Vanilla Empty Barrel "Handling" (New ideas needed)

[JasonC]

So I've been trying to come up with a fully automated way to dispose of empty barrels using only the vanilla game (there's plenty of mods that make it easy), because it's kind of funny. (My "normal strategy" -- if I want to get rid of stuff for some reason -- without mod help is to just load barrels into chests / warehouses and bust out the flamethrower.)

So far this is the best I could come up with (higher res):

Blueprint for just the intersection:

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Copy blueprint

The way it works is straightforward: Barrels are loaded onto a cargo car. When the car is full, our friend comes along and helps dispose of them in an EPA-approved, environmentally-safe manner.

Unfortunately, as you can see, it's only semi-automated: The cargo car needs to be manually placed.

I ran into two major issues:

1. Initially, the barrel train stop was configured to send the train contents over the network, and the disposal train was configured to move when the count maxed out. The issue with this is that when the cargo car is destroyed, the barrel train switches to manual mode and the count in a new cargo car is no longer sent.
2. I don't know of any way in the vanilla game to automatically replace a destroyed car.

I solved issue #1 by adding a few combinators to count the number of barrels loaded, then send that modulo 400 (cargo capacity for barrels) over the network. Then I modified the disposal train to move only if the barrel count was >= 380, just to allow for some slop when the inserters are holding still with items in their hands. There's a lot of other options for counting barrels I just went with this way arbitrarily. The point is that the solution to issue #1 is to not rely on the train station to send the barrel count.

So that works fine. But, issue #2 remains. At first I tried adding a roboport with some construction bots and some train cars in storage chests, but the bots don't rebuild destroyed train cars, sadly. I guess this wasn't unexpected. I didn't have any other ideas.*

*(I briefly considered having a longer train move cars into place so at least you had a few shots before you needed to replace the cars, but aside from a minor-but-solvable complication that trains can't move backwards automatically, the fact that trains switch to manual mode when cars are destroyed is a show-stopper.)

So, this is the best I got.

Can anybody come up with a way to do this fully automatically, using only vanilla game items? Maybe there are other ways besides trains? I couldn't think of any other way to destroy things either besides with trains.

If it's any inspiration, other ideas that have crossed my mind include:

• Somehow manipulating biters to get turrets to fire into areas containing chests of barrels, or just getting biters to destroy them outright? Not sure how to make this work and didn't spend much time on it.
• Something with vehicles getting pushed onto train tracks by belts? Not really sure if this is feasible either and didn't really spend time on it.
• Is there something else in the game that destroys things but is also controllable?

I really want to see a fully automated way to do this. Like I said, no real reason. It's just kinda funny and an interesting challenge.

[JasonC]

I have had some success with biters, placing storage chests at the edge of a flamethrower turret's range then luring them in when the barrel count goes above a certain limit by repairing a turret near the chest (which is automated by inserting a turret into a buffer chest so it is available to construction robots).

It needs some tweaking; and it's pretty hungry for resources (needs a supply of replacement turrets, storage chests, walls, and gates), I'll share more if I get it working better, lol.

[Frightning]

I don't understand why you have so many empty barrels you need to get rid of. What are you doing that leaves you with tons of empty barrels?? They are reusable for fluid transportation (just set up your trains so that they take the empties back with them; lots of ways to do that).

[JasonC]

Because I'm lazy and also having more fun finding creative ways to destroy them than recycling them, lol.