Categorize the "Unfulfilled Requests" Tooltip based on network/bot status

[kizrak]

TL;DR

Split the "Unfulfilled requests" tooltip into three categories (Incoming, Waiting for Bots, and Missing from Network) so players can instantly diagnose logistics bottlenecks.

What?

I suggest splitting or categorizing the items listed in the "Unfulfilled requests" tooltip into three distinct groups based on their actual fulfillment status:

• Actively Incoming: Items that are currently in the network and have robots dispatched to deliver them to you.
• Pending Bots: Items that exist in the logistics network, but are waiting because there are currently no available logistics bots to carry them.
• Unavailable: Items that will never be filled because the logistics network currently has zero in storage/providers.

Why?

As you can see in the screenshot below, the current tooltip just gives a monolithic list of everything you are missing. When a player has a massive request list, it is impossible to tell at a glance why a request is unfulfilled.

05-30-2026, 09-59-52.png (269.38 KiB) Viewed 278 times

By categorizing these, players can immediately diagnose their factory's bottlenecks without having to open the logistics network window and manually search for each item. You will instantly know if you just need to wait (incoming), if you need to insert more robots into the roboports (pending bots), or if you need to ramp up production of a specific item (unavailable).

How?

This could be implemented mechanically in a few ways without cluttering the UI:

• Divided Tooltip: Break the tooltip into three sub-headers (e.g., "En Route", "Waiting for Bots", "Missing Items").
• Color-coded text: Keep the single list, but change the text color of the numbers underneath the item icons. For example: White for actively incoming, Yellow for waiting on bots, and Red for missing from the network entirely.

P.S. Why this needs to be a vanilla UI update (Not a mod):

Anticipating the "there's probably a mod for this" response—this specifically needs to be a base game change. TMK, the Factorio modding API does not provide hooks to modify or inject custom formatting into native engine tooltips. While a mod could theoretically create an entirely separate, custom UI window to display logistics statuses, it cannot alter the existing vanilla "Unfulfilled requests" tooltip to add sub-headers or color-code the text. To keep the at-a-glance UI clean, this has to be handled engine-side.


So much love — Thanks!

[thuro]

Agreed. Very useful when bot network is under high demand

[kizrak]

Bumping this with a refined design intent.

After thinking more deeply about the underlying math of the logistics system, I want to clarify the exact goal of this UX change for anyone looking to implement it.

The original pitch focused on "bot bottlenecks" versus "missing items." However, diagnosing bot shortages is already handled well enough by circuit network alerts. The true value of this UI change is giving the player immediate, actionable feedback on production shortages by replacing the monolithic "Unfulfilled" list with two semantically distinct concepts: Unfilled (a measure of time) and Unfulfillable (a measure of capacity).

Here is a "Reverse 5-Whys" (projecting outward from the change to the final player benefit) to clarify the exact UX intent:

1. The Change: We group items under two new sub-headers ("Unfilled" vs. "Unfulfillable") and apply a color triage system (White, Yellow, Red) to the deficit numbers.
2. So what? The UI stops treating all missing items as a single, identical failure state.
3. So what? The game explicitly separates "waiting" problems (the network has the capacity; delivery just takes time) from "production" problems (the factory is starved).
4. So what? The player knows instantly, without opening any other menus, whether a missing item requires their manual intervention.
5. The Ultimate Goal: The player stays in their flow state instead of performing UI chores just to figure out if their factory is broken.

The Underlying Logic (2 Categories, 3 Actionable States)

To achieve this, the UI only needs to track two numbers: the player's Deficit (Requested minus Inventory) and the factory's dedicated Supply (Items actively incoming via bots + unreserved items sitting in the network).

Category A: UNFILLED (Time Issue)

• State 1: Fully Available (Default/White text)
  Logic: Supply >= Deficit.
  Player Action: Wait. The factory has everything you need. The items are either flying to you or waiting for a bot to pick them up.

Category B: UNFULFILLABLE (Capacity Issue)

• State 2: Partial Shortfall (Yellow text)
  Logic: 0 < Supply < Deficit.
  Player Action: Fix eventually. You will receive a partial delivery, but the factory will run out before your request is fully satisfied. Production needs to be scaled up.
• State 3: Complete Shortfall (Red text)
  Logic: Supply = 0.
  Player Action: Fix now. The factory has absolutely zero items to give you. Production is completely dead or non-existent.

By dividing the list into Unfilled vs. Unfulfillable and applying this simple White/Yellow/Red triage system, the tooltip directly answers the only questions that matter:
"Is this an urgent fix? Do I need to go fix something eventually? Or do I just need to be patient?"