Factorio Forums

Hello,

I struggle with the entire logic system of the game (combinators, circuit...).
I only managed to come up with a way to make the Kovarex enrichment process work in a loop (until all centrifuge are filled with 41 U-235, keep items on the belt. You get the idea).

I am used to setup my science packs output like this: https://imgur.com/a/xmwGKfW

However, the inserters do not care whether chemical and Military packs are on an even 50/50 split or if the chest is filled with Military pack and no chemical packs reach my labs.

I thought I could use a wire to tell it to not load Military Science Packs once the chest has >/= to 4800 Packs, but I just managed to turn the inserter off.

I have tried to follow the guidelines in the Circuit Network Cookbook ( Balance Chest Insert ), but that does not do what I thought it did. (Duh).

Is there a way to adapt my setup in order to not have a chest relentlessly fill with only 1 type of Packs, or should I change the way I do this entirely ?

Thanks in advance !

Decafeiner wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 10:56 pm However, the inserters do not care whether chemical and Military packs are on an even 50/50 split or if the chest is filled with Military pack and no chemical packs reach my labs.

I thought I could use a wire to tell it to not load Military Science Packs once the chest has >/= to 4800 Packs, but I just managed to turn the inserter off.

You could use a filter inserter, and black-list items that you already have enough of.

You can always redo to keep things simple You can also try something with train wagon instead of chest, because you can filter the slot for the wagons and they are so big you can have dedicated filter inserter for each science pack what you want is the same logic on chest so it's harder to achieve.

I'm saying this because the "best" solution i could think off is not easy to understand if you struggle with circuits, so i also propose another one that may help understand better the first one :

Set a constant combinator with the maximum number allowed in the circuit network (2147483647) for 2 science pack that share the same chest per chest. But then remove the number of science pack you want in the chest from that very large number (2147483647 - 2400 = 2147481247) if you want 2400 science pack. And you connect this constant combinator to the chest you want to maintain quantity and also to a filter inserter feeding it with "set filter".

When the chest is empty, the inserter will have its filter set by the very large number in the constant, but when science pack fill the chest, the number in the wire being the sum of the constant combinator and the chest, will approach the overflow number, untill the point where the chest contain the required amount of a type of science pack, at this point the sum overflow, the number in the wire turn negative and the inserter no longer has this item as filter anymore, so it can never go above "2400" of that one, but will still have the other filter for the other science pack, it will not be turned off.

The good point is that it only require 1 constant combinator per chest, so you could keep a setup that look similar to the one you have. But it's not easy to see what the number means and why it works.
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Another way: You could set -2400 in the constant associated to a chest connected with wire and you also connect that wire to the input of arithmetic combinator that do "each" * -1 output each;
So if you have less than 2400 science in the chest, say 2300, with the -2400 in the constant the result will be - 100 for the input of the arithmetic, and then it will turned positive to 100, so you can use the ouput of the arithmetic to "set filter" to a filter inserter. If you have more than 2400 plate in the chest, with the -2400 in the constant, the result will still be positive, so the arithmetic will make it negative, and the inserter will lose the filter. It takes more room but it's not using very large numbers and overflow, it's doing the same thing.
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Sharing items in a chest is almost always a bad idea. Just change your setup so there's only one item per chest.

I suggest you treat the labs like assembling machines and just feed them like assembling machines. Don't use the chaining feature (extract items from one lab with an inserter and insert it to the next lab). It looks cool and easy, but in the long run it only produces headaches.

If you're currently operating with 4 science packs, prepare 2 belts with one pack per lane. You already have this, just remove the chests. If you absolutely must buffer the science packs, don't mix them but use one chest per pack. But instead of buffering the packs, try to produce them evenly in the first place.
Then create long lines of labs with alternating belts between them, like this:
apropos producing evenly: the ratio is 5:6:5:12 for red:green:grey:blue

Tertius wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 2:37 am I suggest you treat the labs like assembling machines and just feed them like assembling machines. Don't use the chaining feature (extract items from one lab with an inserter and insert it to the next lab). It looks cool and easy, but in the long run it only produces headaches.

I agree with this.

With mine, I just run 3 belts up between the two rows of labs, using inserters, LH inserters, and undergrounds so all three belts are accessible to both rows for the primary 6 sciences (1 per belt lane), then space science gets fed along the outside of the rows.

With the addition of more science packs in the expansion, this shouldn't be too hard to integrate in.

mmmPI wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:44 am Set a constant combinator with the maximum number allowed in the circuit network (2147483647) for 2 science pack that share the same chest per chest. But then remove the number of science pack you want in the chest from that very large number (2147483647 - 2400 = 2147481247) if you want 2400 science pack. And you connect this constant combinator to the chest you want to maintain quantity and also to a filter inserter feeding it with "set filter".

When the chest is empty, the inserter will have its filter set by the very large number in the constant, but when science pack fill the chest, the number in the wire being the sum of the constant combinator and the chest, will approach the overflow number, until the point where the chest contain the required amount of a type of science pack, at this point the sum overflow, the number in the wire turn negative and the inserter no longer has this item as filter anymore, so it can never go above "2400" of that one, but will still have the other filter for the other science pack, it will not be turned off.

The good point is that it only require 1 constant combinator per chest, so you could keep a setup that look similar to the one you have. But it's not easy to see what the number means and why it works.

It actually does make sense... Thanks a lot for the explanation and the logic circuit solution.

Tertius wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 2:37 am I suggest you treat the labs like assembling machines and just feed them like assembling machines. Don't use the chaining feature (extract items from one lab with an inserter and insert it to the next lab). It looks cool and easy, but in the long run it only produces headaches.

If you're currently operating with 4 science packs, prepare 2 belts with one pack per lane. You already have this, just remove the chests. If you absolutely must buffer the science packs, don't mix them but use one chest per pack. But instead of buffering the packs, try to produce them evenly in the first place.
Then create long lines of labs with alternating belts between them, like this:

I believe I'll be using this by default until I figure out completely how to apply mmmPI solution. This way of doing the thing I do is so simple and more efficient I didn't even think of it... I don't even need to change much, jus a filter inserter filling 1 chest then that chest being emptied on a belt to keep the packs on a half-belt after the buffer chest...

I had no idea about the Science pack ratios, thanks for that. Do I really need 12 Chemical science packs assemblers ? I haven't played vanilla in... too long to remember, running Space Exploration + AAI and blue science comes out 3 by 3.

I have 8 red/green, 4 grey and 6 blue