Give QM a Magic Phlebotinum that tells him what are the contents of unopened crates

[Calecute]

Cargo is supposed to check if the contents of the crates match the crate's manifest. This is impossible or inconvenient in locked crates or crates with objects that won't go into a crate again after leaving it (like the shield sats, or apiary). This makes it impossible or not worth it for cargo to do an important part of their jobs. And solving an incomplete crate is often much more complicated than checking crates arriving. Cargo has to manage the manifests of non-checked crates. Most people will never confirm to cargo if the crates were correct or not. Most people won't even notice or, if they do, complain that it was incorrect. To solve it someone must drag the crate back to cargo, and in case of crates with things that won't go into crates again I'm not even sure if you can return it for a refund. 

I think QM should probably be able to open everything, but there are relevant balance concerns about that option, and it wouldn't solve things that won't go back intro crates. 

Making a machine that reads the content of the crates will solve all these problems. 

[Normalyman]

Firstly the crate is named after their contents and secondly you can just check the manifest that is attached on the crate upon arrival, if you want to know it's contents. It's also new to me that the cargo department has to open every single crate to check the contents anyway but that doesn't matter now. And if you somehow happen to loose the manifest, you can look up the contents on your console by clicking the "C" button, that is located on the right side next to the name of the crate.

If I got you wrong, feel free to correct me.

[Rumiluntti]

It's part of the system that sometimes the crates come with missing items, you are supposed to send those back.
It's annoying/impossible to check some crates.
This is the point of this thread.

[Normalyman]

Huh interesting, I never noticed that happening.

Anyway thanks for the correction.

[ZN23X]

EDIT: I'm an idiot. The post already addressed the balance concerns and is about an item that allows them to read what is in crates. Proceed without me.

Edited February 6, 2018 by ZN23X
EDIT: ?

[Calecute]

Yeah, QM opening everything could lead to some balance issues, that's why I came up with the idea of just a magic item to check crate contents.

[Normalyman]

Hmm, I just checked all the reading material about cargo, that is available in the wiki and haven't found anything about crates with missing contens. Might be usefull to edit the wiki so people like me would know about this possibility. (Again, if I missed it please point me to the text passage please)

And now back to the topic: In that case it would be quite usefull, if at least the QM would have a crate scanner, that would list all the things currently inside a crate. 

[Pckables]

I have opened a TEG crate that was completely missing its core. It was pretty devastating considering prior circumstances, but even if i knew refunds were a possibility, it wouldn't happen because it's a TEG and can't be put back in the crate.

I don't know how codeable this is, but it would be a nice thing to add.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Pckables

[Calecute]

Yeah a teg crate missing a piece some time ago was one of the things that lead me to this idea too, don't remember if I was with you when that happened. But you can actually return a Teg crate missing its core. The core is the only part that won't go back to the crate. 

I'm unfortunately very unfamiliar with coding in general and SS13 coding specifically, but I believe it would be easy to code, as crates have a variable "content" with a list of code locations for objects that are inside it. It's probably easy to make an item that calls that variable reads the contents, replace the contents location for content name and return it. 

[KingPhilipIII]

If I had a nickel for every apiary crate I ordered that didn't include the Queen, I could probably buy a candy bar.

[Pennwick]

Just as a note because a few people seem to not fully understand. A crate can be wrong for several reasons, including missing contents, wrong destination, and possibly other things. If it is you only need to return the manifest stamped with the declined stamp in an empty crate and you get a full refund, no need to return the rest of the conents. I've had a few lucky occasions where I got to return a collectable hat crate but keep the hats because it was supposed to go to some prison station.

[Calecute]

Yeah I have on occasion received crates that were not supposed to go to the station. I did not know that you needed only the crate for a refund and not the contents thou, nice to know. 

[davidchan]

Why not just put an X-ray machine in the cargo dock that prints out an internal inventory of the crate? (and perhaps pictures of the items?) Bonus points if someone pushed through in a locker get massive does of rads and a picture of their skeleton (or lack there of for slimes)

[Calecute]

This is a very nice idea, but my guess is that it will be harder to code, and need a new sprite. (For the item we can just use something else's sprite with a diferent pallet I guess)