bots

[PurpleGreen]

because of the last 2 fff and the reply i wrote i thought it might be a good idea to post it here too .

i am playing with this idea around for a couple of months so the FFF just made me bring it to paper.

Perhaps its a good idea , maybe its possible to just turn this into a mod ? ( would be nice to hear from a modder if this would be possible , but now that i think of it ... AAI does something similar ? )


let's redesign the bot system...

this concept introduces few new buildings like the cargo bay and redesigned roboports, new bots , new type of concrete and - most important , a whole new (optional) challenge in itself


logistic bot ( air ):
- can fly between between connected roboports.
- can only use buffer chests.
- cannot supply player
- roboports get a new 3 tile wide area for buffer chests the " cargo area".
- very ( as in V E R Y ) high electricity costs
- fast charge ( less than a second ) but low capacity, max 3 roboports range before they need recharge
- different tiers with with tech upgrades for speed,cargo,and charge speed and size.


Tier 1
- 1 tile size
- speed like yellow-red belts ( upgradeable)
- holds up to 4 items (not upgradeable)
- instant loading/unloading
- charges in .5 seconds (upgradable , -10% of the current charge time/upgrade )
- charge capacity ~ 3 roboports range ( upgradeable +1 roboprt each upgrade - max 3 upgrades)
- roboports can charge 20 of them at once

Tier 2 constructed by combining 4 T1 robots and a wooden cargoplatform)
- 2x2 tile size
- blue belt speed
- hold up to a full stack
- loading/unloading at blue belt speed unloading item per item from the cargoplatform)
- charge in 2 seconds
- 2 roboprts range ( upgradeable , +1 /upgrade - max +3)

Tier 3
- 4x4 tile size
- up to rocket fuel train speed
- holds a full chest ( like a cargo wagon)
- load/unload at cargo bay ( like a train station )
- instant load/unload
- charge in ~5 seconds
- 1 roboport range ( upgradeable + 1 range / upgrade - max +3)

Roboports would be able to handle mixed charging , providing 20 charging docks for 20x T1 OR 4x T2 +4x T1 OR 1x T3.

new building :
- Cargo bay 4x4 tiles , needs to touch the 3 tile wide cargo area and functions like a request for loading and active provider for unloading.
can only load/unload 1 t3 robot at a time and needs to be " empty " before the next robot can be unloaded.

- really really high electricity costs due to the roboport itself holding no charge but every charging robot directly drains the power network.
making them an end game competitor to trains but at a very high cost in electricity AND space.

for example a roboport would require a little dedicated poweplant, 10 roboports would already be in the nuclear powerplant range/ a massive(!) battery array. scaling with the amount of bots that need charge at the same time to buffer the power draw.

delivery bot ( air ):
- can fly only in the range of its roboport
- delivery zone maybe the same size as the current construction area
- roboports hold only a small amount of them , like 4-10
- use chests like currently in the game.
- player supply/trash
- fixed speed ( like a yellow belt ?)
- upgrades for cargo size up to full stacks
- no charge time because wireless power ( hence the short range )

construction bot - the same as current construction bot


Crawler bots (ground) : // maybe they could look like wall-e ( there were also the big wall-e versions in the movie ... haha i am amused by myself now ... )


- "safe" move on concrete / solid terrain ( like asphalt roads mod, any type of concrete etc)
- cobblestone , loose stone , dirt etc - all the " loose" ground types damage the bot
- new roboport like a garage to store the bots, must be placed in the logistic area of roboports
- can't cross no-bot zone concrete (new concrete like hazard but different color)
- can't cross belts
- can cross traintracks if concrete path if provided under the rails
- interact with gates like players ( for example gated rail crossings )
- a*-pathfinding , giving concrete a new purpose and interesting challenge
- electric fuel consumption
- charge capacity ~10 roboports or maybe time like 2 minutes of operation before it needs a recharge. if power is low , movement speed is reduced to 10% and " low charge" triggers immediate recharging task

they could also come in tiers

size : 1x1 / 2x3 / 3x5 tiles
cargo: 1 item / 1 stack / 1 chest
fuel : battery ( consumed and need to be reproduced) / accumulator( could be recharged ?) / uran fuel cell
speed: 50% of yellow belt / 100% yellow belt / 150% yellowbelt
duraibility(on loose ground) 100% dmg /50% dmg /10%dmg ( this means that moving on loose ground deals dmg like driving into a rock damages a car)



this way bots would not be a 1-for-all solution. but a whole new logistic challenge , introducing new and interesting ways to plan the factory, removing the overpoweredness from bot, creating a paper rock scissors like scenario when it cpomes to advantages and disadvantages of each system - belts trains and bots.

so far so good