Give more options for planetary logistics without logistic bots.

[MelonDude360]

TL;DR

Sending and receiving items from space without using logistic bots should be easy.

What?

Sending:
To simplify sending items to space with belts i suggest that the rocket silo slots have item filters corresponding to the items being requested.

silo.png (108.05 KiB) Viewed 1008 times

Receiving:
To simplify receiving items from space with belts I suggest that inserters can be used to extract items from cargo bays attatched to landing pads.
This way the amount of items than can be extracted from a landing pad with inserters isn't artificially limited. (There is no limit for logistic bots)

Why?

The main arguments for bots being allowed to be as convenient as they are (see "FFF #224 - Bots versus belts") have always been
1. They are optional, players can choose not to use them.
2. They are unlocked late in the game.
Both are no longer entirely true.
I think this change would be a step in the right direction toward at least making bots optional again.

[boskid]

Thanks for the suggestion however the proposed solution of having filters while also having rocket silo in automatic mode simply does not make any sense.

If you set filters, that means you want silo to be only ever used for the selected item.
If you select automatic mode, that means you want the silo to be usable for any item and you do not care what items exactly.
Those 2 concepts are simply incompatible and i see no reason to implementing this solution.

If you do not select "automatic requests" then you can have your own requester chest next to a rocket silo requesting a specific item or even a belt full of an item that is being inserted into the rocket silo and once the rocket silo is full and there is a space platform that needs that exact item, the rocket will be launched. That way it is possible to have rocket silos that are dedicated for specific items in a way that does not go into the automatic requests mode. This mode sounds like it would suit your needs.

[MelonDude360]

Thanks for the quick reply!
The solution I was imagining was that the silo automatically sets the filters based on what items are currently being requested by space platforms.
I want the silo to be usable for any item but also not have to worry about inserters inserting items that are not needed.
Maybe a third mode would be necessary for this, which is "automatic" but doesn't request from the logistic network, but I think it could be added to the existing automatic mode.

[MelonDude360]

This could also be used to let inserters insert rocket fuel, lds and blue chips into silos. As far as I know it's currently impossible to load those into a silo without the use of logistic bots. If my suggestion was implemented rocket silos that have been assigned a rocket fuel request could be filled with rocket fuel by inserter.

As I understand it here is how platform requests currently work with silos in automatic mode:
If there are enough items in the logistic network to fill a rocket, the request will be assigned to a random silo in the network and it will request the required items.

I propose silos should have a third mode that lets them be assigned requests regardles of logistic network.
For example you could have a silo in your mall that can supply belt, splitters, pipes and so on.
You could specify that the silo can supply those things and requests for those items will be assigned to that silo.
The silo would then accept the requested item by inserter but not other items.

That would allow for setups like this one.

silosetup.png (968.06 KiB) Viewed 908 times

[Tinyboss]

To simplify receiving items from space with belts I suggest that inserters can be used to extract items from cargo bays attatched to landing pads.
This way the amount of items than can be extracted from a landing pad with inserters isn't artificially limited. (There is no limit for logistic bots)

You only need to use up a single edge tile on the landing pad to connect any number of cargo bays, leaving room for 31 inserters. I don't know how many swings and drops per second a single legendary stack inserter can make onto a green belt, but the ultimate limit must be pretty high. Bots have always had the potential for higher throughput than belts in every application, so this doesn't seem like a problem, just a challenge for a self-imposed no-bots play style.

As well, it would allow instant item teleportation from the hub to any connected cargo bay. An optimal setup would be long, long chains of cargo bays instantly receiving any item dropped to the hub, which doesn't seem like a great thing to encourage. Routing of items on space platforms would be drastically changed, too, and probably not for the better.

This could also be used to let inserters insert rocket fuel, lds and blue chips into silos. As far as I know it's currently impossible to load those into a silo without the use of logistic bots.

What if inserters would add blue chips, rocket fuel, or LDS into the cargo of a ready-to-go rocket, but only if there is an orbital request for it? I agree that it is not fine that you can't load these without bots. That leaves the question of what happens if one rocket is ready to go but the buffered one still needs more items, but I think any choice on that would be okay.

[MelonDude360]

You only need to use up a single edge tile on the landing pad to connect any number of cargo bays, leaving room for 31 inserters. I don't know how many swings and drops per second a single legendary stack inserter can make onto a green belt, but the ultimate limit must be pretty high. Bots have always had the potential for higher throughput than belts in every application, so this doesn't seem like a problem, just a challenge for a self-imposed no-bots play style.

Yeah you're right, that change is probably not necessary. You could easily prevent the long cargo bay teleportation exploit though, by only allowing extraction and not insertion.

What if inserters would add blue chips, rocket fuel, or LDS into the cargo of a ready-to-go rocket, but only if there is an orbital request for it?

If you have multiple silos that would mean that all of them suddenly accept blue chips, which would cause a lot of problems.
I think it would be good if the request was assigned to a specific silo like in my proposed solution.

[Tinyboss]

Yeah you're right, that change is probably not necessary. You could easily prevent the long cargo bay teleportation exploit though, by only allowing extraction and not insertion.

Yeah, I understand. I was saying you can teleport from the hub to any cargo bay. Even one-way instant teleportation is pretty broken.