Entity Request Slot / Build Blueprint Over Existing Entities / Upgrade With Blueprints

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Quarnozian
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Entity Request Slot / Build Blueprint Over Existing Entities / Upgrade With Blueprints

Post by Quarnozian »

TL;DR
Entities have Item Request Slots (typically used for Modules) which the bots fulfill. Add Entity Request Slots to request a new entity be placed directly on top of an existing entity.
Why?
If you have a blueprint for Stone Furnaces and Yellow Belts, and an identical one except with Steel Furnaces and Red Belts, then placing the blueprint would make the entities check to see what was being placed on top of them, and if it is a direct change (belt to belt, smelter to smelter, inserter to inserter, and so on) then it would request an upgrade from the bot network using the Entity Request Slot. It should only work with entities the player can place over top of the current entity. For example you could not place a Steel Chest on top of a Medium Electric Pole, but you could place a Steel Chest on top of any other chest.

This would allow for a series of blueprints to be made as upgrades become available. It would allow blueprints to be directly placed without needing to hold Shift to override conflicts, and the existing objects would request the new entity. Ghost Placement on top of a compatible entity could also be used to trigger the Entity Request Slot.

Also, since it's not deconstructing the entity, it can continue functioning while the bot brings the replacement. As the bot places the new entity it would receive the old entity to be sent to storage. Similar to how the entity would have jumped into the player's inventory when upgrading something, such as belts or assemblers. (This would allow the creater of the Upgrade Planner mod to massively improve the way the bot upgrades behave)
Last edited by ssilk on Sat May 08, 2021 5:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed title to match subject better

Hedning1390
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Re: Entity Request Slot

Post by Hedning1390 »

I hear some version of upgrade planner is coming in 0.17, which would make this obsolete.

Quarnozian
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Re: Entity Request Slot

Post by Quarnozian »

That will be nice, but I'd also prefer blueprints being able to upgrade entities. Plus without this feature, I don't think an Upgrade Planner even can leave entities running while they wait to be upgraded, so I doubt it would make this idea obsolete.

Reason I'd want it to work for blueprints... If you have a design that uses belt weaving, and you have an expanded blueprint that upgrades from yellow/red to red/blue, as well as upgrading the machines, and uses different modules... It'd be a lot easier to place it and move on with your business without worries that something has gone terribly wrong.

Reason this is useful for Upgrade Planner... Let's say you decide you want the main bus upgraded as the belts are crafted, so you set a bot upgrade command for the entire bus... Well the main bus STOPS MOVING as bots pick up every single item off the belts and then begins picking up belts... then the belt production center stops receiving materials, and now the main bus will simply be deconstructed and never get rebuilt because there's not going to be belts to build it with.

If the belts can simply request an upgrade with the entity request slot, then they can continue working and when the bot arrives with the replacement belt it can slap it down and the old belt pops into its inventory to be sent to storage... no need for the belt to stop moving, or for other bots to come clear items off the belt and pick up the old one first.

adjl
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Re: Entity Request Slot

Post by adjl »

The Upgrade Planner mod can't leave entities running, simply because of how it works (it deconstructs the original then builds the new one in its place), but I imagine an official version of it could incorporate quick replace functionality to avoid that.

Quarnozian
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Re: Entity Request Slot

Post by Quarnozian »

They demonstrated exactly what I was hoping to see for the upgrade planner in last week's Friday Factorio Facts.
https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-255

However, I would still like blueprints to be able to trigger this same behavior.

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