Prioritise Space Platform Construction Materials

[mrvn]

this needs to be fixed, would even say that is not a suggestion, it is a BUG, a platform that just requests auto stuff that isnt sortable, requests stuff it cant even place without foundations, i want to place a platform and dont care about, but i have to, first i have to place a bp with the foundation+storages and after that the real bp

so requesting only the stuff it can build (and foundations are always buildable) would be nice (ofc if there are turrets ammo should be piped too)
another option would be to NOT auto request stuff if there is already a rocket size stack of it present at the storage, the platform doesnt have to gather 2k belts first and block the storage if it cant even place 100

If you have turrets with ammo in the ghost then ammo only gets requested once the turret is build. Before that it isn't requested from the construction area so it doesn't register with the space platform hub.

All ghosts should be that way, even on planets. If the ghost can't be build due to missing tiles (scaffolding, landfill, artificial soil, even just a tree in the way) it shouldn't be requested at all. The construction bots holding something and hovering above a ghost unable to place the entity are annoying.

[IsaacOscar]

If you have turrets with ammo in the ghost then ammo only gets requested once the turret is build. Before that it isn't requested from the construction area so it doesn't register with the space platform hub.

All ghosts should be that way, even on planets. If the ghost can't be build due to missing tiles (scaffolding, landfill, artificial soil, even just a tree in the way) it shouldn't be requested at all. The construction bots holding something and hovering above a ghost unable to place the entity are annoying.

Sure, however:

1. It makes ir much harder to know how many items you need to satisfy all the ghosts (I often build ghosts before I make the materials)
2. More importantly, space platforms don't have bots, so the extra stuff will just be waiting in the cargo hold.
3. it costs a lot of resources and time to send up a rocket, so it would be good to do this in parallel with the construction of the containing ghost

[mrvn]

If you have turrets with ammo in the ghost then ammo only gets requested once the turret is build. Before that it isn't requested from the construction area so it doesn't register with the space platform hub.

All ghosts should be that way, even on planets. If the ghost can't be build due to missing tiles (scaffolding, landfill, artificial soil, even just a tree in the way) it shouldn't be requested at all. The construction bots holding something and hovering above a ghost unable to place the entity are annoying.

Sure, however:

1. It makes ir much harder to know how many items you need to satisfy all the ghosts (I often build ghosts before I make the materials)
2. More importantly, space platforms don't have bots, so the extra stuff will just be waiting in the cargo hold.
3. it costs a lot of resources and time to send up a rocket, so it would be good to do this in parallel with the construction of the containing ghost

I've never had the problem that rockets are sitting idle on the pads during construction. As soon as a rocket sends up something it gets build way faster than the animation of the next rocket rising plays out. By the time the next rocket is ready the ammo for any turret will be requested and send then. And it always sends a rocket full of the same item. So if just one turret gets build then one rocket full of ammo is send. All further turrets get to share the ammo till it runs out and then the next rocket will bring more. There really is no delay there.

The problem in this thread is that too much stuff gets send up so the hub inventory overflows and then foundation can't be send up to actually build any of the platform at all. You actually then have to send stuff back down to have space for some foundation to resolve the deadlock.

It would make a difference if you could read requests, build the needed material and send up mixed rockets. But you can do neither with the current system. If you don't have the ammo already build the platform will simply not request it at all and a mixed rocket doesn't launch automatically.

[SHADOW13]

Building large space platforms/ships can be irritating if hub is filled up with all items but not space platforms.
Have to start sending up items until space platform arrives.

I think space platforms should be sent first when multiple items are in "Requests for construction" section

[GTG3000]

What titles says.

When pasting a big ship blueprint, it's possible to deadlock the construction when the single hub you get is filled up with belts/inserters/what have you because it neglected to request neither foundation nor the cargo bays to store more material in.

[Sheridan]

I support and expand it. I have to manually control the initial shipment of components to the platform so that the warehouse is built first and only then turn on automatic requests. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize not only the foundation, but also the storage modules.

[ichVII]

I am not convinced of this suggestion. While this would help with building larger ships on nauvis orbit, on other planets orbit this means your power and defense seutp will be artificially delayed by this.

[Sheridan]

And what is the point in delivering turrets and ammunition to it if the turret cannot be built because there is no foundation?

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged several threads with the same suggestion.

[ichVII]

Lets say you need 1000 foundations, some solar panels and some laser turrets. If you launch 100 foundations, 50 panels+laser turrets, your defenses are probably up. If you strictly prio foundations, it takes 20 launches of foundations before any panels or lasers are up. That is a significant delay.

[ichVII]

I support and expand it. I have to manually control the initial shipment of components to the platform so that the warehouse is built first and only then turn on automatic requests. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize not only the foundation, but also the storage modules.

The currently existing solution to both our problems is blueprint staging: You first place an intial, small part of your ship that can get send up before it is hit and doesnt overfill the cargo space. And then you expand. It is not a great solution, but it works. Furthermore, the way placing on a ship currently works forces you to place your ship in multiple steps anyway, as you only explore chunks by building platforms in them and not by blueprinting on them (which is a "feature" i dont like).

[nzer]

Lets say you need 1000 foundations, some solar panels and some laser turrets. If you launch 100 foundations, 50 panels+laser turrets, your defenses are probably up. If you strictly prio foundations, it takes 20 launches of foundations before any panels or lasers are up. That is a significant delay.

This is already what happens. Request priority follows the order of the items in the crafting menu, meaning the panels would be delivered first, followed by the foundation, followed by the turrets.

[Muche]

Lets say you need 1000 foundations, some solar panels and some laser turrets. If you launch 100 foundations, 50 panels+laser turrets, your defenses are probably up. If you strictly prio foundations, it takes 20 launches of foundations before any panels or lasers are up. That is a significant delay.

My question is, where are the turrets placed such that they both: are able to be placed after only 100 foundations, and defend the whole 1000+tiles platform?

I mean, woundn't the platform building logic have to find the most efficient way to beeline foundations from the hub to the outer edge's turrets, instead of the current breadth-first logic of build all foundation tiles that are accessible from the hub/already placed foundations?

[ichVII]

laser turret range is 24. 4 of them close to the center should be enough for a 30x30 square, which take 900 foundations. Dont see the issue.

[mmmPI]

This suggestion comes quite often, so i'm going to drop this here :

There is an automated way to avoid deadlock currently in the game, it may not be as fitting to personnal preferences as what all the different suggestions proposes. But in case none are implemented and this is still a problem for a player, having 2 silos, not in "automatic request", yet loaded with inserters to be filled with platform tiles and the other with cargo bay. "Pre-loaded" if you will. This way, any large blueprint that a player attempt to paste that would start requesting material from a planet would receive as first shipment, platform tiles, and cargo bays. This is because the other silos will require a little time to receive the other constructoin material brought by robots before launching, whereas a silo that as a rocket ready and filled with material like platform tile will auto-launch immediatly during that time, thus arriving first.

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged into an older thread with the same suggestion.