Simple Questions and Short Answers

[kitters]

I set up the interrupt mechanism for the space platform, but it only activates after reaching the first station. It doesn't trigger between them. Is there any way to fix this? It doesn't trigger even when the conditions are met. In the screenshot, you can see the fulfilled conditions and the gray table.

Is this a bug or is it intended behavior?

photo_2025-01-02_08-12-39.jpg

I'd say you should switch language before taking screens from the game.

[husky777]

I set up the interrupt mechanism for the space platform, but it only activates after reaching the first station. It doesn't trigger between them. Is there any way to fix this? It doesn't trigger even when the conditions are met. In the screenshot, you can see the fulfilled conditions and the gray table.

Is this a bug or is it intended behavior?

As far as i'm aware this is Intended behavior, interrupts are only evaluated at stations.

Not sure what you try to do here, so not sure if/how there is a fix.

I'm trying to make my spaceship collect resources from asteroids and return immediately. It gets fully loaded much earlier than it reaches the destination. So I wanted to set a return timer. I'm very surprised that such a mechanic is not implemented. I find the idea of having interrupts mid-route to be very logical—after all, the ship can be critically damaged or, for example, run out of fuel before reaching its destination. And then there's my case.

[mmmPI]

I'm trying to make my spaceship collect resources from asteroids and return immediately. It gets fully loaded much earlier than it reaches the destination. So I wanted to set a return timer. I'm very surprised that such a mechanic is not implemented. I find the idea of having interrupts mid-route to be very logical—after all, the ship can be critically damaged or, for example, run out of fuel before reaching its destination. And then there's my case.

This was maybe hinted by Tertius, but is how the interrupts works when the spaceship is tasked to go to "shattered planets" which is "very far away". Then interrupts allow to return when "damage taken" or "asteroid count", or even a return timer mid-flight. This is a special case for spaceplatforms , a special destination where "interrupts" are interrupting a trip, otherwise it's more an interruption in the schedule like (for trains) and other destination, it doesn't work the same way, it's only evaluated at "stops".

I don't think there is an automated solution for what you describe before "shattered planet" are a valid destination, i faced the same desire to have a ship just move a little to get more asteroid and come back to origin, not finishing any trips but in early game there is no destination to send the ship to achieve such results so i did it manually and eventually made my platform able to complete 1 back and forth trip "safely" and used that.

[yura881]

Hello,

I’ve noticed a strange behavior in the fluid system. I'm not sure if this is a bug or if I’m misunderstanding how the system works. I have three thrusters connected together, but the fluid levels are different in each one. How is this possible? I would expect the fluid levels to be the same. This is important because it creates a difference in thrust efficiency.

[mmmPI]

Hello,

I’ve noticed a strange behavior in the fluid system. I'm not sure if this is a bug or if I’m misunderstanding how the system works. I have three thrusters connected together, but the fluid levels are different in each one. How is this possible? I would expect the fluid levels to be the same. This is important because it creates a difference in thrust efficiency.

I think the confusion comes from the fact that thrusters are not able to regurgitate fuel into a pipe or another thruster the way you expect.

Consider such setup :

interesting.jpg (755.6 KiB) Viewed 250 times

Now i can say the "blue fuel level" on the left most thruster can reach 1000, the pipes connecting it will still have 0-0.5 fluid in them, and the 2 active thrusters have a "blue fuel level" oscillating between 200 and 220 or so because i'm only activating the pump 5 ticks every 120 ticks.
If you move the left most thruster 2 tiles on the right, instead of the pipes, and the pipes are placed on the left of that thuster, the behavior is the same.

The thruster that is not connected to the orange fuel does NOT act like a tank. Whatever fuel it receive is not going to leave it, ever. It can only be consumed by the thruster.

Edit : "when blue fuel is given to the system by the pump, the 3 thursters receive the same amount but it's only consumed in 2, and one is hoarding".

[Kyralessa]

I think the confusion comes from the fact that thrusters are not able to regurgitate fuel into a pipe or another thruster the way you expect.

If this is the case, then why do the thrusters have two-way arrows on them?

[Tertius]

Thrusters pass fuel to other thrusters with them. They use a part of the incoming fuel to fill their own buffer and pass the rest to the passthrough output. "New" fuel is distributed over all thrusters this way, but fuel already put into the internal buffer of a specific thruster stays in that buffer until consumed by that thruster.

[mmmPI]

I think the confusion comes from the fact that thrusters are not able to regurgitate fuel into a pipe or another thruster the way you expect.

If this is the case, then why do the thrusters have two-way arrows on them?

"I think" they are allowed to share fluid, but they do not act like tanks or pipes, they do not regurgitate what was given to them. However when say 100 fluid is injected into the system, it will attempt to distribute that new amount amongst the connected thrusters. Say 33 to each. Now if only 1 thruster is consuming, it will drain those 33, but the 2 other thruster will still have 33 in them, they will not share what they hoard.

The two way arrows i suppose are meant to illustrate the behavior when adding new fluid into the system.

( as Tertius said )

Edit : maybe it is just meant to illustrate that fluid can go left or right on connected thruster and the side on which it is fed doesn't matter.

[Khazul]

If this is the case, then why do the thrusters have two-way arrows on them?

Think of anything with two way fluid connections as having an internal pipe and each connection is the ends of that pipe. Internally, the entity will also connect to the internal pipe to take what it needs into it internal buffers via what amounts to a one-way valve.

[Kyralessa]

So if I'm understanding this right:

The thruster fluid mechanics work the same way as pipes or tanks, except that the pipes and tanks don't have a one-way internal buffer; everything that flows in can flow out.

Whereas a thruster will fill its buffer first, and after that, only any excess will flow back out.

[Tertius]

It flows both ways, but a thruster will not first fill its buffer and pass only excess. Instead, it will equally divide between own buffer and passing to connected entities. Otherwise circuit control like this would not be possible: viewtopic.php?p=626728#p626728 (extremely useful, in my opinion)

[trancexpress]

What happens to a rocket silo shipment, that goes into a space platform, if the platform has no space to receive it? Is the entire shipment lost?

One of my platforms has some space issues every once in a while (due to not throwing unwanted items away fast enough) and when I see the respective warning icon, I don't see any part of the shipment in the platform. I only see that another shipment is on the way.

Is the shipment just lost? Does it return in the cargo landing pad?

[Kyralessa]

What happens to a rocket silo shipment, that goes into a space platform, if the platform has no space to receive it? Is the entire shipment lost?

One of my platforms has some space issues every once in a while (due to not throwing unwanted items away fast enough) and when I see the respective warning icon, I don't see any part of the shipment in the platform. I only see that another shipment is on the way.

Is the shipment just lost? Does it return in the cargo landing pad?

If the platform had enough space when the shipment was sent, but it doesn't have enough space when the shipment arrives, the items spill on the platform (marked with red Xs), the same way they would spill on the ground if the cargo hub were full. (I had this happen the other day.) They'll get picked up into the platform hub automatically when there's enough space again, due to manual cargo drops or space dumping or whatever.

[trancexpress]

If the platform had enough space when the shipment was sent, but it doesn't have enough space when the shipment arrives, the items spill on the platform (marked with red Xs), the same way they would spill on the ground if the cargo hub were full. (I had this happen the other day.) They'll get picked up into the platform hub automatically when there's enough space again, due to manual cargo drops or space dumping or whatever.

Hmmm, this just happened for a shipment of agricultural packs, on one of my platforms that transports them to Nauvis... Since I'm underproducing agricultural packs, it was easy to notice that Gleba didn't have more than the 1k packs it shipped - I had to wait until more were made. There was enough space shortly after the warning icon showed up, but the platform didn't have any agricultural packs.

Are there conditions for what you describe? Usually my platform hub is surrounded by inserters and whatnot... And generally there is not much space platform foundation that is not occupied by buildings. Could it be there is not enough space on my platform for the 1000 items that were launched to the platform?

Weirdly I'm noticing this occuring for my Gleba platforms, for bioflux and agricultural packs so far. Both are requesting 1000 items...