[0.13] Roboport option to output construction needs

[justarandomgeek]

It would be great for the roboport, in addition to Robot and Logistics statistics, to have an option for Construction Statistics, which causes it to output the needed items to complete construction for all ghosts within range of the network.

This way, we could build a network that produces a wire request for all the items it needs to complete construction, which can be used to trigger these items to be sent into the network from elsewhere.

Edit: Also, an option to output unfilled requester amounts. Negative values in contents mode would be pretty intuitive - you have this many of these things, and this many "holes" for these other things.

[Twinsen]

Been thinking about this.
Maybe I will do something like this in 0.14

[justarandomgeek]

Been thinking about this.
Maybe I will do something like this in 0.14

I guess I'll have to mod my own way around it for my self-replicating power field until then (In combination with an updated Recursive Blueprints mod - which is going to get a lot smarter!)

[ssilk]

I added this to viewtopic.php?f=80&t=18093 Roboport/Logistic Network/Robot enhancements

There are also a lot of more or less similar suggestions
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2686 Requester chest for other network
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2912 Chests for construction bots
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4983 high priority logistic provider chest

[Rhamphoryncus]

I was writing up my own suggestion for this but rather than make a new post I'll just add it here, since it's basically the same concept argued a little differently.

When reading logistic network contents via wire on a roboport it should include outstanding requests and construction items. This would let you automatically export any trash or pull in missing items, particularly in these use cases:

• FFF-140 outposts could pull construction items off the train without maintaining constant stock of them. Wood and other items could be pushed back into the train
• Subdivided networks (such as bot unloading of trains) could pull construction across the networks. Player logistics slots could pull across the networks. Player trash could push back to the main network.

This reduces or eliminates the need to disable autotrash slots outside the main network.

This would be greatly aided by two other suggestions:

• Controlling stack size in filter inserters (to prevent moving too many items at once)
• Reading contents from a train car (allowing you to limit contents without applying slot filters, even to the point of allowing arbitrary items to be loaded.)

One step further would be satellite uplinks or radio communications that allowed you to uniquely communicate with each outpost. This would let you fully automate what resources are loading and unloaded in both directions. Mods could cover this aspect however.

[Optera]

0.14? Here's hoping it will be a feature for 0.15 now.
It'd make outpost building nearly fully automated with LTN.

[ssilk]

I push this suggestion also.

Plus:
- A combinator which can filter signals (either all but this signal or all signals but not this).
- A combinator that works like a heating regulator: One "current"-signal-wire and one "should"-signal-wire (signals for each item-type). Outputs every second (or so) a signal, which is how much needs to be requested/provided - like in a thermal heating (which then turns the burner on or off). This is complex to describe in detail, but there is no magic, the knowlegde how this works is well known, see for example: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heizungsregler or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVAC_control_system
Because such a regulation is slow by definition it reduces the number of signal-changes per second a lot. I explained it also here: search.php?keywords=heating&t=36976&sf=msgonly (which includes also an idea about the minimum stack-size, that should be requested).


PS: LTN is definitly something that improves gameplay with trains. What's needed is this suggestions (requests and construction requests of a network).

(And a lot of tweaking to make the handling easier. )

[yukinyaa]

bump. Would love this feature

[XANi]

It is already possible via [some](https://mods.factorio.com/mod/GhostScanner) mods, altho in apparently not very effective way. Would be nice to have additional option for roboport to

• Output building requests (so blueprints/repairs)
• Output resource requests (requester/buffer chests)

just as negatives (or alternatively switch between outputting content and requests)

[stm]

Not That I would not like that feature, but It is not really neccessary.
Just set the minimum level of anything you might need to any value above 0. When the roboport wants to build something the robots take it and it will be replaced.
Thus not really that important in my opinion.
Stm

[Thorgeous]

Its 2024 and we are headed toward the 2.0 & Space age release. There has been a ton of upgrades to the network but this would be an awesome addition. If it was one of the check-marks when connecting a roboport then we could use other new feature to build only what is needed! All the vanilla fix suggestions here assume you have an amount in a robo-chest. We could have it output to the display system being added and we could use the new combinator to select index etc. I always see challenges to "beat the game in a ___ X ___ grid" or whatever. Imagine we could have a complete mall build like the example in FFF#394 (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sy ... embler.mp4).

[protocol_1903]

+1, very nice qol especially with all of the multi-surface logistics coming in SA

[hitzu]

Any updates on this? With the introduction of different planets, this feature is essential to connecting disconnected construction networks

[DeadMG]

In https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-428 they say they looked into it but can't do it

[GrumpyJoe]

I was about to write a suggestion when i found this

Usecase?
FULGORA!

You VERY often cant connect power networks and/or logistic networks, due to the distance between the islands. No, not even with epic quality.
So, until "Foundation" research (as in: AQUILO) you are restricted


Now, i thought i can send requests via the new radar option, load a train and ship desired items automaticly, but sadly this isn´t the case.

What i dont understand is the FFF part DeadMG provided the link to in the post above this:

It outputs the amount of items needed to satisfy all the logistic requests in the system, including mobile entities like the player and spiders.
Importantly (or unfortunately), it does not include items needed to build ghosts (construction requests).
This is mostly a technical restraint on our behalf, as logistic networks do not track ghosts in a way that would make it performant to include.

The information is there. You can see the yellow warning gear flashing.
Does it need to be updated every tick?
No. Not for my usecase.
Because it cant know whats in a train thats on its way, so it would output too much.
It might get removed/negated and "Trash unrequested" might remove it from a provider station, so I wouldn´t have cared.