Add "Allowed modules" and "Set modules" circuit options to assembler

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mrvn
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Add "Allowed modules" and "Set modules" circuit options to assembler

Post by mrvn »

TL;DR
Add "Allowed modules" and "Set Modules" circuit options to assembler.
What?
When adding circuit control to an assembler the recipe can be set with "Set recipe" and then the ingredients can be queried using "Read ingredients". Add two more options to "Read modules" and to "Set modules". The first outputs the allowed modules for the current recipe while the later adds module proxies to insert the specified modules using construction bots. Unspecified modules are removed to be collected by construction bots.
Why?
With "Set recipe" and "Read ingredients" an assembler can be turned into a fully automated factory that builds anything, recursively building intermediates first. But when using modules this becomes inefficient because productivity modules can't be used easily.

Productivity modules are only allowed on intermediates so building anything else will eject those modules. And there is no easy way to know which recipe allow productivity modules and which don't in an automated way. One has to manually construct a list of recipes that allow or disallow them. The "Read modules" option is to fix that problem, making it possible to query what modules an assembler can use. This can then be used to build the intermediates on an assembler with productivity modules and the rest on an assembler with speed modules.

The "Set modules" option would take this one step further. This would allow swapping out the modules for each recipe as desired.
Irrehaare
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Re: Add "Allowed modules" and "Set modules" circuit options to assembler

Post by Irrehaare »

I've encountered similar problem when I've tried playing with quality ingredients before leaving the Nauvis. I was hoping to make an intelligent smelting array to balance quality outputs of a factory.

I do however agree with the opinion that bots are OP, so I'd like to suggest adding a switch to inserters to carry either products&ingredients or modules. This would generate much more interestingly looking builds every time someone wants to play with variable modules somewhere.
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SupplyDepoo
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Re: Add "Allowed modules" and "Set modules" circuit options to assembler

Post by SupplyDepoo »

+1, but would prefer inserters being able to add and remove modules
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Re: Add "Allowed modules" and "Set modules" circuit options to assembler

Post by myridium »

Irrehaare wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2024 11:37 am I've encountered similar problem when I've tried playing with quality ingredients before leaving the Nauvis. I was hoping to make an intelligent smelting array to balance quality outputs of a factory.

I do however agree with the opinion that bots are OP, so I'd like to suggest adding a switch to inserters to carry either products&ingredients or modules. This would generate much more interestingly looking builds every time someone wants to play with variable modules somewhere.
Agreed. It's not something I'd use much myself, but with Space Age it has become a more glaring flaw that inserters can't control where they put their ingredients. There ought to be a way to control that. Imo the best option might be to give buildings different insertion regions in their M x N footprint, and implement that inserter mod from AngelBob that lets you tell inserters to insert things at odd angles/positions.
mrvn
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Re: Add "Allowed modules" and "Set modules" circuit options to assembler

Post by mrvn »

Irrehaare wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2024 11:37 am I've encountered similar problem when I've tried playing with quality ingredients before leaving the Nauvis. I was hoping to make an intelligent smelting array to balance quality outputs of a factory.

I do however agree with the opinion that bots are OP, so I'd like to suggest adding a switch to inserters to carry either products&ingredients or modules. This would generate much more interestingly looking builds every time someone wants to play with variable modules somewhere.
Options for inserters to insert or remove items to/from different inventories would be great in general. Not only could you insert/remove modules but the same would work for the fuel inventory in entities with fuel slot (burner inserters, boilers, furnaces, LOCOMOTIVES). It would solve several other feature requests.

My request there would be that it not be a radio button list and have separate options for source and target. Inserters should be allowed to pull from multiple inventories so they still can insert ore and fuel into a furnace for example. But they could then for example be set to only insert fuel into the furnace making steel.

@Irrehaare: Please make this a separate feature request, it has merits on it's own but doesn't address the "Allowed modules" part of this request.
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