Unloading specific amounts of items

[Ringkeeper]

Hi,

i tried google, i read through alot of pages about circuit network etc but couldn't find an answer to my problem.

Problem:
in main base i have a chest with laser turrets, ammunition for gun turrets, gun turrets, repair kits and walls . A train picks up the stuff and gets loaded till the reserved spaces in the waggon(s) are full.

Now i want to unload on multiple outpost a specific amount of the items. Lets say on each outpost should be in a chest later 10 of each turrets, 100 ammunition, 100 repair kits and 100 walls.

I tried with smart inserter but there i can set only 1 condition. And i have no clue how to use the combinators.
So i hope someone has a simple solution and explain it, so a dumb user like me can understand it

[ratchetfreak]

the simplest solution is to use more smart inserters

one per item you want to keep stocked (use both filter and condition)

[vanatteveldt]

Yes, for unloading you will need to use a smart inserter for each item type, limiting yourself to 12 item types per wagon.

AFAIK, there are three ways of restricting storage to N items:
- unload into a chest with limited space, e.g. a wooden chest with only 1 stack available will store 100 magazines, and set inserter to limit type (e.g. magazines only)
- unload into a smart chest and link the smart chest to the smart inserter with a red/green wire, and set inserter to limit type and amount (e.g. magazines only; circuit condition magazines < 100). This is more flexible as you can include multiple chests in the circuit network, all values are added up; but it is also more work to setup up.
- add a roboport to the outpost, insert into a provider or storage chest, and limit inserter to type and amount in logistics network. This avoids the need to wire the chests, and you probably want to have repair bots in the outpost anyway.

Edit: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=20031 has a nice "loader station" in the top left, with double row of requester chest to request each item type. If you mix item types in the chest for loading, the inserter can stop working if it picked up a magazine while the reserved spaces for magazines are full, and it won't be able to pick up something new (e.g. repair pack) from the same chest as it is still holding the magazine.

[Xterminator]

Yeah for unloading Smart Inserters are your best bet. Either using a wire condition to set an amount or better yet have a logistics network there and unload into providers or storage and set a logistics limit. That should definitely achieve what you want. Just remember to use one Inserter for each different item, and more importantly, set a normal filter so the Inserter only grabs what you want it to otherwise it will cause a lot of problems.

[Ringkeeper]

shame that there is no other way then "one inserter per item" .

But thanks for the answers.

[vanatteveldt]

Well in a way it's part of the design philosophy of factorio, I think: rather than giving us complex items that can do a lot of things automatically (i.e. automatic sorters, balancers, lane switchers) we get simply things that we have to combine in clever ways to build a factory. Think of it as part of the fun