Adjustable roboport range

[wobbycarly]

I had a friend suggest this to me, and so I created an account just so I could post the idea, because I think it's brilliant.

I suggest having a slider on roboports to be able to adjust the size of the logistics zone. This will allow the player to construct separate roboport networks and have more control over roboport placement, and minimise the risk of mixing the networks. I don't see any benefits in adjusting the building range. The logistics connection range would have to move with the size of the zone to meet the requirements of this application.

The simplest UI implementation would be a single slider that adjusts both the horizontal and vertical range at the same time; another option would be 2 separate sliders that allow finer adjustments of each direction separately. To let the player know that this function is - or will be - available, it could be locked behind a specific research ("adjustable robo range" or similar).

The minimum range would be 1 tile around the roboport, with the maximum range remaining unchanged at 50.

[Chrisi]

This sounds like a really good idea to me.
I don't know if devs are in favor of this because it would buff bot bases further and I've read Friday facts where they expressed that they would rather improve belt bases because bots factories are already much faster and easier to set up than belt factories.
I often build factories with separate logistic networks and being able to have a charging spot at the edges of these would be a huge improvement for me, so +1 to your suggestion.
Instead of customizeable roboport range one could also add a new building to the game which only charges bots in the logistics network they are placed in, and the building does not have a logistics or construction range. it wouldn't be as versatile as a custumizeable roboport range but still solve the problem I guess.

[BlueTemplar]

I don't see any benefits in adjusting the building range.

There are many situations where it could be useful to prevent bots from repairing/(re)placing things :
for instance situations where it would be a bit too expensive to replace the killed bots (and whatever they could be carrying).

[mrvn]

+1. Same request for the personal roboports with a range of 0 turning it off.

[bobucles]

Your speed of construction is dependent on how far out of their way bots are willing to fly to place an item. The further they fly, the longer it takes.

There is a very noticeable increase in construction speed when the personal roboport ranges are reduced by 5. It's not too small to be constraining, and not too big where bots fly off into nowhere.

[epr]

This is actually a good idea +1 also for building range

[urza99814]

I don't see any benefits in adjusting the building range.

There are many situations where it could be useful to prevent bots from repairing/(re)placing things :
for instance situations where it would be a bit too expensive to replace the killed bots (and whatever they could be carrying).

Circuit network control of building range would be awesome... Reduce the range while under heavy attack so you don't lose bots repairing the front lines, then turn it back up after the attack to repair and rebuild...

I'd also love if roboport range could be adjusted on all sides independently. I tend to build my roboports in large grids, so if I want a gap I have to either mis-align the grids or leave out an entire line of roboports. Decreasing range on all sides at once would just make the misalignment worse, but if I could reduce the range by one cell only on the north for example then I could keep the grid and leave only a one cell gap. Which also makes it easier to reconfigure the setup later.