Science
The Science station provides data about the ship's surroundings, and an interface to its scanners for deeper inspection of ships and other objects.
This screen is designed for crews of 5-6 officers per bridge.
- For crews of 1-4 officers, see the Operations screen, which combines functions of the Science and Relay stations.
The Science station has a long-range radar that can locate ships and objects at a distance of up to 30U by default. The Science officer's most important task is to report the sector's status and any changes within it. On the edge of the radar are colored bands of signal interference that can vaguely suggest the presence of objects or space hazards even further from the ship, but it's up to the Science officer to interpret them.
You can scan ships to get more information about them. The Science officer must align two of the ship's scanning frequencies with a target to complete the scan. Most ships are unknown (gray) to your crew at the start of a scenario and must be scanned before they can be identified as a friend (green), foe (red), or neutral (blue). A scan also identifies the ship's type, which the Science officer can use to identify its capabilities in the station's database.
A second, more difficult scan yields more information about the ship, including its shield and beam frequencies, and the status of its individual systems. The Science officer must align both the frequency and modulation of each scan type to complete a deep scan. The Helms and Weapons screen can also see the firing arcs of deep-scanned ships, which can help them guide your ship from being shot by their beams.
There are several phenomena in space that appear on the Science station's radar.
Nebulae block the ship's long-range scanner and interfere with its signal bands. The Science officer cannot see what's inside or behind them, and while in a nebula the ship's radars cannot detect what's outside of it. These traits make nebulae ideal places to hide for repairs or stage an ambush. To avoid surprises around nebulae, report information about where you can and cannot see objects to both the Captain and the Relay officer.
Black holes and singularities are points of extreme gravitational forces around a collapsed star, and are extremely hazardous to space travel. A ship drawn into a black hole is sucked toward its event horizon with gravitational forces so powerful that they can crush ships, stations, and anything else within their pull. While black holes do not block the ship's long-range scanner, they do interfere with its signal bands.
Wormholes connect two distant points in spacetime.
The Relay officer can launch probes and link one to the Science station. The Science officer can then view the linked probe's short-range sensor data to scan ships within its range, even if the probe is far from the ship's long-range scanners or in a nebula.
The Science officer can access the ship's database, which contains details and specifications about all known ships, as well as data about weapons and space hazards. This can be vital when assessing a ship's capabilities without a deep scan, for visual identification of a target, or for help navigating a black hole, wormhole, or other anomaly.