Factorio Forums

TL;DR

I suggest adding a feature where one can add to or set their character logistics request slots the ghost entities currently missing.

What ?

When placing down a blueprint, I will naturally not always have the items I need on hand. Currently, I find myself hovering over the missing materials alert that identifies what items are needed to finish construction and manually adding them and their count to my character's logistics request slots so that when I go back to my production facilities I get what I need to finish the blueprint. I think it would be useful to automate this process. Perhaps a right-click on the icon can add all missing entities to your character logistics request slots up to as many as will fit? I am uncertain if such a feature should include all missing entities detected by all your roboports or just the ones currently detected by your personal roboports. I am also uncertain if such a feature should instead overwrite the entities selected in the character logistics request slot.

What if you could place a blueprint into the logistic request slots and it just did that?

bobucles wrote:What if you could place a blueprint into the logistic request slots and it just did that?

I actually have another post for exactly that. It's pending mod approval before it shows up, and once it does I'll edit my OP to link to it, but this suggestion isn't the same, though it is similar. This suggestion covers the use case of getting the right requests for an incomplete or damaged build. It's an after the fact solution. Perhaps you stamped down a blueprint before you'd unlocked certain items and now want to fill in the gaps (a concrete floor, for example) or you didn't provision the right resources or have the inventory space or didn't quite know how many stamps you'd need, and you want to get the remaining materials. In addition, the other suggestion would necessarily only be available as part of the character logistics request slot research or its own research afterwards, but you can have already stamped down blueprints before you got that far.

I do not like messing around personal logistic slots at all
The only reasonable thing would be give circuit network read of missing materials from roboport.
Why even bother with delivery to a player if base construction bots can build it as it is if they are in range?

PacifyerGrey wrote:The only reasonable thing would be give circuit network read of missing materials from roboport.

I am intrigued by the idea of having a roboport output missing entities and counts to the circuit network. I can think of a couple of cool uses for that. I may end up floating that idea on this board too, if someone doesn't get to it first (or it isn't already suggested)!

PacifyerGrey wrote:Why even bother with delivery to a player if base construction bots can build it as it is if they are in range?

If a blueprint is stamped in range of a bot network that has access to the materials necessary to complete it, I agree it is more straightforward to have them do that. However, if it is not, such as in the case of expanding a rail network or building a mining outpost, and you as the player were missing some materials, I believe this idea holds merit.

PacifyerGrey wrote:I do not like messing around personal logistic slots at all.

Would you mind expanding on this? I did not mean to imply such a feature be compulsory. If you feel the proposed right-click would be too prone to a misclick, perhaps something more intentional, such as Shift+right click on the missing entities alert would add them to your logistic slots. Such an action is a bikeshed anyway.
I feel as though I may have misinterpreted what you meant by that, though, so again I seek clarification.