My gut tells me that I need to add some pumps with logic conditions.
I should probably mention that I am fairly new and to help me learn on my first run-through I am using Nilaus' blueprints, from the "Base in a Book" series. It is quite possible that I did something wrong while following it.
The problems I experienced:
- First problem happened after Basic Oil Processing and I started producing plastic. I run out of Petroleum Gdss even though I had an ample oil supply. The problem was full tanks of everything else. As a band-aid I added storage tanks until I could produce enough science to unlock Advanced Oil Processing and started cracking. That seemed to work, for quite a while.
- The second problem happened later when I run out of Lubricant used to make engines for Purple Science. This time I have full Petroleum gas tanks, while everything else is fairly low and Lubricant tanks have 5k out of 25k. The lubricant line runs dry partly down the bus.
- I see that the storage tanks (originally 2 tanks of 25K) all have a Read Contents condition.
- I see a Lubricant pump from the Heavy Oil to Lubricant chemical plants output going to the Lubricant storage tanks, activates when the Lubricant level is less than 10K.
- I see a Heavy Oil pump from the Heavy Oil to Lubricant chemical plants input going to the Heavy Oil to Light Oil chemical plants, activates when the Lubricant level is more than 10K. Logical, prioritizes Light Oil only when there is a decent supply of Lubricant on storage.
- I see no pump or condition to limit cracking of Light Oil to Petroleum Gas.
- From what I see, it seems that the design of Oil Processing is intended to be the way to make players learn about circuits. If you don't have the right logic in place, your whole plant will shut down due to overproduction of one fluid, filling the tanks and stopping the ability to process anything else. Is that correct? Or is there a way to produce every fluid in the quantities needed at any moment without circuits?
- Can someone recommend a design (and necessary circuit logic) that will work well, both for Basic Oil Processing as well as Advanced Oil Processing, never shutting down the processing of Crude into the other products so long as there is demand for at least one product?
- I am planning to place a pump at the bus start, to pressurize each bus fluid, and possibly empty the tanks. It bugs me that having 5k on the storage tanks it would go to zero down the line. I might also add pumps in the bus itself to boost the local pressure.
- I am planning to remove the temporary tanks I placed when I was limited to Basic Oil Processing and setup an array of buffer storage tanks with an input pump that activates/fills when the initial storage tanks have more than 20k, and output pump that activates when the initial storage tanks have less than 20k.
