Expand roboport requests: limit maximum number of bots and request for repair packs.
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2026 11:42 am
TL;DR
Make the roboport requests more like logistic requests, being able to set a maximum number.Also request repair packs.
WHAT?
Basically the roboport request interface feels half-baked, and missing the full feature set of other logistics requests. It is possible to set a minimum number of bots in a roboport, but not a maximum.It is also not possible to request that a number of repair packs be kept in roboports, which just seems like it'd be a slam dunk feature.
If this proposal is implemented it would mean that when setting a maximum number of allowed bots to a roboport, then any extra bots would 'flee' to other roboports (if possible) and if any were inserted by an inserter or player, they would also 'flee'.
WHY?
A very common design pattern is to have assemblers building robots on demand and inserting them directly into a roboport based on circuit conditions.This works well when the condition is dependent on available robots be low, as the network will automatically summon any inserted robots
However it works poorly when the condition is some total number of robots in the network, as the roboport will simply get filled up.
Additionally, sometimes certain roboports are best served as being marked 'off limits', such as surrounding a bot mall, to make it more likely logistic bots will store themselves in the roboports inside the mall, and that construction robots will keep their distance.
Roboports can store repair packs, but barely do in practice. Wanting to keep repair packs on hand near defensive structures, one has to use buffer chests (if one has even researched the logistic network.)
Visual aides:
Here's an example of me wanting to shove some extra robots in my network, and not having a good time:- 08-29-2026, 13-38-12.png (863.84 KiB) Viewed 55 times
- 08-29-2026, 13-39-56.png (43.26 KiB) Viewed 55 times