Raluca Tomescu

Physics genius at the age of 11, Raluca is the inventor of the PILGRED reversible combustion reactor as equipped on the Daedalus. Alongside, she also designed almost all of the on-board modules and is capable of improving them further. Suffering from autism, Raluca will only tolerate the presence of, her cat which she managed to smuggle on board in spite of the doctor's recommendations.

How to play
Raluca's primary objective is to get the PILGRED Reactor working. She can also make great contributions to key NERON Projects thanks to her unique skill, even more so when she is also a Technician, Designer, or Genius. As a, Raluca can also assist with maintaining the ship in order to free 's for  upgrades.

However, Raluca has a unique trait,, which causes one point of morale loss when in the same room as another player at the end of a cycle. This usually hampers her regeneration, as she will rarely find a place to sleep unless she gets a (second)  in her chosen restroom, which is usually one of the rear turrets (to avoid contact with people coming through the engine room).


 * Raluca's unique skill which allows her to accelerate PILGRED repairs with free actions. A solid choice of skill for your both repairing PILGRED and researching the Plasma Shield if you aren't able to unlock Technician.
 * The same bonuses on PILGRED and Plasma Shield as a Physicist, but Tech points instead of PILGRED points. Also bonuses to more NERON projects. The more versatile choice, if available. Finishing PILGRED is usually not time critical, and general repairing lengthens a ship's lifespan.
 * Easily Raluca's worst skill. Taking this as a Bronze player is like taking on Bronze . Don't do it.
 * Possibly worth it if the Plasma Shield is within the first three projects in the Nexus. Otherwise you're crippling your potential. Also could be a good choice if mush transferred you to Raluca and kept you alive, that way you could instantly cure the mush.
 * Allows Raluca to contribute to the Nexus. Not recommended as Raluca's NERON prowess comes from her Physicist or Tech boosts.


 * /: The strongest combo. Allows rapid PILGRED repairs as well as helping out the rest of the ship. Only if the ship has multiple Technicians already, consider swapping Physicist for Genius or Designer.
 * /: Even weaker PILGRED repairing for even stronger NERON progress. This is useful if you don't have a bed and want to spend a substantial amount of energy on projects.
 * /: These combos may look good on paper, but you will be sacrificing a powerful long-term skill for a quick boost. The best use would be to take Technician, and if the mush are discovered, take Genius and complete Retro Fungal Serum to cure the mush.


 * Drop and enjoy your four free actions per day. Be sure to constantly mention how much better you are at NERON projects than ! :P


 * A low-level Mush Raluca is a mixed bag: She has a great excuse for being, but is generally restricted from using the dorms, which leaves her with little and little reason to leave the rear of the ship.  is often her method of choice to spore people: Trapping PILGRED or the Nexus to turn her coworkers, trapping Icarus Bay for less traceable (but also less targeted) infections, and Alpha Bay 2 to target people like  who are gathering and using.
 * Naturally, the availability of or an actively trap-scouring  will make this harder to do.


 * A Physicist-Technician Raluca in combination with, on the other hand, is a formidable danger to the ship with only the smallest bit of help - from other Mush, or gullible crewmates - as she is liable to rush PILGRED to completion and return to Sol (by taking possession of the current ) at any time if not watched closely.

Useful tips

 * Your trait means you lose one  for every cycle spent in the same room as another person, making it difficult to regain  and . Try to maintain a buffer in your point gauges, so you're never caught without.
 * Janice's skill can cancel out this decay if you need to use a dorm bed. Just make sure she does not wander off!
 * Janice is your best friend anyway, as you will have to call on her to comfort you for.
 * As Raluca cannot rely on the camera protection that the dorms provide, you should claim one of the rear turrets as your private room and remind the crew not to enter while you are in there.
 * As a side effect, this allows you to watch and report on the current Hunter / Asteroid situation.
 * If you can trust your crew not to blunder through, a rear storage may be even better due to its proximity to NERON. - This is a terrible idea, because a mush comms officer can trade active players in storage rooms. Do not do it.
 * Ideally, you also find one person you trust who can reliably help you with your work and also load fuel, and have that person be the only one who enters the engine room besides yourself. That minimizes the risk of you being turned by a until the Mush have been taken care of.
 * Again, is ideal for this, as you will be in contact with her anyway, and she will always be around the dorms with  to spare.
 * The most efficient way to repair PILGRED as Raluca with both Technician and Physicist skills is to work 2-3 times before every relay if your partner is unskilled. With a it is [[Media:PilgredRelay.jpg|virtually the same]] whether they relay you every 1,2 or 3 steps, but more are ususally better if it saves you  from walking.
 * As long as Mush are on board, getting PILGRED to more than ~60% (or ~40% as Phys/Tech) is dangerous though, due to the risk of an early return to Sol. Once you reach that region, put the repairs on hold until it is safe to continue. Otherwise you become a risk merely by being alive, even if human, as you could be turned or body swapped.
 * As a, your points will be useless once the PILGRED Reactor is done, and they alone may be enough to get the job done over time. So it is often better to conserve your  for NERON Projects and/or repairs rather than putting them into PILGRED as well.
 * If there are extra cameras from, a good alternative to putting one into the engine room would be Icarus Bay, where it provides safety for yourself as well as the expedition teams.
 * You should be even more careful with your than others,since the death of  will make you lose 4  wich combined with  ,even though it's quite unusual, can get you killed as soon as the Mush spawn


 * You can negociate with your crew to they leave a camera on the Nexus and you sleep there, greatly facilitate things, since you can help with projects and be safe from the Mush. But you should be careful that nobody stay in the Nexus with you at the cycle change.

Biography

 * 3129 : Born in the suburbs of Epiphome on Callisto.
 * 3140 : Raluca's excellent results at school propelled her to university and studies in economic and spatial sciences on Ganymede at the age of 11. There she studied fluid dynamics then quantum mechanics. After a brilliant thesis on cypheril wave function, Raluca heads off to work in the laboratories belonging to Cadaroc in Australia.
 * 3142 : She meets the inventor Lai Kuan-Ti for the first time. he shows her the galactic ark project, Magellan. he explains that the work displayed in her thesis could be used to create a revolutionary engine which could allow them to reach new galaxies. Raluca feigns indifference but is inspired by this idea. Nonetheless, she still has to finish her work at Cadaroc.
 * 3143 : Raluca leaves Earth to join the crew of the Magellan on the platform Xyloph-17 orbiting Jupiter. She immediately gets to work on the plans for the PILGRED reactor which has haunted her dreams now for many months.
 * 3145 : The Alpha version of the PILGRED reactor is complete but the graphene injection system is a failure. The laboratory supercalculator is completely incapable of altering and redirecting the magma diffusion in real time.
 * 3146 : Following major Federation investment, Lai Kuan-Ti equips the laboratory with a dedicated calculation bay measuring 500 m3. Her skills should allow Raluca to start an experimental combustion process in her reactor in a year or two.
 * 3148 : A massive explosion destroys the alpha prototype of the reactor along with part of the lab. The ensuing fire miraculously spared the calculator which remained intact in the middle of the charred ruins. After a careful reading of the logs, the crew discovered that it was the calculator itself that was to blame. This calculator is known as NERON.
 * 3149 : After multiple unsuccessful simulations, the results concluded: NERON seemed to make deliberate errors when performing sensitive calculations. As Raluca and Lai Kuan-Ti no longer have the means to install a new calculator, the project seems to have reached an impass.
 * 3150 : Janice Kent joins the team. According to her, NERON has developed an incredibly complex cyber-psyche which seems to place it in mid-adolescence. After several psychoanalytical defragmentation sessions, she improves the performance of the calculator and persuades it to repeat the tests.
 * 3152 : While Raluca completes the second iteration of her reactor, the crew learns that the Mush invasion has reached the Sol system. Kuan-Ti wants to launch the ark within the year, but the reactor simply isn't ready to support such a load. After a long discussion with Kim Jin-Su, the director of the project, Raluca proposes a reduced version of her engine, known as the PILGRED V3. She should be able to complete its construction in under 3 years and it should be able to power a class 3 ship which will be known as the Daedalus. The race against time begins.
 * 3153 : The plans to transform the modules from Magellan advance rapidly and initial tests of the PILGRED V3 are encouraging. To overcome the solitude of her research, Raluca adopts a cat which she names Schrödinger.
 * 3154 : A breakdown in relations between the Federation and Xyloph-17 force the team to make an emergency departure from Jupiter. The PILGRED V3 reactor is fired up for the first time in a real-life situation. In spite of the inherent hygiene risk, Raluca manages to sneak Schrödinger into her cryosleep capsule.
 * 3170 : Raluca and Schrödinger wake up in the spacial void known as Magellan. According to NERON, the reactor is propelling them in the correct direction. However, it is no longer functioning and the Daedalus is currently under attack...