Factorio Forums

Hello Hello!

Env: 15.5
OS: Windows and Mac

Summary: When chaining research stations, a currently researching lab can have its science pack removed completely, going down to 0 packs. Probably not a bug, but it feels also like an unintended consequence of allowing science packs to be removed.

Specifics:
I am trying a fairly goofy setup, chaining them along and introducing a new science pack at each level, thus requiring both forward and back inserters. This bug oddity doesn't break the game at all, just cuts down on efficiency. Take a look at the uploaded video and any time you see a lab with only one science pack type, it has stopped researching.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByDTte ... sp=sharing

Workaround: You can probably set an inserter condition to require > 1 science pack to be present before it can remove one and send it along the chain OR setting up long armed filter inserters.

Suggestion: EDIT: Make science packs like coal in a boiler, once it starts getting used, it is stuck in the lab and for all other purposes gone from the world OR make default handling NOT remove the _last_ science pack of any type.

hardingt wrote:Summary: When chaining research stations, a currently researching lab can have its science pack removed completely, going down to 0 packs. Probably not a bug, but it feels also like an unintended consequence of allowing science packs to be removed.

That is by design. It means that chaining labs is not the end-all best way to setup labs but is easier than doing it the most efficient way.

Please reconsider. It should not be an objectively bad way that we warn newbies against. The spacing is less convenient for late game beacons anyway.

Rseding91 wrote:That is by design. It means that chaining labs is not the end-all best way to setup labs but is easier than doing it the most efficient way.

Ha! I realized I hadn't actually tried this with a boiler, but it looks to be the same case! So definitely by design. However like the above poster, I would ask you reconsider fixing adjusting this (or consider it a feature request), to have entities like labs and boilers not remove any "In process" work materials.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByDTt ... 3NtbG5uTG8

hardingt wrote:

Rseding91 wrote:That is by design. It means that chaining labs is not the end-all best way to setup labs but is easier than doing it the most efficient way.

Ha! I realized I hadn't actually tried this with a boiler, but it looks to be the same case! So definitely by design. However like the above poster, I would ask you reconsider fixing adjusting this (or consider it a feature request), to have entities like labs and boilers not remove any "In process" work materials.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByDTt ... 3NtbG5uTG8

Boilers, furnaces, and the like immediately consume a unit of fuel whenever their bar runs out. They have no "in-progress" items to remove.

Research labs don't work similarly because different technologies have different research pack requirements.

Nemoricus wrote:

hardingt wrote:

Rseding91 wrote:That is by design. It means that chaining labs is not the end-all best way to setup labs but is easier than doing it the most efficient way.

Ha! I realized I hadn't actually tried this with a boiler, but it looks to be the same case! So definitely by design. However like the above poster, I would ask you reconsider fixing adjusting this (or consider it a feature request), to have entities like labs and boilers not remove any "In process" work materials.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByDTt ... 3NtbG5uTG8

Boilers, furnaces, and the like immediately consume a unit of fuel whenever their bar runs out. They have no "in-progress" items to remove.

Research labs don't work similarly because different technologies have different research pack requirements.

Hmm, the most recent video I had seemed to be showing a single piece of coal being traded and used between the two boilers, I'll go back and check though. As far as science packs, I'm not sure I follow your logic. Due to only being able to research one thing at a time, going down to less than 1 pack shuts down that science center (if it is a required type). So if two labs both need green science, and there is only one available, they will trade the one endlessly hardly getting any actual research done. I guess I see them more like assemblers, so the request is that once they hit 1 of each type required, lock em in until it's done creating that unit of research (rather than degrading each pack individually a la repair packs/ammo) or keep at least one in there.