Detective BloodTrak Tracking Device!

[Studenterhue]

Would making it require a mineral, crystal or chemical of some kind help balance it's usefulness?  I'm thinking something roughly meth-level difficult/time-consuming or telecrystal level rareness.

Then nobody would even bother using it. Detective is not a chemist.

Yeah... by that logic, noone wants lifeweed joints when I grow them,  because they're not botanists.

Inter-departmental cooperation is a GOOD thing...

That's a different sort of cooperation. Medbay and the crew in general don't need lifeweed to heal themselves. If there's no botanists around to make lifeweed, everyone else can still do their jobs effectively and efficiently. The medical doctors will still have medicine, the roboticist can still make borgs and augment people, etc. They miss out on something useful but lifeweed is not something that's a part of their jobs.

Meanwhile, with a required material for the blood tracker, if there's no miners/scientisits/barman/chef to give the chem/mineral, the detective is hampered. They can still use other forensics tools, but they can't use something that's a part of his job. It may not be a vital or important aspect, but they are still less efficient and effective at their job.

Of course, the issue could be easily solved if the det started with a bit of the required material in the first place, to reduce his dependency. But then, one asks, should the dependency be there in the first place? You could argue for and against it. It's not a simple question with a simple answer.