Factorio Forums

HI, I'm rather new, and i got to the stage where I get robots (woohoo) but I have a problems when I set a storage chest when I'm going to deconstruct something and the robots transport the content of passive provider chest to the storage chest. Is there a trick or something to avoid this, because if there isn't i don't see the use for storage chest if they are going to be this annoying.

Replace all your purple chests with red ones.

Requester Chests("blue")
Robots put items in here if the chest is requesting them. Items are first looked for in active providers, then storage chests, and finally passive provider chests.

Storage Chests ("yellow) Robots
Robots put items here that don't have a requester chest(or player!) requesting them. Robots try to keep these chests sorted by putting the items into the same storage chest that already contains the item.

Active Provider ("Purple")
Anytime something is put in here robots are dispatched to pick it up and take it to either a requester or put it in storage.

Passive Provider ("Red")
Robots will only pick up stuff here if it does not exist in a storage or active provider chest.

When deconstructing chests construction robots will transport the items to storage. If you want logistic robots to clear a chest replace it with an active provider.

So, when I'm deconstructing, first set a storage chest, then when they finish change it to provider chest to avoid items being moved from passive provider chest? and the things I automatically produce like belts for example, I set an active provider chest?

Maedros wrote:So, when I'm deconstructing, first set a storage chest, then when they finish change it to provider chest to avoid items being moved from passive provider chest? and the things I automatically produce like belts for example, I set an active provider chest?

Most of time for production line output you should use Passive Provider Chests (red). They will store produced items until they are actively requested by your personal logistic slots or by Requester Chests (blue). This is also the way to limit end result - to set limit on the chest. They will never be automaticly moved to storage chests.
Storage chests (yellow ones) are mostly used to dump unused stuff like deconstruction or trash slots.

Active Provider Chests will try to dispose of items inside it when they get the chance. They will transfer items to requester chests, your logistic slots or any free storage chests if there is one.
There is a scenario with using active provider chests and a big storage if you want all of your produced items to be stored in one spot where your storage chests are located. In this case to limit output quantity you should use circuit network by connecting output inserter to a Roboport and set its on condition to a ( < Number ) on an output item.

So if you use Passive providers for production lines the items will never move to storage automaticly so you can freely place storage chests for deconstruction purposes. Be aware that if deconstructed item is already contained in some storage chest within this logistic network and that chest has a free space, th construction bots will use that chest for storing deconstructed item and not one that you might place nearby (which might confuse you) but this helps keeping your storage sorted.

I could swear that my output production is being moved from passive provider chests to storage chests.
PacifyerGrey, is there a visual example of that?
And thanks for all your help guys.

Maedros wrote:I could swear that my output production is being moved from passive provider chests to storage chests.
PacifyerGrey, is there a visual example of that?
And thanks for all your help guys.

Don't swear things that you are not sure of. This behaviour is definite and is never known to fail.
What you describe is definitely a scenario that you would see happening with Active Provider Chests so do double check this.
If you place a storage chest if you see items being transfered to it you can easily tell what items are produced to active providers and not passive ones.
Switch off Alt mode and visually scan chests by color - Actives are purple and Passive are red. With Alt mode item icons conseal the chest color and it may confuse you.

Maedros wrote:I could swear that my output production is being moved from passive provider chests to storage chests.

Passive Provider Chests do not get emptied in Storage Chests unless you gave the order to deconstruct that specific Provider Chest.
Trust us on that. It basically means that you can keep working as you did. Good luck!

if you request something from the logistic network that are in passive provider chests then leave the logistic area
while the bots are in rout, they will place them into storage chests. i think that is what's happening to you.

i disagree about assemblers placing into passive provider chests. i've done that in the past.
coming back to base to restock, the bots have to travel far to get items. way too slow for me.
i now place into active provider chests with a condition on the inserter (connected to logistic network)
to only enable if < etc so i don't over produce. now when i come back to base storage area, i get restocked in no time.

impetus maximus wrote:if you request something from the logistic network that are in passive provider chests then leave the logistic area
while the bots are in rout, they will place them into storage chests. i think that is what's happening to you.

i disagree about assemblers placing into passive provider chests. i've done that in the past.
coming back to base to restock, the bots have to travel far to get items. way too slow for me.
i now place into active provider chests with a condition on the inserter (connected to logistic network)
to only enable if < etc so i don't over produce. now when i come back to base storage area, i get restocked in no time.

As I wrote above

PacifyerGrey wrote:Active Provider Chests will try to dispose of items inside it when they get the chance. They will transfer items to requester chests, your logistic slots or any free storage chests if there is one.
There is a scenario with using active provider chests and a big storage if you want all of your produced items to be stored in one spot where your storage chests are located. In this case to limit output quantity you should use circuit network by connecting output inserter to a Roboport and set its on condition to a ( < Number ) on an output item.