Request blueprint materials from logistic system / Usages for information about needed blueprint materials

[Davy Crockett]

It would be helpful if you could request all materials of a given blueprint at once so your personal roboport always has access to them, for example by allowing the player to place blueprints in their logistic slots.

[ssilk]

What to do, if the blueprint is bigger than your inventory?

[bobucles]

The player inventory is pretty big. How big? Big enough to cover the entire screen with factory stuff at maximum zoom. So you're talking about a really FRINGE error situation, which gets solved like any other full inventory. The transport waits for more free space.

[Gandalf]

I like this idea a lot. You could just place a blueprint in the request slot and instead of getting more of the same blueprint delivered you just get N times the ingredients for that blueprint. Since there is hardly any point to actually requesting more of the same blueprint (as it would work currently) this won't interfere with any other expected behaviour.

Regarding large blueprints I agree with @bobucles. The request slots already allow you to request large numbers of random items, regardless of their stack size, so you can already overflow your inventory with a single request.

I could see an argument against this in the fact, that it allows you to circumvent the current limitation of only having 16 request slots. Basically you could request an arbitrary combination of many different items by creating a formless blueprint and putting it in a request slot. In case this is a concern (although I really don't think it matters) you could alternatively add a method that will add the necessary requests to your regular request slots. Something like this:
1. You have free request slots
2. You right click on a blueprint (or do some other kind of specified interaction, like dragging it to a request slot)
3. The free request slots are automatically filled with the relevant requests to build one instance of the blueprint, unless not enough slots are free.

However I'd really prefer the first method. If this doesn't make it into vanilla I'd love to see a mod for it, if at all possible.

[Tinyboss]

I love this idea. It does somewhat trivialize the Character Logistic Slots 2-4 upgrades, though. If we just had a way to do a one-time request for N sets of material for a given blueprint (taking into account material already in the inventory, so that you end up with exact amounts), that would be perfect. I can't think of a way that fits perfectly with the existing UI, but maybe someone else does.

Related to this, it would be nice if the hover-tip for a blueprint would tell you how many copies you can build from your current inventory.

Edit: It would still be really easy to circumvent logistic slot limitations with the method I propose. So instead, I propose a new "Advanced Character Logistic Slots" tech that requires Character Logistic Slots 4 and gives you five new "advanced" logistic slots that can hold blueprints (or adds the ability to all your existing slots). Together with this we should probably just disallow placing non-empty blueprints into logistic slots prior to researching this tech.

[Davy Crockett]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I realized I would like this function when I was building a remote train station. The way I build them I need a roboport, smart inserters, fast inserters, conveyor belts, a splitter, a big electric pole, a train stop, medium electric poles, signals, passive provider chests, steel chests, straight rails, and a radar.
That's 13 slots for just one blueprint even though the train station itself doesn't even take up much space, so automating the pickup for those items would be really nice.

I agree with Tinyboss regarding the fact that this makes logistic slots/their technologies less valuable. I do think there should be limitations and nearly didn't make this thread because I didn't know how to fit it in the game, but I really like your idea with the "advanced logistic slots."

Should the blueprint take more items than you can carry, it could just deny the request and give you an error message for it, basically passive-aggressively telling you to use your non-portable roboports for the task.

[Havoc_mayhem]

Edit: It would still be really easy to circumvent logistic slot limitations with the method I propose. So instead, I propose a new "Advanced Character Logistic Slots" tech that requires Character Logistic Slots 4 and gives you five new "advanced" logistic slots that can hold blueprints (or adds the ability to all your existing slots). Together with this we should probably just disallow placing non-empty blueprints into logistic slots prior to researching this tech.

That's perfect. It doesn't take away from the current logistics slots in any way, as by the time you get the tech you've already utilized all of them.

[silverkitty23]

Honestly, even without the logistics slots holding a blueprint, I'd be happy with 'drag blueprint to empty logistics slot, it adds ingredients of blueprint to your logistics requests' - it would just stop adding ingredients when you run out of logistics slots - and if you run out of inventory, well, that's no different than any other logistic request you make which exceeds your inventory.

[mngrif]

What to do, if the blueprint is bigger than your inventory?

You stop the player from putting it in, or you invalidate the entire request to the loginet.

[Jürgen Erhard]

I love this idea. It does somewhat trivialize the Character Logistic Slots 2-4 upgrades, though. If we just had a way to do a one-time request for N sets of material for a given blueprint (taking into account material already in the inventory, so that you end up with exact amounts), that would be perfect. I can't think of a way that fits perfectly with the existing UI, but maybe someone else does.

Related to this, it would be nice if the hover-tip for a blueprint would tell you how many copies you can build from your current inventory.

Edit: It would still be really easy to circumvent logistic slot limitations with the method I propose. So instead, I propose a new "Advanced Character Logistic Slots" tech that requires Character Logistic Slots 4 and gives you five new "advanced" logistic slots that can hold blueprints (or adds the ability to all your existing slots). Together with this we should probably just disallow placing non-empty blueprints into logistic slots prior to researching this tech.

I belatedly propose an alternative, that would still use the current logistics slots: given the "list of materials" that blueprints already show, "simply" make the "drop blueprint into logistics slots" actually expand the blueprint to the list of materials and then put this list of materials into the logistics slots (as a not-yet-implemented-but-they-gotta one-time order).

Example: my blueprints so far are tiny , so I have this tiny solar array thing with six panels and one medium electric pole. Dropping this into a slot would instead drop a one-time order for six solar panels and a one-time order for one medium pole into *two* slots. So you'd need as many slots *free* as the number of *different* items your blueprint contains. What would happen if you dropped the same blueprint twice is... not really important.

[aeros1]

I usually build train station first, then outpost core with roboport. The next thing service train delivers all my spares, and logistic bots build from station supply. This also solves some small breaches/ breakthroughs/minefields issues. So my outpost may selfrecover some time until I get to it and solve biter problem. Though not see why it shouldn't exist. After all probably only few people see bots as base service tool only(aka ammo delivery/repair).

[person3triple0]

Coming off from the "advanced logistics slots":

Maybe there could instead be a way to have multiple setups for your logistics slots.
There would be a fifth row, and when clicked, your logistics slots would all change to what you had saved in that particular slot.

If anyone played Minecraft with TMI mod, you know what I'm trying to describe here.
Each button would correspond to a separate set of requests:
• one for building
• one to prepare for combat
• one to set up a mining outpost
etc etc etc

Since we can only have 4 rows of Logistics Slots, only those selected will be active. (Changing it will essentially "remove" all the requests and replace them, so that you can't have more than 20 requests at a time)
Putting a blueprint in one of those slots would automatically request the number of items the blueprint needs, within that particular slot, and shift/ctrl clicking will remove the blueprint, deleting the requests and resetting all the slots.

[apriori]

Done:
viewtopic.php?f=92&t=31722
https://mods.factorio.com/mods/Apriori/ ... %20Request

[siggboy]

I've always wanted this, was wondering why no mod exists that does it, but now there is a mod and I'll download it and install it and be very happy.

Thanks.

[apriori]

Thanks.

You are welcome. =) When devs realize some additional functionality, I'll implement additional way of mod's buttons using:
• simple Click for setting requested count (like now)
• SHIFT+Click for adding requested count

[gacekssj4]

Hello,

There are times, when someone needs to build something somewhere far away from base. For example Mining outpost with turrets. Let's say my blueprint has 300 Walls, 10 Gates, 250 Turrets, 35 poles, 5 inserters, 30 belts.

Now I need to gather all materials by hand. If I want to build 30 outposts, it takes some time every time to calculate what you need... and then bahh... 4 minutes away from base it appears you forgot something.

My Idea would be to add a button in blueprint that will queue all items from blueprint to Request fields. That way if I want to build 5 outposts I click 5 times and I have all materials needed in my inventory after a while.

[Yoyobuae]

Or make it so that putting a blueprint in a logistic requests slot request the source materials instead (if blueprint is non-empty).

[ssilk]

With 0.15 it is possible to read requests from entities, so it will be theoretically possible to have a mod, that offers that numbers as circuit signals.

[BenSeidel]

Try https://mods.factorio.com/mods/Apriori/ ... %20Request
It's on my list of "I can't live without".

[mophydeen]

eg.
- hold a blueprint on your cursor
- click with the blueprint on a logistics slot
- the slot becomes that blueprint
- logistics gets all the items needed in the blueprint.

--------
* after all the items are delivered you can remove that one blueprint and you still have all the other slots.