What use are storage chests?

[Zordah]

This probably seems like a silly question but why use storage chests and active provider chests?
I have my logistics network setup with passive provider chests and requester chests and everything seems to be working quite well. I fail to see the benefits of storage chests and active provider chests.

What am I missing?

[sillyfly]

What am I missing?

Automatic deconstruction
As far as I'm aware construction robots will only put deconstructed objects into storage chests, not provider chests.

As for active provider chests - their usefulness is somewhat debatable. I can think of a few semi-useful scenarios for them, but nothing too exciting - one is to put away stuff you don't want on you to be stored away. The logistic robots will take the things away (preferably fast ), and so you can take the box apart after a while.
Another use case may be when you don't want to clog the output of a factory, or want the products to be readily available far from the location where they are made. Putting the products in an active provider would prompt the logistic robots to store them away in storage chests, preferably closer to where they will eventually be used.

I admit this isn't much, but this is what I can think of as far as active providers are concerned. If anyone has more ideas as to how they use them - I'll be glad to hear

[jorgenRe]

Well storage chests can be used for extra storage for the logistic system, but it would be alot more useful if you could set each spot in the storage chest for a set item. As of now the bots will just trye and put all they can in them.

[GewaltSam]

I got a central storage in my current factory. I put active provider chests at most of my assemblies which are filled by smart inserters. Those inserters are connected with a red wire to my central storage, so I can tell them "only put something into this chest when the amount in the main storage is below X”. It brings a number of advantages especially with my factory setup which are difficult to explain briefly; maybe I go ahead one day and show some of the stuff I've done in the creations forum, then you'll see . But at least this example demonstrates that there are some applications for the not-so-frequently used chests also.

[GewaltSam]

Well storage chests can be used for extra storage for the logistic system, but it would be alot more useful if you could set each spot in the storage chest for a set item. As of now the bots will just trye and put all they can in them.

Bots only put one kind of item into every chest (if you got enough storage chests for every kind of item). It should be possible to "program" the chests if you simply put one item you want to have in there into them. The bots should then continue to put more of that in it. A filter option would be a cleaner solution though.

[sillyfly]

Why are you using red wire condition and not the logistic network condition?

[GewaltSam]

Why are you using red wire condition and not the logistic network condition?

Good question to be honest I was doing a lot with circuit networks before i decided to do that, so it was the obvious thing to do.

Does the logistic network also count requester chests? Need to try that. If so, then the circuit network would be the better solution. I got a lot of requester chests with stuff on the side for particular tasks. I don't want to mix that with my main storage.

EDIT: Okay, the content of requester chests don't count into the logistic networks storage, so i think i could have done it much easier without a circuit network. It wasn't that much trouble to do it though.

[Zordah]

Does the logistic network also count requester chests? Need to try that. If so, then the circuit network would be the better solution. I got a lot of requester chests with stuff on the side for particular tasks. I don't want to mix that with my main storage.

EDIT: Okay, the content of requester chests don't count into the logistic networks storage, so i think i could have done it much easier without a circuit network. It wasn't that much trouble to do it though.

I'm only using passive provider and requester chests with a logistics network. The requester chests get full when they reach their desired levels which means the passive provider chests start filling up. The smart inserters are detecting the levels in the passive provider chests and then stop when they get to the desired level. Just have to set the smart inserters to the level you want to have as a reserve in the provider chests and it works real well without all that messing around with red and green wires.

Which I am really glad for as being red/green colourblind trying to see tiny little red and green wires is a nightmare. Couldn't we have blue and yellow instead?

[GewaltSam]

Does the logistic network also count requester chests? Need to try that. If so, then the circuit network would be the better solution. I got a lot of requester chests with stuff on the side for particular tasks. I don't want to mix that with my main storage.

EDIT: Okay, the content of requester chests don't count into the logistic networks storage, so i think i could have done it much easier without a circuit network. It wasn't that much trouble to do it though.

I'm only using passive provider and requester chests with a logistics network. The requester chests get full when they reach their desired levels which means the passive provider chests start filling up. The smart inserters are detecting the levels in the passive provider chests and then stop when they get to the desired level. Just have to set the smart inserters to the level you want to have as a reserve in the provider chests and it works real well without all that messing around with red and green wires.

Which I am really glad for as being red/green colourblind trying to see tiny little red and green wires is a nightmare. Couldn't we have blue and yellow instead?

But I guess you have the passive provider chests right where your production is, haven't you? For me, a central storage works much better with my current factory (because it covers a big area, and many parts are delivered to outposts by train). And there's another reason: at first I only used passive provider chests, like you do now. I had some trouble with overproduction because i deconstructed some parts of my factory completely. As you know, deconstruction needs storage boxes (your bots will only deliver it there; they won't put it back into the provider chests). All that stuff which went into storage was never seen again as long as I had new material in the passive providers - and they were refilled by the assemblers all the time.

Now, with my assemblers filling the storage instead of passive providers, i can reconstruct whatever I want without new production coming in all the time. The assemblers will only work when my stock drops under a certain point. I think that's a lot more effective.

Sure, this is more or less a "special" case, and most people won't encounter a problem like this in a normal playthrough. But I like to experiment a lot, and my factory is VERY flexible production-wise. While it is able to produce nearly every good in huge numbers, I don't want to have too much stuff of everything - just what I need, plus a bit more, and the ability to easily get more if I need it. When my storage is filled up with as much as I need, my factory literally goes to standby and doesn't produce anything at all (though it needs a mere 30MW in standby mode anyway, because I went a bit overboard with roboports ).

[Zordah]

I had some trouble with overproduction because i deconstructed some parts of my factory completely. As you know, deconstruction needs storage boxes (your bots will only deliver it there; they won't put it back into the provider chests). All that stuff which went into storage was never seen again as long as I had new material in the passive providers - and they were refilled by the assemblers all the time.

Wouldn't a storage chest be considered as part of the logistics network and so even if the provider chests got emptied the total number of items in the logistic network would be larger than the threshold so the smart inserters shouldn't have started filling the provider chests again?

a mere 30MW in standby mode

[GewaltSam]

I had some trouble with overproduction because i deconstructed some parts of my factory completely. As you know, deconstruction needs storage boxes (your bots will only deliver it there; they won't put it back into the provider chests). All that stuff which went into storage was never seen again as long as I had new material in the passive providers - and they were refilled by the assemblers all the time.

Wouldn't a storage chest be considered as part of the logistics network and so even if the provider chests got emptied the total number of items in the logistic network would be larger than the threshold so the smart inserters shouldn't have started filling the provider chests again?

As you can see now, I clearly like to over-complicate things Daaamn, I feel a bit stupid right now... and I thought my sytem was so clever

[ssilk]

How about a look into the wiki: https://forums.factorio.com/wiki/inde ... ic_network ... and follow some links

[GewaltSam]

Yeah, pal, read that before and tried around a lot myself. I was totally focused on using a circuit network for that task though and didn't even think of using the logistic condition. But thanks anyway, I'll use the much easier method in my next factory

Come to think of it, there aren't THAT many assignments you'll need the circuit network for right now. I did my very complicated and a bit impractical outpost supply with it, then there's the solar circuit, but not much else so far. I am really curious what the devs do with the coming circuit upgrade; it offers some nice functions in theory, at least if some more parts are added to the equation.