A Thorns Makes the fruit thorny, increasing force, throw force and harming anyone picking it up without gloves. 16% chance per unit The [seed.display_name] spontaneously develops mean-looking thorns! The [seed.display_name] sheds its thorns away… Chemical Stingers Covers the fruit in stingers that can transfer the chemicals inside to anyone touching it. 16% chance per unit. The [seed.display_name] sprouts a coat of chemical stingers! The [seed.display_name]'s stingers dry off and break… Juicy Makes the fruit juicy, bypassing hardness checks and causing splashes when thrown. Can mutate into Slippery. 16% chance per unit. wobbles! wobbles! Slippery Makes the fruit extra juicy and slippery, causing people to slip when stepping on it and causing splashes when thrown. Can devolve back into Juicy. 16% chance to mutate per unit if Juicy is present. wobbles! wobbles! Ligneous Makes the plant woody got wood, requiring sharp utensils to harvest/cut down. 16% chance per unit. The [seed.display_name] seems to grow a cover of robust bark. The [seed.display_name]'s bark slowly sheds away… Appearance Changes the plant's iconset to any other valid one. 16% chance per unit. The [seed.display_name] suddenly looks a little different. N/A Bioluminescence Uranium
Bioluminescence Whether or not the plant glows. (WIP) chance per unit. Random colour selected. The [seed.display_name] begins to glow! The [seed.display_name]'s glow dims… Bioluminescent Colour The RGB values of the bioluminescent glow (if any). (WIP) chance per unit. The [seed.display_name]'s glow changes colour! N/A Ecology Bicaridine Opium
Ideal Temperature The exact temperature that the plant finds most comfortable. Differences can be compensated with Temperature Tolerance. Temperature Manipulation will move the temperature to this value.
20% chance per unit. Selects a temperature anywhere from 253K(-20.15°C/-4.27°F) to 343K (69.85°C/157.73°F) shakes! shakes! Temperature Tolerance How big a deviation from its ideal temperature can the plant survive without getting damaged. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 800K. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.heat_tolerance += round(min(800 - 800/2*round(log(10,seed.heat_tolerance/800*100),0.01),0.1*800),0.1
shakes! shakes! Ideal Light The exact amount of Lumens the plant finds most comfortable. 20% chance per unit. A random value is selected from 2 to 10. shakes! shakes! Light Tolerance The deviation from its ideal light levels the plant can survive without getting damaged. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 10 Lumens. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.light_tolerance += round(min(10 - 10/2*round(log(10,seed.light_tolerance/10*100),0.01),0.15*10),0.1)
shakes! shakes! Pressure Tolerance The pressure difference from 101.3KpA the plant can survive without getting damaged. If low KpA resistance gets low enough the plant can survive in a vacuum. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 0KpA and 500KpA respectively. 50% chance to select either Low KpA or High KpA tolerance changes. The exact formula for the changes is: Low KpA: seed.lowkpa_tolerance -= round(min(0.1 - 0.1/2*round(log(10,0.1/seed.lowkpa_tolerance*100),0.01),0.15*seed.lowkpa_tolerance),0.1) High KpA: seed.highkpa_tolerance += round(min(500 - 500/2*round(log(10,seed.highkpa_tolerance/500*100),0.01),0.15*500),0.1)
shakes! shakes! Ecophysiology Kelotane Tannic Acid
Endurance The overall “health” of the plant. Being outside their preffered environment or being exposed to toxins harms the plant. Low endurances will cause even minor hiccups to kill the plant, while big endurances can even compensate aging effectively forever. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 125. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.endurance += round(min(125 - 125/2*round(log(10,seed.endurance/125*100),0.01),0.15*125),0.1)
quivers! quivers! Lifespan How long can the plant live before dying of old age. Short lifespans can be compensated with high endurances or artificially compensated with Clonexadone. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 125. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.lifespan += round(min(125 - 125/2*round(log(10,seed.lifespan/125*100),0.01),0.15*125),0.1)
quivers! quivers! Toxin Affinity Sensitivity to toxic environments. Low levels make the plant very vulnerable to toxic conditions, while high levels can make the plant immune to Plant B Gone and most toxins, while making it vulnerable to water. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 110. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.toxin_affinity += round(min(110 - 110/2*round(log(10,seed.toxin_affinity/110*100),0.01),0.15*110),0.1)
quivers! quivers! Pest Tolerance How big a pest value can the plant tolerate without getting damaged. Plants with the Voracious trait feed on the pests instead and regain health. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 110. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.pest_tolerance += round(min(110 - 110/2*round(log(10,seed.pest_tolerance/110*100),0.01),0.15*110),0.1)
quivers! quivers! Weed Tolerance How big a weed value can the plant tolerate without getting damaged. Plants with the Voracious trait parasitize the weeds instead and regain health. 20% chance per unit up to a cap of 110. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.weed_tolerance += round(min(110 - 110/2*round(log(10,seed.weed_tolerance/110*100),0.01),0.15*110),0.1)
quivers! quivers! Metabolism Hyperzine Cocaine
Nutrient Consumption How much of the tray's stored nutrients the plant consumes per tick. At low enough levels the plant no longer needs nutrition. 25% chance per unit down to a floor of 0. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.nutrient_consumption -= round(min(0.01 - 0.01/2*round(log(10,0.01/seed.nutrient_consumption*100),0.01),0.15*seed.nutrient_consumption),0.1)
rustles! rustles! Fluid Consumption How much of the tray's stored fluids (Water and Toxins if applicable) the plant consumes per tick. At low enough levels the plant no longer needs fluids. 25% chance per unit down to a floor of 0. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.fluid_consumption -= round(min(0.01 - 0.01/2*round(log(10,0.01/seed.fluid_consumption*100),0.01),0.15*seed.fluid_consumption),0.1)
rustles! rustles! Voracious Makes the plant consume both weeds and pests on the tray, regaining lost health in the process. 25% chance per unit. Can mutate into Carnivorous shudders hungrily. shudders hungrily. Carnivorous The plant hungers for flesh, including that of humans and animals. Very dangerous to any living being. Creeping and Vine plants will grab nearby victims and bite them, with damage increasing with potency. 25% chance per unit to mutate if Voracious is present. shudders hungrily. shudders hungrily. Hematophage The plant requires blood instead of water to sustain itself. 25% chance per unit. The [seed.display_name] shudders thirstily, turning red at the roots! The [seed.display_name]'s red roots slowly wash their color out… Development Creatine
Maturation Time How long does the plant take to grow to its next stage. 28% chance per unit down to a cap of 1.1. If the plant can't have its yield modified, 33% chance. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.maturation -= round(min(1.1 - 1.1/2*round(log(10,1.1/seed.maturation*100),0.01),0.15*seed.maturation),0.1)
wriggles! wriggles! Production Time How long does the plant take to make produce when adult. 28% chance per unit down to a cap of 1. If the plant can't have its yield modified, 33% chance. The exact formula for the changes is: seed.production -= round(min(1 - 1/2*round(log(10,1/seed.production*100),0.01),0.15*seed.production),0.1)
wriggles! wriggles! Creeping Lets the plant spread a few tiles away from its tray. Can mutate into Vine. 8% chance per unit. If the plant can't have its yield modified, 33% chance. The [seed.display_name] shifts in the tray! The [seed.display_name] recedes into the tray. Vine Lets the plant spread freely from its tray. Can mutate back into Vine 8% chance per unit if Creeping is present. If the plant can't have its yield modified, 33% chance. The [seed.display_name] spasms visibly, violently thrashing in the tray! The [seed.display_name] recedes into the tray. Multiple Harvests The plant can be harvested repeatedly. 8% chance per unit. If the plant can't have its yield modified, 0% chance. The [seed.display_name] roots deep and sprouts new stalks! The [seed.display_name] wilts away some of its roots. Self Harvest The plant will harvest itself the instant it is ready to make produce. This can quickly get out of control. Unmutable. Must be acquired from Xenoarchaeology. Can still be spliced. N/A The [seed.display_name] wilts away some of its roots. Yield How much produce does the plant make per harvest. 28% chance per unit up to a cap of 16. If the plant can't have its yield modified, 0% chance. The exact formula for these changes is: seed.yield += round(min(16 - 16/2*round(log(10,seed.yield/16*100),0.01),0.15*16),0.1)
N/A N/A Xenophysiology Dexalin Thymol
Bluespace The fruit is spatially unstable and behaves like a telecrystal when thrown, teleporting either the thrower or the target to a random location within an area around the impact. Larger teleportation area with bigger potence. Not to be confused with Blue-space, the shoe-teleporting trait of Bluespace Bananas. 25 chance to per unit. The [seed.display_name] wobbles unstably, glowing blue for a moment! The [seed.display_name] slowly becomes spatial-temporally stable again. Gas Consumption The plant will consume gasses from the environment. Valid gases can be: O2, N2, CO2 and Plasma. More than one kind of gas can be consumed at a time. 25% chance per unit. Consumption rate anywhere from 3 to 9 mols per tick. 50% chance to either add a new gas or remove an existing one. rustles! rustles! Gas Creation The plant will exude a specific gas to the environment. Valid gases can be: O2, N2, CO2 and Plasma. More than one kind of gas can be produced at a time. 25% chance per unit. Production rate anywhere from 3 to 9 mols per tick. 50% chance to either add a new gas or remove an existing one. rustles! rustles! Temperature Manipulation The plant will modify the room's temperature to it's Ideal Temperature. 25% chance per unit. rustles! rustles! No Reactions The fruit will stop any chemical reactions from happening inside it. Splices that can cause reactions, such as Glowberry+Rocknut will not cause an EMP on harvest, for example. Reactions will still happen when consumed, splashed (if applicable) or ground. Unmutable. Must be acquired from Exotic seeds or Xenoarchaeology. Can still be spliced. N/A N/A Somatoray.png Floral Somatoray This handy dandy device can mutate any gene group without requiring chemicals and can reliably species change a plant with little issue. Get one as soon as you can so you don't have to deal with chemicals and their unwanted side effects (such as radium increasing tray toxicity).
Generally Accepted Roundstart Method Plant grass and dump 3 bottles of robust harvest for 100+ potency, watch out for weeds/pests as robust harvest makes them rise quickly and you can lose the plant. Extract this grass' PHYTOCHEMISTRY once it reaches at least 100 potency. Hack your seed vendor to get glowshrooms, they contain radium. Take a grass seed packet and SPLICE Chanterelle mushroom DEVELOPMENT gene onto it at least 5 times. Take out this modified gene packet and extract the DEVELOPMENT gene. Take a Clover seed and extract the METABOLISM gene. Take a glowshroom packet and extract the ECOPHYSIOLOGY gene onto a disk. You will be PURGEing these 3 disks onto every seed you plant from now on for easy mode farming. You should also extract ECOLOGY from the grass packet if you're interested in taming exotic seeds, to edit them into tolerating ship conditions. Modify a Glowshroom seed with the above 3 disks and plant it. SPLICE PHYTOCHEMISTRY into Ambrosia Deus, Ambrosia Vulgaris, Glowshrooms, Nettles and Poppies to extract their chemicals to be used for mutating. To get Death Nettles and Glowberries, you can use the Opium, Tannic Acid or Radium from those plants to mutate the species. Mix the extracted Phenol, Formic Acid and Radium to make Untable Mutagen. Mix some Untable Mutagen with Opium, Cocaine and Nutriment to make Creatine. Thymol from Vale or Dexalin can be used to unlock the last remaining mutations that are not exclusive to xenoarcheology seeds. The mutation chemicals will be consumed over time when dumped into the tray, so wait patiently. DO NOT LEAVE PLANTS AFFECTED BY CREATINE, DEXALINS OR LEFT4ZED UNATTENDED. Hyperzine can make kudzu vines especially dangerous, be careful. If science is doing their jobs, grab a Floral Somatoray to avoid dealing with the chemicals. PURGE your disks and SPLICE potency onto either a Watermelon or Pumpkin seed for maximum nutrition. Use them to power your biogenerator, feed the crew or refill nutrients on trays. Alternate Roundstart Method Plant grass and dump 3 bottles of robust harvest for 100+ potency, watch out for weeds/pests as robust harvest makes them rise quickly and you can lose the plant. Buy 10-30 crates of exotic seeds. Make sure they know to call you instead of delivering the crates. Get one plant bag per every 5 crates bought and get the seeds themselves from cargo (saving time for you and the cargonian). Empty every plant bag onto the seed extractor and use the seed extractor. Sort by highest yield and look for the one with the lowest production time. Your ideal is a 15 Yield-3 Production plant (Maturation might be a bit high, but nothing you can't compensate with some diethylamine), but those are rare (hence buying so many crates), take out the closest one you can get, making sure it doesn't have any unwanted traits. Scan the seed to check for the Multiple Harvests trait. If it has it, skip the next 2 steps. Splice this seed's DEVELOPMENT onto a grass seed 7 times (for an average 99.2% of the disk's numbers). Extract the modified grass' DEVELOPMENT. If the exotic seed has the better METABOLISM, extract it from the exotic seed, else extract it from Clover. Hack your seed vendor to get Glowshrooms. Extract the ECOPHYSIOLOGY gene from the Glowshrooms. Alternatively, extract the ECOPHYSIOLOGY from Tower Caps. Extract the Robust Harvest grass's PHYTOCHEMISTRY. You will be purging these ECOPHYSIOLOGY, METABOLISM and DEVELOPMENT disk and splicing the grass PHYTOCHEMISTRY onto every plant for ultra yield piss easy farming. Ask chemistry for any of the valid mutagens if you don't want to get them botanically. On the time you took to do all this science most likely got the needed materials and research already. Ask them for a couple Floral Somatorays to skip the chemicals. PURGE your disks and SPLICE potency onto either a Watermelon or Pumpkin seed for maximum nutrition. Use them to power your biogenerator, feed the crew or refill nutrients on trays. Making Plants Vines Kudzu and other spreading plants will spread from their tray/dirt mound in all directions, limited only by their trait type (either Creeping or Vine and Maturation time. Given enough time and open doors a vine can realistically spread throughout an entire station. Vines may also entangle people or inject chemicals from its fruit. Regular kudzu isn't that dangerous, Allicin is just fancy Anti-Toxin, but fear the vine that has Phenol or Cyanide.
Taming Vines Always dump all your exotic seeds on the seed extractor. You can quickly check for all seeds with the Vine trait this way. Before you plant, consider PURGING in the development from a plant that doesn't spread. Wrench out a tray and drag it to the backroom. Plant your vine seed here. In case things go terribly wrong, you can still contain it. Your hatchet or a Scythe from a Weed Killer crate will cut down vines faster than most other tools. If the vine is Ligneous consider using chemicals instead, due to the extra endurance to tools that trait gives a vine. If the plant has a low toxin affinity, Plant-B-Gone and most other toxic chemicals can be used to kill the spreading pieces. If it has a high toxin affinity, regular water will work. Goats will eat vines with extreme ease and effectiveness. Buy a few goats from cargo. Beware the goat headbutts. If the plant has Chemical Stingers run away. Odds are it will inject acid or cyanide on you. Cyborgs are safe from chemical vines. If the plant has the Thorns trait, it will crush anyone caught inside, including cyborgs. Mechs are safe from being entangled. If the plant is Carnivorous just call the shuttle and pray, since the plant will grab nearby people and EAT THEM. EVEN IF YOUR VINES ARE PERFECTLY BENEFICIAL, PEOPLE ARE GOING TO MAKE A LYNCHMOB IF THEY ESCAPE. Vines are very invasive, annoying, obscure sight and are a pain to contain without proper chemicals, proper tools or proper animals to keep them at bay.
Loosing The Kudzu Low maturation times will make kudzu spread faster. Do not purge your standard development disk. Find or mutate a seed with the lowest maturation possible and SPLICE that onto your kudzu. Medium Toxin Affinity will make the plant tolerate (not immune) both plant-b-gone and water. High Toxin Affinity can be used, but once people catch on they will all run for the nearest extinguisher and nigh-instantly remove your plant. Splice in strong traits depending on what you want. Thorns for plants that crush, Carnivorous for bloodthirsty plants, Chemical Stingers to inject whatever compounds you spliced in, etc. If the plant has Chemical Stingers, splice in strong chemicals and mixtures. Everyone fears the Cyanide Kudzu but nobody expects the SPIDERS kudzu. If you have the self harvest Trait and high yield, certain splices like EMP (Rocknut+Glowberries), Meat (Jurlmah+Blood Tomatoes) or Smoke (Amauri+Death Nettles[Pacid] or Destroying Angels [Alpha Amanitin]) will cause extreme chaos. The EMP reaction in particular will massively irradiate anyone nearby. Splice in the Gas Creation trait for extra mayhem, since the vine will now mess with room atmos or shit out plasma, neutering any fire-based attack against you/the vines. Make a few dozen sandstone bricks. Go deep in maintenance or otherwise less visited areas and make some dirt patches here and there. Plant your kudzu seeds there for multi-area kudzu-ing. Loosing Kudzu at the same time another loose type is ongoing, such as Biomass, Powercreeper or Mobs will ensure nobody will be able to contain your mayhem. KEEP IN MIND KUDZULOOSING IS KINDA BORING FOR THE VICTIMS IF YOU MAKE IT TOO STRONG AND MAKES IT OBVIOUS (YOU) ARE THE SYNDICATE AGENT. KUDZULOOSE WITH CAUTION.
Atmospherics Some plants can tamper with the room's atmos by exuding unwanted gases or consuming wanted ones. They can also alter the room's temperature to their ideal. This can be both dangerous and powerful.
To grow an atmospherics plant:
Dump all your exotic seeds on the seed extractor. You can quickly check for all seeds with the Gas Creation or Gas Consumption traits this way. Or mutate the gas trait via Dexalin or Thymol onto a normal seed. Take out your gas-seeds and scan them individually with your plant analyzer to know what gas do they make. Always plant gas plants in an isolation tray connected to a port for everyone's safety. Unless that's just not your thing… If you were exposed to Plasma gas, leave the room immediately (USE INFLATABLES), take all the contaminated clothes off, get to medical then decontaminate your clothing using a washing machine or bleach. You can splice in more than one gas onto the plant so it consumes unwanted gases and exudes wanted gases. With enough dedication you can turn botany into another atmospherics area, complete with plasma production and gas purging. If the problem got outta hand, call for atmospherics. Atmos Control To plasma flood or tame a plasma flood you just need a plant with the appropriate trait and plant it. A good way to covertly flood is to pipe your plasma plants into distro, which will confuse the crew into attacking Atmospherics. How to neuter the extreme heats of a plasma or fuel fire:
Plants with the Temperature Manipulation trait will always move the room's temperature to their ideal (ECOLOGY) temperature. This effect starts right after planting. Find or mutate a seed with high temperature and pressure tolerances and splice that into your Temperature Manipulation seed. Purge station plant ecology (if needed) onto your temperature seed. Get a few dozen seeds of this plant and a stack of sandstone. Quickly enter the affected area, make a couple of dirt patches with sandstone and plant your temperature plants. (Optional) Put your plants everywhere so the station is passively defended against fires. POWER!!! You might think that botany just can't make power, but that's categorically untrue. Here's a couple of methods, some requiring more effort than others, that can be used to keep the station powered:
Gas plants into TEG. The Temperature Manipulation of certain plants can power the TEG by themselves as long as one of the plants heats the room and the other cools it down (or just HE into space). Alternatively, pump in plasma and oxygen from a Gas Creating plant into a burn chamber. High Yield Plant + Conveyor + SME. Your fruit gets ashed and stimulates the shard for power. Bonus points if the plant self harvests. High Yield and Potency Pumpkins + Conveyor + Gourmonger. At high enough potencies a pumpkin can overshadow a cheese wheel in nutrition, making it a great source of semi-sustainable food/power. Bonus points if the plant self harvests. Diamond Carrot-Ice Peppers-Silicate Citrus-100 potency splice + MRS P.A.C.M.A.N engine. This is the only known way to make MRS P.A.C.M.A.Ns sustainable. Even with bottom tier parts they can provide enough to power a low-mid pop station by themselves. Bonus if the splice also makes Uranium (Glowberries) for a secondary SUPER P.A.C.M.A.N engine. Weaponry and Poisons Botany has 2 “official” weapons and many unofficial splices that behave as such:
High Potency Death Nettles: They do half their potency in damage with a slight decay after every hit. Get rid of that nettle after 5-7 hits. Has a chance to hit for 2x damage. They sting when picked up without gloves. High Potency Novaflowers: They do very little damage compared to a Death Nettle, but they heat up the victim's body very fast (if it somehow has negative potency it cools it down!), just 2 hits are enough to send anyone into the hundreds of degrees. Which, if they can't cool down fast enough is a guaranteed death sentence, even if they managed to escape. Stun Tomatoes: Or any juicy fruit (such as pitchers) for that matter. Splice ghost peppers into your tomatoes for a throwable stun. The condensed capsaicin will stun, and if you're lucky to get the curare transferred as well, it will paralyze for about 10 seconds. Bonus if you splice Death Nettles onto the tomatoes for Pacid. Remember to throw at the head to stun. Toxic Tomatoes: There's no need to make fancy poison cocktails when Alpha-Amanatin is a thing. Splice Destroying Angels onto your tomatoes and throw a handful at someone. If they have less than 3u inside and more than a minute has passed they'll start getting some small toxin damage and possible Liver death. If they don't get affected by that they will die of massive toxin damage 8 minutes later. Sleepy Tomatoes: Splicing Reishi onto your tomatoes and throwing a handful at people will dose them with Valerenic Acid, which behaves as sleep toxin. Just dose them with extra Valerenic Acid after they fall to keep them KO'd. EMP: Splice Rocknuts and Glowberries alongside high potency and yield for a very strong local area EMP, which will all but fry all silicons and disable energy weaponry. If strong enough (>120 potency) it will also irradiate anyone in the immediate vicinity of the plant. Bumcivillian: Splice Rocknuts and regular Nettles. Ring a bell and harvest. This will create Bumcivillian, which will consume all sound in the nearby 7×7 area for 30 seconds. Diamond Carrots + Poppies: The Opium treats the diamond dust damage, so the victim will be constantly screaming from having his guts cut with what amounts to broken glass with little overall harm. High Potency Ambrosia: Anyone unlucky or dumb enough to eat more than one will find himself overdosed on cocaine, which causes severe heart failure. Super Blunts Blunts, if spliced properly, can almost completely replace the need for medical, barring some surgeries. Ambrosia Deus splicing is currently bugged, so to splice multiple chemicals onto it you first have to splice everything onto a temporary seed then purge everything onto the Ambrosia Deus.
To splice into Deus you need to splice in a specific order and use a secondary seed. Splice the smaller reagent combos into your intermediary seed, then the larger combos. For example, you have a Deus+Vulgaris (Opium+Phytocarisol+Tannic Acid+Kathalai) splice and a Kudzu+Rocknut (Alicin+Iron) splice. Splicing them directly into Deus will not add the Allicin or Iron. Purge the smaller combo into any random seed first, in this case the Kudzu+Rocknut, then the larger group. Now that you have a single seed with Deus+Vulgaris+Kudzu+Rocknut, purge it into an ambrosia deus seed. This will bypass the broken splicing and properly add all reagents to your ambrosia deus, which can be turned into a blunt.
The most barebones and fastest splice you can do to help tame the wild ride is Ambrosia Vulgaris into Ambrosia Deus for that double layer burn+brute medicine, along with some speed from the cocaine. Try to pump its potency to at least 100. If you have the time, try getting some Rocknuts and Kudzu as well, this will also layer in blood loss healing and Dylovene/Spaceacillin.
Splicing blood is a faster instantaneous blood dose, but iron is WAY more efficient on a unit per blood recovered ratio. You only have 100u of capacity inside the fruit/blunt so you want to use it well.
Plants to Splice Plants you'll almost always want to splice onto your Ambrosia.
Ambrosiadeus.pngDeus: Contains Kathalai (Dermaline), Phytocarisol (Synthocarisol), Cocaine (Hyperzine) and Mescaline (Space Drugs). Ambrosiavulgaris.pngVulgaris: Contains Opium (Bicaridine) and Tannic Acid (Kelotane). Rocknut.pngRocknuts: Contains Iron. Carrot.pngCarrots: Contains Zeaxanthin (Imidazoline). Kudzupod.pngKudzu: Contains Allicin (Dylovene). Bloodtomato.pngBlood tomatoes: Contains blood (iron is prefferable). Exotic Seed Chems Usually rare chems found in exotic seeds or through mutations. Whether or not they should be spliced is up to you.
Good Exotic chems
Chemical Effect Alkysine Brain Damage Medicine Allicin Anti-Toxin Medicine Blood Adds blood if consumed. Carp Pheromones Disguises you as a carp to to other carps, but only if they have never seen you before or if they're a baby. Ethylredorazine Neutralizes all effects from alcohol. Kathalai Advanced Burn Medicine. Hyronalin Radiation Medicine. Opium Brute Medicine Peridaxon Heals internal organ damage very fast, patching lungs, hearts, etc. Phytocarisol Advanced Brute Medicine Phytosine Advanced Brain Damage Medicine Slime Jelly Heals all 4 damage types very fast but has a 10% chance to cause 20-60 toxin damage if not slimeperson. Tannic Acid Burn Medicine. Thymol Suffocation Medicine. Irrelevant Chems
Chemical Effect Mescaline Causes some druggy visual effects but does not dose high enough in blunts to trigger any effects. Clonexadone Treats all damage types + clone damage if the user is at 170K or lower. Rejuvenates plants. Cryoxadone Treats all damage types + clone damage if the user is at 170K or lower. Methylin Lets monkeys understand human speech and makes them dexterous. Brain and Toxin damage on overdose. Bad Chemicals
Chemical Effect Advanced Mutation Toxin Turns the user into an actual slime. Carpotoxin Highly toxic, precursor to strong poisons and medicines. Coriamyrtin Stops breathing and causes severe organ damage. Curare Paralyzes, silences and knocks down the victim. Slight suffocation damage. Cytisine Halves stun length and removes hallucinations, very toxic. Defalexorin Causes severe hallucinations and suffocation. Diamond Dust Literally powdered diamond. Don't eat the fibreglass-like powder. Hyoscyamine Causes severe brain damage. Lexorin Stops breathing and causes severe organ damage. Mint Toxin If consumed by a fat person, gibs them. Mutation Toxin Turns the user into a slime person. Phenol Polytrinic Acid in plant form. Physostigmine Causes confusion and dizzyness. Makes Spaceacillin if mixed with Inaprovaline. Plasticide Uncured plastic. Toxic. Can be solidified for plastic sheets. Radium Radioactive. Toxic. Mutagenic on plants. Rezadone Treats clone damage without cryogenics. Overdose risk in blunts but otherwise great. Solanine Toxic. Synaptizine Halves stun length and removes hallucinations, very toxic. Valerenic Acid Puts you to sleep after a delay. Tips and tricks You can click a disk in hand to clear the contents and reuse it. You have a limited number so keep an eye on them. More can be ordered from cargo. Some traits are easier to find by mutating certain plants into specific strains, instead of trying to randomly mutate them from generic mutations. To multiply seeds, plant them and spam wirecutters on them until it stops working, replant the seed you got and repeat. You can kill plants by bashing them on harm intent with any damaging item. Left 4 Zed has a 1% chance per game tick (2s) to trigger ANY valid mutation, which can be useful for a faux-old mutation system experience. You can dump water into a tray to remove toxin from the tray. Likewise, you can dump toxin on a tray to remove water. There are many more exotic splices than just the ones hinted at here. Experiment! Pumpkins and Watermelons have the best Nutriment per potency ratio (1u Nutriment for every 6 Potency). Put your mutagens in condiment bottles for controlled 1u doses without needing a dropper. Mutagens will only trigger species mutations on baby plants. Wait at least one growth cycle before mutating a plant with subspecies (tomatoes, bananas, etc). Splicing two identical chemicals with different production rates will keep the better production rate. Splicing pumpkin nutriment (1:6) onto an eggplant (1:10) will give you nutriment on a 1:6 ratio.