Pre-programmed early robot, mover inserter

[XGRDX]

I have seen some ideas for early robots but they are usually ridiculous for the stage of the game they are suggested for but I have a simple yet complicated if you want in to be idea that also actually fills some automation holes in the early/mid game.

The idea is the mover inserter
The basic concept is pretty simple.

• Early robot powered by fuel that either moves on treads or walks.
  
  Every second it can do one action if the action can't be done it tries to do the next pre-
  programmed action without delay.
  
  In one of 4 directions you can do one of five actions, move, pickup, drop, place/build, de-construct ( if you put in the instruction to place/build it will ask you on a pop up grid how exactly to place the building)

The pre-programmed part of it is not as simple but has scalability of use depending on the skill of the user.
When putting in its instructions you can just put in a list of actions but you can also do the following.

• Put a number next to a action so that action is repeated a number of times(can select unlimited with 0).
  
  Name and group actions and then set that group to repeat a number of times(there can be groups within groups)
  
  can have conditions added to its actions or groups e.g pick up from left if inventory has less than 10 iron.
  
  Being blocked from moving a direction or being next to a certain object can be used as a condition
  
  has a quasi sixth type of action (activate X instruction group) that makes the mover start doing the actions from that group/part of the instruction list, this allows for even more complicated instructions if you think smartly about the condition and timing of this action

The main holes in the game this lets you fill are doing the the following time consuming things in the early/mid game

• building longs lines of belt, pipe, wall, concrete or rail, could be used to build other things but for most people it would be too complicated to be worth it.
  
  clear trees and collect wood
  
  De- construct large scale parts of your base/factory

The exact tech level of this could be debatable but I would put it near the filter inserter.
As for the cost depending on the tech level I would say 1x filter inserter + 1x steel chest + 20x gears + 15 seconds



here is a terra bad picture I made on loosely how it might work

note that i have zero talent and i didn't finish the picture but that what you get

[Yoyobuae]

Sort of like of those programmable toys from the '90s.


I like it. It's a relatively simple idea to understand. Copy paste feature should work on the robots to ease using them en-masse.

[Deadly-Bagel]

Ehh I'm not feeling it. Yeah it would certainly be novel but aside from clearing trees in the early game I don't know what else they would ever be used for. It would probably be too slow to raze your base and they would be somewhat overengineered for combat.

A recent FFF said they need to make bots available earlier (the one where they did the playthrough, can't remember which dev it was) which then encompasses the niche this would fill.

[vipm23]

While a nice concept, I feel like the programming's a bit much for one bot, and at the same time it's too slow.

How about it takes commands from, and outputs into, the circuit net? Like a mix between AAI and your idea.

It'd be constrained to a nearby pole by a wire, but could get a radio later as an upgrade.

It would try to complete a command(determined like other receiving devices by logic conditions) every other signal update tick, and output an error signal(configurable like other broadcasters) if it fails.

[Yoyobuae]

While a nice concept, I feel like the programming's a bit much for one bot, and at the same time it's too slow.

How about it takes commands from, and outputs into, the circuit net? Like a mix between AAI and your idea.

It'd be constrained to a nearby pole by a wire, but could get a radio later as an upgrade.

It would try to complete a command(determined like other receiving devices by logic conditions) every other signal update tick, and output an error signal(configurable like other broadcasters) if it fails.

Because programming the bot directly will be easier to learn than using circuit network. Whenever circuit network gets involved, complexity is multiplied by 100x.