Logistics Tram / Trolley
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 1:12 pm
TL;DR
Pathfinding "bot" that uses tram-track infrastructureWhat ?
An additional method of logistics could be the Logistics Tram or Logistics Trolley. The Trolley comes from a Depot and is connected via infrastructure (Tram Tracks) to directly insert from/into Requester Chests and Provider Chests. It behaves like a Logistics Bot but runs on rails. Depending on CPU limitations or avoiding being OP, they could queue and have collisions or be free to pass through each other to balance these issues.- factoriotram2.jpg (528.07 KiB) Viewed 1655 times
Why ?
There has been discussion about bots vs belts, and that bots are too good because of the minimal infrastructure and high throughput. I can't imagine losing bots, they are incredibly useful, not necessarily for an entire bases logistics, but even for the smaller things like supplying a personal train with common building materials - belting signals, rails, power poles etc to a train is a job for bots.Trolleys could fill a gap - players who want to build a ground-based network, but also want the freedom that requester chests bring. Need some repair packs but don't want a belt running across the base just for that? Have a trolley deliver some.
Tram system could effectively be a "high density belt" depending on what stack size you deem suitable for a trolley's payload. Could be ~4 like a logistics bot, could be a whole stack if it's a slow entity.