Complex assembly on conveyors

[antichaos]

This is an idea for a new way of producing late game items in a way that is challenging in a more interesting way, ie needing to create a precise and efficient assembly line, rather than just requiring vast amounts of materials.

You have a new object called the assembly platform. When placed on a belt it appears as a full grid square in size. As it travels along, items can be put into it by inserters, if it is under the inserter at the right time, otherwise the inserter puts the item on the belt as normal. Complex items are built according to a recipe which requires the right number of ingredients to be loaded in the right order. So a tank might be, 4 steel plate, 8 gear wheels, 4 belts, an engine, 2 advanced circuits, 2 batteries, 1 laser. When all the parts have been loaded the item is complete and can be removed by an inserter, leaving the assembly platform to be used again. If the items loaded do not meet a valid recipe, then you are left with a generic 'construction' which is basically junk and wasted resources.

This would require careful use of control circuits to sync up the inserters with the movement of the assembly platforms to ensure items are loaded at the right time. It allows for arbitrarily complex recipes, and provides an automated way of producing the modular vehicles which have been requested many times elsewhere. Eg adding more steel to a tank gives it more armor but slows its movement. It also avoids the problem of 'intermediate item proliferation'. I want the challenge of building a 20 stage assembly line, but I don't want the build menu and the inventory screen cluttered with 20 new intermediate items which only serve to increase the cost of the final item, as is currently the case with the various levels of modules.

[ssilk]

What is different to this suggestion: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... bly+street
--> This topic changed direction in the middle of the thread, the first post is not very relevant....

Also relevant: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =star+wars

[antichaos]

Yeah, I read the first few posts in that thread when I was checking to see if my idea existed, but didn't see your idea on the second page.

I think what I'm suggesting here is a bit simpler and more generic and flexible. The assembly platform doesn't need to be told what it is going to build like assembly machines do. You just load certain items in a certain order and when you hit a valid recipe the contents turns from a construction to a finished item.

I certainly don't think everything should be able to be built this way. The point is to provide a challenge for the late game that is about precision and timing, rather than pure scale, and to have an automation mechanism that allows for a bit more programmability and adaptability.

[ssilk]

Sounds quite interesting.
So in short: a running sushi assembly platform, behaving like a furnace?

Hm. With timing do you mean fine tuning of the production times with modules to optimize the throughput?