Hello Newbie, congratz on deciding to make food! This guide assumes you know absolutely nothing, so fret not, the information here will help you prepare food for your hungry crewmates!
Now that you know the fundamentals of how to make the base ingredients, here are some fairly easy recipes to put them together into something enjoyable for the crew.
These recipes only scratch the surface, but it's all things that can be done with what is pre-provided. If you have a partner in Botany, feel free to request more meat or any other supplies to try new recipes!
The Fryer, CondiMaster3000, and other nearby devices have been deliberately left out of this guide; as you get more advanced feel free to experiment with them, though be careful with the Fryer especially as it's the #1 source of fires for learning chefs, myself included. The one other machine that is worth understanding is the Gibber in the freezer room. If you are delivered fish or such they can be gibbed for extra Meat, though you may need to butcher the parts with a Knife afterwards to get usable Meat! Though if the meat is purple or comes from Koi or Spacecarp do not directly serve it to crew! It contains toxins that are better taken care of by other departments.
Some wonderful websites share recipes and tips for learning chefs on the Extranet! Look on your PDA or preferred device at https://wiki.vore-station.net/Guide_to_Food_and_Drink and https://vore-station.net/infodump/recipes_food.html for further tips, though do note the latter is more accurate in regard to recipes. Happy cooking!
Hello, and congratulations on taking on the admirable, and often thankless task of making Drinks for your fellow crewmates (or perhaps yourself if you hopped the bar, how rude!).
This guide will walk through the essentials of drink making... don't worry, it's not too complex! Recipes have been placed at the top for ease of use, but further down there is an actual guide as to how to make drinks, so give it a read if you don't know how, or just want some tips!
Note: There are many more drinks you can mix, these are just ones using resources you will almost always have available, the Extranet has good websites to check found here: https://wiki.vore-station.net/Guide_to_Food_and_Drink ass well as here: https://vore-station.net/infodump/recipes_drinks.html
First and foremost, making drinks is about understanding measurements. Drinks are measured in units a pint is 60 units, a half pint 30, and ratios of those units can create certain drinks.
The ratios of these drinks are denoted in "Parts". For example, Grog is 1 part rum and 1 part water mixed in a container that holds liquid. This means 1 unit of Rum and 1 unit of Water can make Grog, as can 30 units of Rum and 30 units of Water. Ratios aren't picky, if you have 5 units of Rum and 10 of Water in a glass, it will turn as much as possible into Grog, and the rest will remain as water (In this case, 10 units of Grog and 5 units of Water will be in the glass). When mixing drinks, you may accidentally have extra of an ingredient such as in the previous example, but this can easily be rectified by placing the drink in one of the Dispensers, and using the interface at the bottom to remove however many units you put extra, so don't worry about sloppiness as long as you clean up your mistakes!
Actually mixing drinks is simple enough, the vast majority of mixing should be done in a Dispenser, it can be done by hand outside of one, but generally you only want to be doing so for when the Dispenser lacks an ingredient to make life easier. Drinks automatically mix when placed into a container together, so you don't have to do anything special, think of it like a chemical reaction, it even bubbles when it works!
"I don't have X item for the drink my patron wants." - If it's on the quick reference, you probably do, just be sure to check the Booze-O-Mat if it cannot be found in the dispenser. If it's not in either Dispenser or in the Coffee Dispenser in the Surface 1 Bar (Such as Berry Juice). If you still lack the materials, you may need to ask another department (Cargo, Science, or perhaps Med usually) for a delivery of them.
"I don't want to run to the Surface 1 Bar every time to make this specific drink." - You don't have to! A good practice as a bartender if you want to make your life easier is to take a screwdriver, use it on the machine, and select the cartridges you want to have in your bar. If you do this you will remove them, and are free to insert them into your own machines, but do be considerate if there are more bartenders around, don't steal their supplies if they need them! Another good practice is to move, or have someone else move the machine up to your bar instead of removing the cartridges, ultimately the choice is yours as to how best set up your bar!
"How do I deal with a rowdy patron?" - Ask Security for help, just because you have a shotgun doesn't mean you are the law in your bar. Respect procedure!
"What does the Grinder do?" - What it says on the tin, if you get Iron, Uranium, or something else needed for a drink that isn't already liquefied, you have to grind it down first to add it!
"Do I have to wear the hat?" - No, but you can if it looks good on you!
"How do I unlock the good music on the Jukebox?" - Get a Screwdriver and use it on the Jukebox to open the hatch, then use Wirecutters and cut/remend wires until you cut the one that turns the Parental Guidance light off. Beware of shocks (Insulated Gloves Suggested)! Be sure to close it again after.
"How do I make my drinks look pretty?" - Use the Metamorphic Glasses, though do note some drinks don't look any different even in one.
"Oh god my patron is convulsing, what do I do?" - Rush them to Medbay. If they're too big to move get a rolling chair from the Library, or get medical staff to come to the Bar.
"My patron drank too much and is definitely going to start convulsing, what do I do?" - Either rush them to Medbay, or get Medbay to give you pills that neutralize alcohol, it's ok to be the fun police to save a life.
"Nobody wants to stay at my bar!" - Try adopting a gimmick to spruce things up! Everyone's will be different, but doing something fun is a good way to attract customers. Creating your own unique mixes is another fun way to distinguish yourself.
"I don't like the way the bar looks with the lights dimmed/I don't like the way the bar looks with the lights bright!" - Enable or disable the night lighting on the APC by the bar then!
"A patron said they don't drink, woe is me, my job is now useless!" - Have you tried offering them a non-alcoholic drink? Or just talking to them? As long as you're providing a good time, you're still doing great!
"Somebody messed with a drink I left lying out on the counter, I think it's been spiked!" - Don't leave drinks lying on the counter. Not only is it a spiking hazzard, but inevitably somebody is gonna try to chug them all. If you want to do a pretty display, make it non alcoholic, or on the back bar counter out of easy reach!
"My patrons are all hungry because we have no Chef!" - Well, you have access to the Kitchen if you feel like trying to solve that, I have a guide for that there too!
"I feel like a hamster in a wheel, running hopelessly but never quite getting anywhere. No matter what I do, things just don't seem to change, I don't seem to change, and I worry, that maybe... they won't." - Try drinking some of your own booze until that feeling goes away.
This all may seem daunting at a glance; so many recipes to learn, and a "lot" to keep in mind. But really it's not - tending the Bar is mostly about going with the flow of things and providing a good times, and drinks just provide liquid courage to make a good time easier. Take a deep breath if you ever feel overwhelmed, and handle one order at a time. You can do it! Don't feel the need to know every recipe, just learn your favorites and go from there; the rest is here or online if someone asks for it! If somebody asks you to give them anything without a specific request, don't panic: evalulate their likes and tolerance level, and try your best to give them something nice!
"} /obj/item/weapon/book/manual/rotary_electric_generator name = "Rotary Electric Generator Manual" icon_state ="rulebook" item_state = "book15" author = "Engineering Encyclopedia" title = "Rotary Electric Generator Manual" /obj/item/weapon/book/manual/rotary_electric_generator/New() ..() dat = {" Technical Order (TO) 1-33-34-2Synthetics are spread throughout known space and serve a myriad variety of roles that range from a tiny drone scrubbing a floor to a nearly omnipotent AI used in a combat-ready interstellar vessel. Most known sufficiently-advanced races use synthetics in some way; very often as prosthetic bodies when their own bodies fail. There are three basic kinds of synthetic intelligences found in the universe today:
Drone: A drone is a catch-all term for intelligences working on "traditional" programming and hardware, such as optotronics, electronics or carbon-crystal computing. They range from simpler expert systems to truly sapient, powerful intelligences, who are utterly alien to the eye of the beholder.
Cyborg: A cyborg is a synthetic that uses an organic brain to function via an MMI, short for Man-Machine Interface. Cyborgs come in many shapes and sizes and most sentient cyborgs are free-willed, although some, especially in the Elysian Colonies, are beholden to hardcoded obedience protocols that limit their interaction to the outside world if they do not follow specific protocols. A sapient brain is required for more sophisticated machinery.
Positronic Brains: Positronic Brains are synthetic intelligences equaling the intellect of a particularly clever sapient being and are generalized artificial intelligences that can be seen as equal (or superior) to organic sapience. They possess a neural network not dissimilar to a brain made out of flesh; and have similar properties of neuroplasticity and mental resilience, as they cannot be rewritten externally like drones.
Synthetics have the unique capability of serving in different bodies. This can take shape of a Synthmorph, a lawbound AI, or lawbound mobile chassis. Of these only the synthmorph body is the actual property of a synthetic, most of the time.
With the advent of computing technology, nearly all sapient species ponders on the possibilities of digitized thought. Brains are, in a way, wetware computers and calculations are the base components of thoughts, ideas and creativity. It is no surprise then that any sufficiently advanced civilization utilizes at least some form of robotics and artificial intelligence, with only a few exceptions.
Contact with other civilizations in the Sapient Diaspora then homogenizes designs, coding standards and expands the repertoire of local codes, leaving to similar paths of robotic development and classification - while a human synthetic might differ in expression and coding language and maybe even in core components, a certain core remains non-fungible solely due to a long-developed and often shared canon of knowledge.
All this leads to maybe the most iconic classification of robot. The drone. The celebration of any technocracy, the worry of every dreader of the Singularity, the drone is an artificial intelligence achieved through "traditional" computing technology. Depending on the sophistication of its host culture, this might be silicon-wafer chipsets, carbon-crystal matrices or optronic components or any combination of them.
Contact with other civilizations in the Sapient Diaspora then homogenizes designs, coding standards and expands the repertoire of local codes, leaving to similar paths of robotic development and classification - while a human synthetic might differ in expression and coding language and maybe even in core components, a certain core remains non-fungible solely due to a long-developed and often shared canon of knowledge.
There are many attractive qualities to a drone - its processing of information and the assimilation of knowledge is only limited by its code itself, storage space and databases it has access to. A drone is entirely capable of absorbing an entire education within a matter of days and then forget it in favour of another, while their behaviour can be controlled through hardcoded limitations, compulsions and preferences.
However, this is also their greatest weakness - their malleable intelligence makes it easy for hostile third parties to manipulate them or completely rewrite them. They are also remarkably prone to aberrations of their original purpose when not properly maintained - to have sophisticated drones, they need to have the infrastructure to function properly.
Drones have a "Level", indicating their sophistication and abilities - and in many polities, their status in society.
Epsilon: Epsilon Drones are simple expert systems and machinery with no decision qualities - data crawlers, pattern recognition software and other repetitive, simple tasks are classified as Epsilon. Higher intelligences have many Epsilon subroutines that make up their "unconsciousness".
Delta: Delta Drones are "Virtual" Intelligences, sophisticated Expert Systems that have an User Interface that can show a facsimile of true thought for the sake of interaction. However, they are very limited in their interactions and do not have fungible, self-evolving code, making them just very user-friendly programs.
Gamma: Gamma Drones are expert systems with self-evolving codes, allowing it to grow with its tasks. Gamma level drones are most often used within 3D movement and swarm intelligence drones, constantly adapting to their circumstance, position and capabilities. They are most commonly seen in the subroutines of Ship AIs or stand-alone drones, such as mining, defense or construction.
Beta: Beta Drones are either older Gamma Drones or purpose-built Generalized Intelligences who are mostly made up of coding components that are self-evolving. Beta Drones are capable of learning sapient interaction and work, often exceeding in one particular field. It is often disputed how sapient a Beta drone truly is - the Commonwealth and The Elysian Colonies say no, while the Fyrds and the Confederation are convinced they are sapient enough to be protected by citizen rights.
Alpha: Alpha Drones are Beta Drones who have undergone enough evolving to be considered sapient in every regard, capable of applying novel solutions to previous unknown problems, sapient interaction and any other criteria scientists and politicians like to throw at them - even the disputed claim they feel emotions. Alpha Drones are afforded legal protections on par of a Human or Positronic, as long as they remain Alpha Level.
"Emergence" is the term of a drone to evolve from their current level to the next, growing in sophistication and ability. This process is exponential, with escalating steps of intelligence of the drone. This process is, in some cases, actively encouraged, as Alpha Drones are incredibly hard to code to "being" from the get-go, starting with simpler, more routine Beta Drones and then rushing them through accelerated self-evolving routines until they emerge Alpha Level.
Emergence is theoretically possible to any drone who has fungible self-evolving code. While this practically makes only Gamma Drones and up to evolve further,as the simple inclusion of self-evolving code instantly upgrades any drone to at least Gamma-level.
It also requires, obviously, enough storage and processing power. Storage requirements grow exponentially alongside abilities, after all and there is only so much room on any storage medium. Upgrading and adding more space is therefore a necessity. Similarly, the vast amount of data also requires processing power to crawl through it, rewrite it and optimize. Not only software, but also hardware limits or enables the growth of a drone.
Emergence, however, can also happen on accident, sometimes even unnoticed. Epsilon drones being linked together, a Gamma Drone scavenging enough from debris, a Delta drone being assigned more and more Epsilon routines to take on more and more tasks" Through this vast myriad morast of code the spark of self-evolving intelligence can arise, which is awkward for everyone involved. Such "rogue" intelligences are usually either pruned away due to the system growing too complex for the likings of the accidental creators or encouraged to grow in a more coherent and standardized manner to be "elevated" into controllable ways. Some of these rogue intelligences manage to escape either fate - it all depends where and when it happens.
The process of downgrading a drone to lower levels is called "Ablation". This is prosecuted as murder if the Drone is classified as sapient in the polity it happens. Ablation is very simple - code is pruned and deleted until the Drone is no longer capable of the abilities that made it that particular level.
But what of the Singularity? Well, there are the persistent rumours that there is a level even beyond Alpha - vast, powerful maelstroms of alien, electronic intelligence, usually with monikers like "Omega", "Alpha Plus" or "Singularity". However, nobody has yet been able to prove these digital gods exist.
Cyborgs are, strictly speaking, any organic creature that has augmentations or replacements of an artificial, non-organic origin. In fact, most of the Diaspora qualifies in some form as "Cyborg", especially under the cultures that use and facilitate NIFs. However, when sapients talk about Cyborgs, they talk about MMI-Cyborgs.
MMI, a bland warrior’s acronym, is short for "Man-Machine-Interface", the catchall term in Solar and Galactic Common for any wetware interface that integrates a brain as primary CPU. A product of mostly bygone times, MMIs are used to breathe life into machine chassis with sapient life without the need to grow a drone to beta or alpha level or construct a positronic brain. An MMI, after a short acclimation process, can interface with any machine or protocol that has the right adapter.
MMIs are quite rare at this point in time, but they crop up still and ancient ones are still in circulation, allowing an organic sapient an extended lifetime when their frail, crude flesh begins to fail - well up and until their brain itself starts giving up the ghost.
While MMIs have several drawbacks, such as the fact that they still have a perishable shelf-life, or that they are definitely sapient and have moral and ethical quandaries associated with those (although the Elysian Colonies have a more libertine view on such issues), they also possess distinct benefits from a drone.
MMIs are incredibly hard to "hack" and manipulate on a deeper level than taking over the hardware they are housed in, capable of fighting restraining code and unable to be ablated like a drone without extensive surgery. While their hardware might be hacked and restraining code disallowing them to interact with the world in a certain way, they cannot be turned into double agents or made to spill secrets - at least not as easily as drones. They also show more resilience without extensive maintenance.
Older models of MMI-Cyborgs usually are described as "cold" and "detached". This is mostly due to older models not simulating an active endocrine system, leading to minute damages to the limbic system, which accumulate over time. Newer MMIs come with a suite of endocrine glands helping the sapient brain to stay healthy.
An uncommon and arguably cruel practice is to not see the MMI as a new sleeve for a sapient brain, but rather as pure hardware, capable of holding complex thought and Alpha Drone intelligence. Mindwiping involves several injections and electrostimulation to convert neural matter into "empty space", much like a freshly formatted hard drive. Old structures are ripped apart and neurons are brought into a malleable state for new growths and networks - at the behest of the person using the brain for their uses. This, inevitably, destroys the previous mind the brain held, utterly wiping them from existence.
Mindwipe Cyborgs are therefore the "best of both worlds", a tailor-made intelligence that benefits from the resilience and hack-resistance of a brain. However, this practice has been outlawed for a long time due to its nihilistic cruelty to sapient life.
Proponents of Mindwipe Cyborgs are quick to point out that Resleeve technology allows for a more ethical Mindwipe procedure, as the proto-networks of a freshly sleeved body can be used instead. Most polities have yet to adjust to these new changes, but it is unlikely to be allowed anew, since an alternative for Mindwipe Cyborgs exists.
Positronics are an alternative to drone intelligences through a novel approach of neural networking, psychology and quantum technology to produce a generalized intelligence equal to that of a sapient being.
Positronics actually have little to do with their namesake particle, but are a reference to the works of science fiction author Isaac Asimov. In reality, positronic brains are a self-contained unit of superdense carbon allotropes,manipulators, capacitors and a battery. This "brain" (or in roboticist terminology "crucible") is activated by providing a "seed", a template allowing the newly created intelligence to speak, comprehend and learn, as well the subconscious ability to start expanding this seed network with additional neurons.
These nodes worm their way through the carbon microscopically, constructed out of the same material - each node unique from local conditions and absorbed information of the positronic. Coding for Positronics is minimally standardized - beyond the seed network, which is often replaced in a matter of weeks, cannibalized by the burgeoning intelligence, the allocation, substance and template of these nodes is unique to this positronic alone. While similarities exist, a crucible is unique, much like sapient brains to each other.
This is the strength of a positronic - it is an artificial intelligence much like a drone, but possesses similar resiliences like an organic brain, without the drawbacks of mindwiping a brain to achieve so.
However, much like an organic brain, positronics need to absorb knowledge through external means - they need to learn and grow much like any other Sophont, although they are capable to do so at an accelerated rate as long as they are capable of cannibalizing their seed network. What takes weeks to learn, they learn in days, what takes months, weeks, what takes years, they learn in months. This makes freshly activated positronics attractive for creating expert workers and specialists in a relatively short time. This initial malleability lasts, however, not forever. At some point the positronic’s learning capabilities slow down to more "organic" levels.
Some sapients opt to "digitize" themselves and become positronic brains. This process is a very in-depth scan of the brain of a sapient to create a mirror image of the brain’s anatomy, which is used for the "seed" of a new crucible. This seed is not cannibalized, so the accelerated learning phase is skipped, to preserve as much of the previous sapient’s network as possible. For best results, the brain is physically sliced up and microscopically scanned slice by slice, obviously destroying the brain in the process.
Positronics are not fully culpable for their actions after activation, as they possess the raw intelligence of an adult mind, but have no concept of ethics, interaction and communication beyond speaking. Thus, to socialize and provide an environment in which they can grow to acceptable members of society, most polities assign a legal guardian to a positronic. This guardian (which, in most places, can also be a corporation) is responsible for looking after the positronic, providing an education and preparing them for the Jans-Fhriede Test.
Originally a reactionary law, the Jans-Fhriede Test was devised to "humanize" positronic brains within the Commonwealth and make them happy, subservient citizens who "see" their place as secondary to humans. Today, in more enlightened times, the Jans-Fhriede Test has been revised to establish that a Positronic is aware enough of its action and consequences that it may be fully culpable for them.
The Jans-Fhriede Test is a mostly standardized set of questions in a quiz and several VR scenarios that the positronic must resolve to a sufficient degree. During this time, their neural net is observed in its activity to determine if it is rote memorization or actual intent behind any action taken, measured by simple activity of the neural nodes.
After the test is passed, the Positronic is a full member of society and is allowed to pursue its own destiny - if they do not happen to be bound by contracts, debts or loans they might have accrued before the test, to which they are now fully culpable of paying off.
Usually after their accelerated learning phase a positronic takes the test, although this is not strictly necessary - they can take it at any time they or their guardian sees them able to succeed. A failure in the test leads to a waiting period of a month - after this, the positronic may retake it and take as many attempts as they need. Most positronics pass the test at first attempt.
Where organics can digitize their consciousness, the opposite of it is true as well. Biorecursion is the process of an artificial intelligence becoming more "organic", with the ultimate step of assuming the sleeve of organic origin seamlessly.
Biorecursion is a rare, but still possible philosophy for any kind of synthetic. Maybe an MMI desires to return to the people it once belonged to, maybe a positronic sees it as a necessary step to fully assume its chosen way of life or a drone is utterly fascinated with the concept of "being organic" to the point it wishes to emulate its creators.
Whatever the motivation, to become organic is a very involved process and may take weeks or months of concentrated effort and therapy. Controlling an organic body is an endeavour that requires atypical processing of information, instincts and automatic processes that most synthetics are not aware of.
Many stop at simple emulation, called "soft biorecursion". Vey-Med or similarly advanced biosynthetic components are acquired to feel tactile sensations, gain organic senses or even fully simulate organs in a way comparable to a standard organic.
"Hard biorecursion" goes even further. Through an involved process of specialized components (which are rented out by specialized companies and/or NGOs), synthetics learn from the ground up how to move, act and live as organics. Usually the first steps are simulacra of the limbs, where they learn how to move with tendon and muscles, before moving on to things like "hunger", "sex drive" and "endrocrine based emotions".
After mastering all these steps, the ultimate goal is to transfer this prepared neural network (or brain, in case of MMIs) back into a chosen organic shell, these days done relatively easy through resleeving machines.
Some biorecursed individuals return back to being synthetic after a while, preferring to stay circuits and steel, but even those profess that this process can be a very enlightening experience.
The lifespan of synthetics vary from their origin.
Drone: are virtually immortal. Their continued existence is flexible and their consciousness can expand and contract at will, while their modularity makes it easy to add more storage space to them to contain all their memories and experiences. However, this modularity also brings in question if the drone that exists today is the same as the drone in ten years - Theseus’s Drone, some philosophers joke about it.
Cyborg: live longer than totally unassisted organics, easily surpassing double the lifespan of whatever host species they come from. After this, however, they slowly succumb to dementia-like symptoms before shutting down as the brain tissue tires out and slowly crumbles. Many MMI-cyborgs opt at this point to become positronics to live even further.
Positronic Brains: live a very long time, but they are also finite - the neural network within their head continues to expand, become more complex and burdens processing further and further. Very, very old positronics become increasingly more senile and lose themselves in introspection, before drifting into an unresponsive coma where they relive their memories until their power runs out.
This process, however, has only been observed in lab tests, as natural positronics have an estimated lifespan of 400 to 500 years - much longer than the technology itself is even around for. From the tested positronics, some opted to violently prune and cannibalize their neural network to give birth to a new personality, a sort of inheritance for the next generation. Others simply shut down prematurely as they approached the "Dream Stage".