The pattern buffer with two supply crates held in it
The pattern buffer is a station supervisor's primary tool. It is a ten-slot queue into which any inanimate object can be "beamed" up and held as a pattern of energy, redeposited on any allowable space in the station. As a queue, the last item beamed up is the first one deposited, although items buried in the queue can be dragged out onto the station floor whenever desired.
The list of inanimate objects that can be beamed up include:
This, of course, rules out any sentient life. A safety system built into the pattern buffer prevents this, as the process of beaming an object up effectively destroys consciousness. For those whom the latter is no longer an existential imperative - such as the remains of vermin or station visitors - this lock no longer functions, enabling the player to drop them into either a recycler or into a laboratory to determine the cause of death.
Clicking on items when the game is paused will allow you to beam them all up at the same time after the game is unpaused.
Items held in the pattern buffer are essentially in stasis, cargo and bodies will not decay and bombs will not explode.
Teleporting scuzzer droids seem to give them a small amount of power as scuzzers with flat batteries can function again for a brief time when teleported, just enough to get them to a Recharger when placed next to it.
| ||||||||||||||