Change to wrapping paper in R&D

[ProperPants]

 

Currently, R&D has a stack of wrapping paper sitting by a pen and a hand labeler. I suppose the intention is that, you're supposed to wrap packages, name them, then send them through disposals and hope cargo ships them to where you labeled. However, disregarding an ideal and hypothetical scenario where everyone understands what's going on and everyone thinks rationally, nobody ever does this. For whatever reasons it just doesn't happen. I propose two potential changes to address this... occurrence (I want to call it a problem but it's not really one).

 

Option 1) Remove the Wrapping Paper from Science

It's unused. More so, it's dangerous - you can make improvised shotguns out of it and wrap bombs with it.

 

Option 2) Give Science a Single Destination Tagger

This way, the R&D person can rapidly send better tools (welders, scalpels, lockboxed guns, HUDs, etc.) to whoever needs them easily. Calling people to the science desk doesn't usually work - believe me I've tried. You say "science has good stuff" over comms, and what ends up happening is five assistants come asking for guns, maybe one sec officer comes for a single NV HUD, and nobody else. I don't play cargo, so I don't know how often people use the tagger in general, but I don't really think any cargo techs use the destination tagger or that anyone asks for things to be delivered - the whole delivery system is convenient but niche. I know some people may argue that you could label the wrapped item saying "Send to Security" or whatever, but from my experience, cargo techs just let trash pile up on the conveyor. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit, though.

 

 

Potential Issue/Counterargument: It becomes easier to send people dangerous bomb packages

Maybe, but maybe not. Let's take the scenario that you are a SciTator who wants to ship a bomb to a certain department. Putting aside the fact that your target may or may not be the one to open the package, let's examine a few scenarios in which science does and does not have a tagger.

 

Science has a Tagger

 

• You wrap your bomb, tag it, ship it. Someone, maybe your target, but more likely not, opens it and explodes. This depends on whether or not the disposals pipes are even capable of leading directly to another department. As a maint drone, I've set my tagger to somewhere, flushed myself from science, and still ended up going through disposals until I reached cargo, then walking to the next pipe to flush.

 

 

Science has No Tagger (Current)

 

• You wrap your bomb, label it "Please ship to _____", flush it. A cargo tech on the other end sees it, tags it appropriately, and sends it. Someone opens it, maybe or maybe not your target.

You wrap your bomb, label it "Please ship to _____", flush it. A cargo tech in disposals sees it, opens it to check if it's legit, and gets blown up.

Wrap, label, flush. No cargo tech bothers to ever check the growing pile of trash. Your bomb made it nowhere.

Wrap, label, flush. Cargo decided to leave both conveyors on and your bomb goes into the abyss with other trash.

 

 

It doesn't really become any easier to bomb someone as a traitor. If you really wanted to set of a custom grenade, you'd probably find a way to do so anyway.

 

Honestly, partway through writing this I wanted to delete it all, but I didn't want my work to go to waste. If you agree or disagree, just say +1 or -1; I don't need a long explanation because I can see people hating this already. If you have an alternative or modification to my ideas, please explain.

 

P.S. Maybe we could have a mailroom type thing that's more dedicated? Any wrapped package will be sent directly to the mailroom for inspection and shipment, while trash will be sent directly to the crusher instead of having to take a middle step through cargo. Isn't there a mail delivery chute just below the normal disposal belt that's unused? That could be repurposed somehow or deleted if it's totally useless.

 

[Keroman]

 

Just FYI you can print a destination tagger in the autolathe. That doesn't really help you if Cargo has one or both of the conveyor belts in the mailroom turned off, however.

 

The chute just "below" those conveyors is from the material recycler in disposal maintenance. If something with metal or glass goes through the grinder it extracts those materials and sends them to the stacking unit which then sends them back through disposals to that output chute. I have never ever seen it happen, but theoretically that's what it's for.

 

[ProperPants]

 

Just FYI you can print a destination tagger in the autolathe.

 

Wow.

 

Alright. Problem solved. I still would like a mailroom system or something to avoid the problem of cargo having one or both of the belts off and maybe or maybe not turning them on ever. Mailman/mail sorter would be a calm and functional job for anyone who wants a quieter shift.

 

Edited March 11, 2016 by Guest

[NTSAM]

 

nah on the mailroom part

 

Cargo = mailmen, but with fancier clothes. Don't take their job. Scream at them for not doing it.

 

[Dinarzad]

 

nah on the mailroom part

 

Cargo = mailmen, but with fancier clothes. Don't take their job. Scream at them for not doing it.

 

It's pretty much the literal definition of what the Cargo Technician does, yeah.

Load and unload crates and deliver them, either by MULEbot or by Disposals.

 

[sdtwbaj]

I like the idea of science being able to mail, not removing science wrapping.