Allow smart inserters to add and remove robots from roboport
Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 11:07 am
I have searched the forums and couldn't find a topic about this. Maybe there is something else already posted about this or something similar and I want to apologize if I'm posting duplicate information.
Issue:
Currently there is no way to add and remove robots from any roboport automatically to keep a fixed count of logistics and construction robots in the network or upgrade robots if a mod (eg. Bob's) adds new types of robots.
Suggested Solution:
Allow smart inserters to be able filter on the counts of all robot types currently in the entire network just like they do on the logistics network items in storage, passive and active providers.
Suggested use:
Put down a smart inserter next to any roboport in the network you want to work with and put a condition on the smart inserter such as logistics-robot < 500 and face the inserter towards the roboport (so it inserts into it). Then put a requester chest in front of the inserter and request say 10 logistics robots. Now the inserter will make sure to add robots if the count goes below 500. We can also do the opposite with another smart inserter with a condition of logistics-robot > 500 and face the inserter towards an active(or passive) provider chest. these two inserters will keep the robot count at the exact number desired. The same can be done with construction robots by duplicating this setup and changing logistics to construction robots.
An additional enhancement that would be great to this feature is if the smart inserter's condition is met for removing robots but there are none in the roboport it's attached to, then the exact number of robots it wants to remove are requested to dock at the roboport so that they can be removed.
The obvious first use of this would be to make sure that you always keep a minimum number of construction robots in the network and as long as you are producing them in factories (I mean the game is about automation ), and you have the necessary raw resources, you never have to worry about not having construction robots to repair and replace damaged building and the biters getting into your base.
Another advantage of this is that for mods such as Bob's Mods which adds more types of robots, you can easily upgrade them in an automatic way using this approach. Just set the maximum construction robots to keep to 0 (so they will all be removed) and set the other inserter to insert construciton robots mk2 (etc).
Thanks
Issue:
Currently there is no way to add and remove robots from any roboport automatically to keep a fixed count of logistics and construction robots in the network or upgrade robots if a mod (eg. Bob's) adds new types of robots.
Suggested Solution:
Allow smart inserters to be able filter on the counts of all robot types currently in the entire network just like they do on the logistics network items in storage, passive and active providers.
Suggested use:
Put down a smart inserter next to any roboport in the network you want to work with and put a condition on the smart inserter such as logistics-robot < 500 and face the inserter towards the roboport (so it inserts into it). Then put a requester chest in front of the inserter and request say 10 logistics robots. Now the inserter will make sure to add robots if the count goes below 500. We can also do the opposite with another smart inserter with a condition of logistics-robot > 500 and face the inserter towards an active(or passive) provider chest. these two inserters will keep the robot count at the exact number desired. The same can be done with construction robots by duplicating this setup and changing logistics to construction robots.
An additional enhancement that would be great to this feature is if the smart inserter's condition is met for removing robots but there are none in the roboport it's attached to, then the exact number of robots it wants to remove are requested to dock at the roboport so that they can be removed.
The obvious first use of this would be to make sure that you always keep a minimum number of construction robots in the network and as long as you are producing them in factories (I mean the game is about automation ), and you have the necessary raw resources, you never have to worry about not having construction robots to repair and replace damaged building and the biters getting into your base.
Another advantage of this is that for mods such as Bob's Mods which adds more types of robots, you can easily upgrade them in an automatic way using this approach. Just set the maximum construction robots to keep to 0 (so they will all be removed) and set the other inserter to insert construciton robots mk2 (etc).
Thanks