I assume most people have large bases. If you have storage chests at one end of a base and you need items from those chests at the far end of the base, having logistic robots gather them can take what seems like hours. It's really a problem if the distance between the storage chests and you are not completely covered by Roboports. Then the bots run out of energy and move at a snail's pace to get to you or the nearest Roboport to recharge.
Is there some trick to using storage chests that make them useful for large bases? I've just not ever placed any down in my bases and when construction bots deconstruct an area and then just hang there looking for storage, I'll place one down, wait for them to drop off the items, then break the chest.
Please help me to understand the usefulness of Storage chests, or at least point to to a place that will enlighten me on their ways.
Thanks in advance!
Storage chests, what's the point?
Re: Storage chests, what's the point?
0.16 arrived with buffer chests. that's what they are made for : providing local relays for logistics.
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.
Re: Storage chests, what's the point?
"Local relay" is not what the OP asked, I think.
I also do not think that anyone with a hefty time in the game has any expectation to (or rather has resigned themselves from) being supplied with material no matter where they are in their base.
What mostly happens is that they either have built private train stops all along their base and have a private train moving them around (also this is faster to move around) and that train has a cart full of stuff, or they just go back to their main base to get resupplied.
Those who build large bases also have come to realize (and have been told by Devs) that connecting all your logistic networks in one big network is bad.
So no, the storage chests are not there for player updating as such across a big base.
Storage chests are there to provide Warehousing.
* Active Providers are your need fulfillment chests; bots go there first to pick up stuff
* Passive provide chests are your second line of need fulfillment; bots will go there if the material they need is not in an active provider.
* Storage Chests are the last line of need fulfillment. Maybe the thing needed is not made locally, or made anymore, or came from your trash logistic slots. Then it is moved into the "warehouse" that is the storage chests, until it is needed in the future. Think of all that wood that you keep mining for deploying new solar farms. Wood is not made from anywhere, so which chests should it go to?
Or think of belt replacement, you just deleted an old mine that finally ran dry, but it was all yellow belts. You are no longer making and storing any yellow belts, so where should they go? (Not in your inventory of course, instead they go to a trash slot in your logistic bars, taken to a storage chest and then by logic conditions, taken to factories that use them to make the next level belts).
I have no idea how to use the buffer chest...
I also do not think that anyone with a hefty time in the game has any expectation to (or rather has resigned themselves from) being supplied with material no matter where they are in their base.
What mostly happens is that they either have built private train stops all along their base and have a private train moving them around (also this is faster to move around) and that train has a cart full of stuff, or they just go back to their main base to get resupplied.
Those who build large bases also have come to realize (and have been told by Devs) that connecting all your logistic networks in one big network is bad.
So no, the storage chests are not there for player updating as such across a big base.
Storage chests are there to provide Warehousing.
* Active Providers are your need fulfillment chests; bots go there first to pick up stuff
* Passive provide chests are your second line of need fulfillment; bots will go there if the material they need is not in an active provider.
* Storage Chests are the last line of need fulfillment. Maybe the thing needed is not made locally, or made anymore, or came from your trash logistic slots. Then it is moved into the "warehouse" that is the storage chests, until it is needed in the future. Think of all that wood that you keep mining for deploying new solar farms. Wood is not made from anywhere, so which chests should it go to?
Or think of belt replacement, you just deleted an old mine that finally ran dry, but it was all yellow belts. You are no longer making and storing any yellow belts, so where should they go? (Not in your inventory of course, instead they go to a trash slot in your logistic bars, taken to a storage chest and then by logic conditions, taken to factories that use them to make the next level belts).
I have no idea how to use the buffer chest...
Re: Storage chests, what's the point?
From my experience, Active Provider chests never stay filled, but are automatically emptied into Storage chests (if any are available). I use this feature to ensure that output boxes are always empty and ready to accept new stuff, simply by building some Storage chests around and then using Active Provider chests wherever I want the box to be emptied quickly. That way my Storage Chests become like RAM, in a way -- stuff just gets stored in them by the bots in whatever order they like, and can be retrieved by them at any time.
That's my very simple-minded usage of them, but it seems to work pretty well. Bots don't always target the nearest Storage Chest, though -- sometimes they'll travel quite some distance to an empty one for no apparent reason. It might be build order -- I don't really know. I just let them do what they do and it generally works out ok
That's my very simple-minded usage of them, but it seems to work pretty well. Bots don't always target the nearest Storage Chest, though -- sometimes they'll travel quite some distance to an empty one for no apparent reason. It might be build order -- I don't really know. I just let them do what they do and it generally works out ok