• Access: Research Division, Xenobiology, Laboratories, Toxins Storage, Mineral Storage
• Additional Access: Robotics, Tech Storage, Genetics
• Difficulty: Medium
• Supervisors: Research Director
• Duties: Do experiments, study and write research to earn Tech Levels, and figure out new ways to put together what you have!
• Guides: Guide to toxins, Guide to Research and Development, Guide to xenobiology, Guide to telescience
• Quote: So the slimes are breeding nothing but pine trees? Most unprofitable.

You are a Researcher, which means your job is to cultivate information about the many strange places you visit, artifacts you find, etc. Whereas scientists push the bounds of known knowledge, your goal is to learn more about the existing characteristics of objects for the good of the crew. This usually dovetails with things like what strange alien artifacts actually do, how to breed strange new lifeforms with Xenobiology or Cytology, what new plants do with Xenobotany, and so forth. Your domain is the Xenosciences Wing, which is usually safely isolated from the rest of the ship. Try to keep it that way.

Bare minimum requirements: Don't release flaming kudzu, killer slimes, toxic plants, or blow up the entire Research wing with a faulty artifact. (Alright, the last one probably isn't your fault.)

Above everything, you're supposed to be the Research in Research and Development, turning the building blocks of matter into new discoveries around every turn. By writing research papers, you can increase understanding of a topic; for example, projected design advantages to a pistol with a piezoelectric butt so that it regains some power when it smacks someone. You have access to the EXPERIMENTOR for trying various stimuli, and later, the S.T.A.S.I.S. system for developing probabilistic outcomes of additional future technologies.

You're responsible for:

• Research: Along with the Scientists and Mechanics, you are one of the three crucial crewmembers that develops the crew's knowledge of the sciences, including new game mechanics and designs.
• Building New Toys: Whereas Mechanics understand what is and Scientists experiment on what is known, you work on the conjectural, building new toys to print from the protolathes until finished blueprints result!
• Building Things Better: In addition to building entirely new toys, some of your developments allow you to build pre-existing technology more efficiently - for example, power-regulating SMESes that balance input properly instead of failing when the power is too low.
• ???

As a Researcher, your immediate superior is the Research Director.

• Make sure you and any other researchers are working on separate projects. It's awkward to turn in a paper for research points only to discover that your boss had been spending six hours on the same thing.
• Do not build bombs. You're a researcher, not a scientist. You take notes on other people's bombs. There's a difference.
• Whatever the circumstances, do your best to document everything. Yours might be the writings that find themselves in the next update of the wiki, if they're accurate enough.