Cargo landing pads should act more like buffer chests

[TheToric]

TL;DR

Cargo landing pads should be counted as buffer chests for the purpouses of 'request from buffer chests' checkbox.

What?

Currently I have requester chests set to request science in order to keep science out of my logistics netowork. Pre-space-age, this worked fine, as the only way science could enter my logi network was construction activities. However, with space age, I now have science passing through the cargo landing pad, essentially a passive provider chest, meaning that the bots will fill the requester chest from the landing pad, generating useless bot traffic. (as I have inserters taking directly from the landing pad.)

[IsaacOscar]

Wow, this is exactly what I did, and now have a chest full of tons of space science...

I didn't even realise the thing was connected to the logistic network, I would just have it be like a giant chest, and mame you use an inserter to get the stuff into the logistic network (that way you can decide which priority it should have, storage chest, passive provider, active probider, or buffer)

[Ajper]

Totally agree. At least they could add a check box like "Buffer chest behavior" or something like that. The passive provider behavior of the landing pad fucks my logistics network... This is my first time here, do devs usually hear community?

[IsaacOscar]

This is my first time here, do devs usually hear community?

Same, but from looking through the forum archives, they definitely do seem active and have implemented quite a few suggestions.

At the moment however they are focusing on the swampload of bugs from 2.0/space age so they might take a while. But they do plan on making a 2.1 with QOL improvements, see https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-438

[computeraddict]

This should be fixable with like two combinators to request everything that isn't in the landing pad, no?

[IsaacOscar]

This should be fixable with like two combinators to request everything that isn't in the landing pad, no?

Nope, if I have space science elsewhere in my logistics network, I'd like them all moved to the landing pad.

This is currently not possible without having the robots in an infinite loop moving the science to and from the landing pad, or putting the landing pad in a seperate logistics network.

[computeraddict]

This should be fixable with like two combinators to request everything that isn't in the landing pad, no?

Nope, if I have space science elsewhere in my logistics network, I'd like them all moved to the landing pad.

This is currently not possible without having the robots in an infinite loop moving the science to and from the landing pad, or putting the landing pad in a seperate logistics network.

Two combinators and an inserter

[Ajper]

This should be fixable with like two combinators to request everything that isn't in the landing pad, no?

Nope, if I have space science elsewhere in my logistics network, I'd like them all moved to the landing pad.

This is currently not possible without having the robots in an infinite loop moving the science to and from the landing pad, or putting the landing pad in a seperate logistics network.

Two combinators and an inserter

Lets say i request from a platform 1k Calcite AND i want that 1k Calcite as Buffer if i dont need calcite in that point in time. Then, i a have Requester Chest or Buffer chest (anywhere) requesting 50 Calcite AND i want only the calcite that has been put on pasive or storage chests or has been thrown away as trash. This means robots will always take calcite from the landing pad even if dont want them to. What i think you mean (computeradict) is to request only when there are 0 items at landing pad, but this means a much slower troughput and 0 buffer, not mentioning that even when only a stack of calcite is deliverded (when landing pad has 0 calcite), part of this items might be also picked up by robots if they are fast enough.

So for big output, i dont think there is a solution, and if there is, i would like to know.

Also, thank you for the answer IsaacOscar!

[IsaacOscar]

This should be fixable with like two combinators to request everything that isn't in the landing pad, no?

Nope, if I have space science elsewhere in my logistics network, I'd like them all moved to the landing pad.

This is currently not possible without having the robots in an infinite loop moving the science to and from the landing pad, or putting the landing pad in a seperate logistics network.

Two combinators and an inserter

Lets say i request from a platform 1k Calcite AND i want that 1k Calcite as Buffer if i dont need calcite in that point in time. Then, i a have Requester Chest or Buffer chest (anywhere) requesting 50 Calcite AND i want only the calcite that has been put on pasive or storage chests or has been thrown away as trash. This means robots will always take calcite from the landing pad even if dont want them to. What i think you mean (computeradict) is to request only when there are 0 items at landing pad, but this means a much slower troughput and 0 buffer, not mentioning that even when only a stack of calcite is deliverded (when landing pad has 0 calcite), part of this items might be also picked up by robots if they are fast enough.

So for big output, i dont think there is a solution, and if there is, i would like to know.

Also, thank you for the answer IsaacOscar!

Hmm, try this?

• have a buffer chest requesting how much calcite you want
• have an arithmetic combinator taking input from the buffer and outputing to the landind pad, set it to output "500 - calcite", where 500 is how much calcite you want
• set the landing pad to set requests from the circuit network

You can also connect an inserter to the buffer chest if you don't want to waste bots on moving the items

[Ajper]

Hmm, try this?

• have a buffer chest requesting how much calcite you want
• have an arithmetic combinator taking input from the buffer and outputing to the landind pad, set it to output "500 - calcite", where 500 is how much calcite you want
• set the landing pad to set requests from the circuit network

You can also connect an inserter to the buffer chest if you don't want to waste bots on moving the items

Sounds good! I will try it, thx

[Khazul]

This seems easy enough to work around.

The problem for me is when I have trash unrequested switched on, and Im belting out science (as my labs are belt fed). I ended up embedding requester chests + inserts in the science belts.

It seems that the solution to this would be a logistics blacklist option that prevent certain item being published to logistics network even if trash unrequested is on. But quite honestly, burying some provider chest in belts isnt really a headache.

[spiral_power]

I have been playing factorio for years and only used passive chests when I was a beginner, but have not used them since.
Simply because buffer chests are so much more useful.
I wish cargo landing pad to function as a buffer chest or option.

Are passive chests useful? I think NO.

[ikarikeiji]

Are passive chests useful? I think NO.

As someone who generally plays without logistic bots: I use passive providers on every assembler output in my mall, storage generally just for deconstruction, and don't use the other three. So can't agree with you there.

On Gleba, where I did use logistic bots because I got fed up of trying many other things and getting nowhere, I use active providers for outputs of things that spoil, but still use passive providers for everything else. I made one single buffer chest for fruit, and told the fruit-requesters to request from buffer chest. That was it.

---

On-topic, maybe cargo landing pad should just have a dropdown where you can set what you want it to act as:

- Storage chest
- Passive provider
- Active provider
- Buffer
- Not connected to logistics network at all (I think this can be done by disabling by circuit connection, but you shouldn't need to connect it to a circuit network to achieve this)

Heck, maybe all four logistic chest types other than the requester chest should be merged into one, with the above dropdown added to its GUI? I frequently change chests between passive provider and storage when I want to change which area my construction bots are working on, so being able to do this instantly, rather than waiting for the bots to fast-replace the chest, would be cool.

Being able to control this dropdown setting in both cases via circuit would be pretty neat, too.

[spiral_power]

As someone who generally plays without logistic bots: I use passive providers on every assembler output in my mall, storage generally just for deconstruction, and don't use the other three. So can't agree with you there.

While this story may seem somewhat off-topic, I mention it because it is an important element of the story that passive chests are unnecessary.
I believe that passive chests you are using should be replaced by buffer chests or active provider chests, depending on their use.
I don't mind if someone uses passive chests, but I don't agree that cargo landing pads should behave that way because essentially a passive chest is inferior to buffer chests.

[computeraddict]

As someone who generally plays without logistic bots: I use passive providers on every assembler output in my mall, storage generally just for deconstruction, and don't use the other three. So can't agree with you there.

While this story may seem somewhat off-topic, I mention it because it is an important element of the story that passive chests are unnecessary.
I believe that passive chests you are using should be replaced by buffer chests or active provider chests, depending on their use.
I don't mind if someone uses passive chests, but I don't agree that cargo landing pads should behave that way because essentially a passive chest is inferior to buffer chests.

Buffer chests can't provide to buffer chests. Passives can.

[spiral_power]

As someone who generally plays without logistic bots: I use passive providers on every assembler output in my mall, storage generally just for deconstruction, and don't use the other three. So can't agree with you there.

While this story may seem somewhat off-topic, I mention it because it is an important element of the story that passive chests are unnecessary.
I believe that passive chests you are using should be replaced by buffer chests or active provider chests, depending on their use.
I don't mind if someone uses passive chests, but I don't agree that cargo landing pads should behave that way because essentially a passive chest is inferior to buffer chests.

Buffer chests can't provide to buffer chests. Passives can.

I use requester chests in such cases.
Buffer chests are used to store the specified items.
It is not to be used to retrieve needed items.

[computeraddict]

I use requester chests in such cases.
Buffer chests are used to store the specified items.
It is not to be used to retrieve needed items.

So you could just use passives, storages, and requesters if you aren't actually interested in using buffer chests to buffer...?

[spiral_power]

I use requester chests in such cases.
Buffer chests are used to store the specified items.
It is not to be used to retrieve needed items.

So you could just use passives, storages, and requesters if you aren't actually interested in using buffer chests to buffer...?

If I am not interested in buffers that may be fine.
Unfortunately, I have not and will not consider such a thing, as I consider the buffer function essential to the smooth operation of my factory.

Again, I don't care if others use passive chests, but I don't want to be forced to use passive chests myself.

[neoChaos12]

I can see the utility of introducing the ability to select behaviour, i.e. "passive", "active", "storage", and so on, but I think the current behaviour makes perfect sense in the context of the existing logistic chest prioritization chain. Rocket silos act as highest priority requester chests and landing pads act as lowest priority passive providers - effectively, the "sink" and "source" respectively for the entire planetary logistics system. Whenever I get confused about the logistic chest priorities, I consult the visualization on this reddit post. The current setup is a good default for when one respects the logistic chest priorities.