New building: Train depo for automating

[Green Cat]

We already have the train overwiew but not a building to automate pretty much everything from signal to schechul to build/unbuild trains.

The depo is the same as the nuclear reactor, as in, you need mutiple parts for it to work even if they can work on their own.

Automation. Everything via circuits and logistic signals. Because this is exactly the ideea, to automate.

One of the new feature is to send a train to fully a logistic request insted of the bots. So how does that work? exactly because train station to work like the Radar regarding signals (aka you don't need to build a radar at each train station, since the train station to have a build in, or maybe it's a new type of trains station that has the effect of both?)

This means, if a logistic chest requiers and items (or even the space hubs or similar), insted of the bots to fly (warning, i am talking about what will happen automatically, aka if no train is avalable, the bots will fly) from one end of the map to the other, it will be the trains who will pick up this task. This means that either the train has the items in wagon or one of the pick up stations has the items. Essentially, logistic bots won't even be needed yet you can still do the exact same thing as long as everything is connected to train station. This would expecially be usefull in any situation where you have little "island" due to enemy or planet enviroment.

And as you can guess, just like with logistic chest, this means automatization of pretty much everything. Because this is why i said, we need a depo. And one of the building to handle this, what task to handle with the logistic network, what task to handle with circuit networks (aka train station send one to another what they need), what trains to do certain task always (aka no schecule or anything, except for refull, nothing will stop them from, lets say, pick up and drop ores). And limites. Aka construct and deconstruct trains if there are to many or to few of them. Being a depo, any train that don't has anything to do, will stay there. And if there are more then x (we set number) of empty trains there, any new ones will be deconstructed, with fuel and such removed). And if there are less then Y numbers on standby, the train depo will automatically create new trains. And this is where the fun starts since each depo to have their own type of trains exactly because we set them. Aka how the train looks like and what full. Like 1 locomotive, 4 cargo wagon. Another might be 1 locomotive, 1 wagon, and 1 locomotive. And really any time. 100 wagons? just make the train depo extra long to fit it. Plus we can use it as a "buffer" in case trains can't find the path (ideea is to not block the rail). You want to send 1 single item from one end to another (no clue why, maybe nutriance if somewhere you need just 1 to restart everything?), well the depo will recive the signal, will construct 1 train with one wagon, and give it to pick up 1 and send it to destination, exactly how the bots do, except, after, this train will be deconstructed if there are no other task and no need for it to be in standby. This will trastically change the gameplay possibilities.

And again, the ideea is that this works together with trains station who have a radar like signal reciving and transmiting (mods exist to do this, so it's not impossible). Because you might want to have mutiple depost, all doing the exact same thing, but at the same time, comunicating with each other (again, just like how the logistic bots work. why send a train from the other end of the map if there is another one in a depo right next to the pick up, if not, already full).

And one bug will also be fixed like this. The one where you build trains via blueprints, and randomly, the wagon might not be connected, or the train might leave before all wagons are build, or get turned into manual, and the list of "no, it did not work" continues. Aka you don't build any train, not even the ghost, you only set it in the depo and it will build it, and this includes making it go automatically, what schecul or train group to have, fuelling, and the reverse if there are to many trains.

The only thing this depo to not have is chest or similar. Aka no train with cargo. this is just because it will create a massive mess regarding how to design the depo to enable this. This is why i said, like the nuclear reactor, you can place nuclear fuel and used, but nothing else.

And of coruse, just like many mods showed that is possible, to automize (even if randomly) colours and such, aka colour coding.

Heck. even add filters for the wagons, meaning nothing except the desiered items will fit in the wagon

[eugenekay]

Heck. even add filters for the wagons, meaning nothing except the desiered items will fit in the wagon

Feature exists: Middle-Click to set slot filters.

Good Luck!

[Kyralessa]

Have you tried the Logistic Train Network? It does a lot of what you're looking for, automating train deliveries through requests and providers.

This is the version of it that works with Factorio 2.0:

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/LogisticTrainNetwork

I myself wrote a simple beginner's guide for it, which you can find here:

viewtopic.php?t=116087

There are various other guides, of course.