Auto-launching of mixed rockets

[Brambor]

"send rocket when full"

Usecase:
1. produce 1000 science on Gleba of varying quality
2. Load it into a rocket and automatically launch it (when full) to a platform that is requesting all the different qualities of science.
3. The space platform goes to next stop, when it has 1000 science (in total)

Also, build platforms that need very small amounts of an item, such as combinators, in a more satisfying (and effective) manner, not leaving 48 combinators in the storage (or let them be send down right away).

Expected implementation:
1. If the silo is full, check what is in the silo.
2. If it satisfies any platform requests, send it.

It currently works like that, but for a single item.

Which is also counterintuitive. I was wondering why manual rocket sometimes sends itself when building a platform. Turns out, if it is full of one item, it will launch, nothing you can do about it. Ctrl+(mis)click can send it away.

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged several threads with the same suggestion.

[P.E.T.A.R.]

Really hope we something in 2.1 to enable sending mixed rockets.

[Causality]

I would also like to throw my two cents into this. If we could have some way to launch rockets when a particular ship is overhead it would add tremendous flexibility to space transport. That alone would fix so many problems because you can just set when the ship goes to the planet in the first place. Right now I'm in the middle of scaling up legendary production and I've been manually launching rockets of assorted legendary items from Fulgora to Nauvis. It would be fantastic to have more options for rockets because there are many use cases for not just sending up one type of item.

[SilentStorm]

You're supposed to automate that with the circuit network.

If only you could, but the vanilla game simply lacks the ability to do that.
- Mixed rockets never auto launch, even if the rocket contains all the items that are needed on the platform.
- You cannot tell a rocket to launch with circuits
- You cannot communicate between orbit and planet. The planet can only read what the space platform requests, which is insufficient.

[Brambor]

The vanilla game simply lacks the ability to do that.
- Mixed rockets never auto launch, even if the rocket contains all the items that are needed on the platform.
- You cannot tell a rocket to launch with circuits
- You cannot communicate between orbit and planet. The planet can only read what the space platform requests, which is insufficient.

I agree with the first two and I don't understand the third point. What communication would you like and for what purpose?

[Causality]

- "If X platform is orbiting above planet, automatically launch this rocket up to it"

[BraveCaperCat]

The vanilla game simply lacks the ability to do that.
- Mixed rockets never auto launch, even if the rocket contains all the items that are needed on the platform.
- You cannot tell a rocket to launch with circuits
- You cannot communicate between orbit and planet. The planet can only read what the space platform requests, which is insufficient.

I agree with the first two and I don't understand the third point. What communication would you like and for what purpose?

The third point is that there is no way to send a circuit connection from a space platform to the planet.

[R060]

I think just being able to launch rockets with a signal would be much simpler and more usefull sollution. We can depart trains with that, why not rockets? Honestly, the current "autoload with bots" design looks like just a workaround to please people who are so afraid of doing anything with signals and at the same time just want to place someones (offten insane in terms of infrastructure cost) blueprint and just bypass logistical challenge by printing bots for 10 hours and waiting another 10 hours for them to load and send all that crap.

Also, there must be a way to communicate between space platforms and surface, even if it would be all mixed up on "a single wire", like with radars. The only way current platforms ever worked out is because rockets are somehow just know how much stuff platform wants through black magic, again, automagically bypassing yet another simple enough challenge.

[DavidEscott]

I agree that the whole "automatically supply requests" thing is just broken. The algorithm I would like to see is roughly as follows:

Code: Select all

func try_fill_rocket(times_waited=0):
    # prioritize space_platform and cargo_bay launches as that speeds up construction
    # but when choosing what to send up always prefer the things that we have in inventory
    for item in [space_platform, cargo_bay, *space.requests]:
         if want(item) and fits(item) and item in robo_network:
             request(item)
    if rocket.fullness=100%:
       launch
    # at this point rocket isn't full, and either all requests are filled or nothing fits
    # in reverse order of prevalence in the rocket try to add something we already have
    # reasoning is that if you request 12 belts to finish your construction in space, 
    # getting a couple extra to fill up the space in the rocket isn't inherently harmful
    # there is a good chance you might need them as you tweak your design, 
    # and they can always be dropped back down
    for item in reversed(sorted(rocket.inventory)):
         if fits(item) and item in robo_network:
             request(item)
    if rocket.fullness=100%:
       launch
    if times_waited ? 0 and rocket.fullness > 95%:
      launch
    if times_waited > 10:
        alert("Having trouble filling a rocket with space requests")
    sleep(30) # wait a short period to see if any additonal requests are made, or requested items are produced
    try_fill_rocket(times_waited=times_waited+1)

[DavidEscott]

This is not exactly trivial because: consider a naive solution. Sort requested items by weight, put in heaviest item that fits, repeat while there's anything that can be added. Now, the problem is: more likely than not, the rocket capacity is not 100% filled. What now? Launch anyway? Fill the rest with platform foundations "just in case"? What if there's a request coming in two seconds that'd let the rocket get completely filled (e.g. you're just designing the platform)? Set some minimum capacity usage % threshold maybe?

It isn't trivial, but I don't think it is all that hard either. You have basically addressed the main concerns I think most people would have:

* You try and fill the requests.
* If it isn't entirely full you may want to wait (30seconds) to see if the platform requests have stabilized.
* If requests are stable at this less than full state, its probably a good idea to add any a few extra readily available items from the current requests.
* and then launch at some high threshold.

Yes there are lots of configurable parameters here, but they don't have to be exposed to the user. Just do something sensible. Virtually any choice for these parameters would be better than the current implementation.