[A13] A2B: conveyor belts & co. [v0.13.2]

[1000101]

The belts don't give any jobs, that's all handled by the normal haul job driver.  The loaders just give a place to haul things like any other storage building and the belt coding handles the movement of items on the belts.

[nmid]

The belts don't give any jobs, that's all handled by the normal haul job driver.  The loaders just give a place to haul things like any other storage building and the belt coding handles the movement of items on the belts.

Ah.. That clears up a few things.

Just wondering,
Is it possible to make an automated production table (with 0 crafting etc or some common skill that every hauler will have) that requires input of whatever you want to transport, which then outputs the same thing onto the adjacent conveyor belt?
Not sure about the output as currently a table drops the completed item on the position where the worker is..
I wish there was an option of take to the nearest stockpile in production tables.

The point is, I want someway of having a range radius to the items that can be picked and taken to the loader.

[1000101]

Just wondering,
Is it possible to make an automated production table (with 0 crafting etc or some common skill that every hauler will have) that requires input of whatever you want to transport, which then outputs the same thing onto the adjacent conveyor belt?
Not sure about the output as currently a table drops the completed item on the position where the worker is..
I wish there was an option of take to the nearest stockpile in production tables.

The point is, I want someway of having a range radius to the items that can be picked and taken to the loader.

I think the MAI assembler in the Miscellaneous mod does what you are describing as far as "auto-building" and not the conveyor aspect.  That may be worth checking out as a starting point.

[Timmiej93]

Ahh, I didn't realize? that I? put the version number in the directory name.  Somebodies bad (mine?  noone?)

It wasn't for this version, the update you provided was without version info, but the one I had in my mods folder (previous version), did have version info in the folder name. No harm done though, it's an easy fix.

The point is, I want someway of having a range radius to the items that can be picked and taken to the loader.

This would be VERY interesting.. I hate seeing my haulers bring stuff from the unloader to the loader on the same belt. Easy fix of course by designating proper preference levels (or whatever it's called) for the stockpiles and loaders, but it would be interesting to see what can be done with the range for loading.

[1000101]

Good luck rewriting the haul job driver.    I don't think it possible with anything less.

I think a better solution is to rethink your colony layout and optimize your resource and production flow.  When building loaders, for example, I build them in threes going into a merger feeding the belt.  This prevents a single pawn from blocking a single entry node when it reserves the loader for the haul task.  Anyone familiar with manufacturing will understand the horseshoe concept of production flow although I tend to use a closed loop system so the belt reseeds itself.

[nmid]

When building loaders, for example, I build them in threes going into a merger feeding the belt. 

Haha, when I get home, I'll share this exact setup already done in my colony.
It's been there for the past few days now.
I had to change the preferability to normal though, down from important (as my stockpiles are 'preferred'.)

Anyone familiar with manufacturing will understand the horseshoe concept of production flow although I tend to use a closed loop system so the belt reseeds itself.

I have seen the introductory screenshot, which I'm assuming is an example of the closed loop system? Not sure how that helps, unless your conveyor system is overloaded?
Perhaps I'm just being dense atm, but can you explain the horseshow and closed loop system to me please.

Thanks.

[1000101]

The basic idea of a horseshoe production system is your belts go around the outside of your production area in the shape of a giant "horseshoe."  When I say I use a "closed loop," I simple turn the horseshoe into a circle so if an item on the belt misses it's target (for example, using soft selectors set to steel and the unloading area is full) it can come back around and try again...and again...and again...

Think about what your resources are, where they are going, what order they will be used and just play with designs and layouts.  Eventually you will figure out a reasonably optimal design.

Simple horseshoe production:


Closing the loop by connecting to the main belt loop:


Remember, these were quick mock-ups to show the basic idea, not an ideal factory layout.  The important parts are that the main belt only supplies a branch with what it needs using a hard selector, the tables are fed from the horseshoe with soft selectors and have enough belt space to keep a pawn busy working at a table.  The central load area uses multiple loaders all set with the same acceptance and feed back into the main belt.

For warehousing, I will typically use the inverse principle as the loaders.  The main belt filters through a soft-selector which feeds a splitter which in turn feeds three unloaders and stockpiles.  I'll be sure to either provide enough belt space between the selector and splitter to keep the warehouse stocked or, more likely, use Ratys RT Storage mods Quantum Warehouses and Quantom Relays.

The important thing about the warehousing is that I set it up so each unloader (or unloader set of 3) unloads one thing into a stockpile which accepts one thing.  ie:  The selector and stockpile will only be set to steel, not steel, plasteel, gold and silver, just steel.  For things which either can't be produced locally (such as half the stoneblocks on a given map) or at all (AI Cores, neurotrainers, etc), I may share stockpiles and unloaders depending on the items in question.

Finally, also note the direction of travel of the main belt and the production branch (horseshoe).  The horseshoes output connection to the main belt is after it's input connection from the main belt.  This is important so items must go through the main loop before returning the branch which created it.  This way you can still get the resources back you need locally but other production areas which rely on remote production of a resource will be fed as well.  Of course, if you use something like RT Storage, you can forgo belts in the production area completely and use Relays.  But, for people who don't like sci-fi magic teleportation, this is the basic principle of how real factories (which are production line based) are setup.

[Clibanarius]

Any update on this? We really love the mod and want it for Alpha 11!

[1000101]

it's 99.9% ready, it's the 0.1% that has been holding it back for a couple days now.

[Clibanarius]

Only a couple of days, though? Excellent. Thanks for the update and the hard work on this mod!

[rsof69]

update pls  last thing i need for my colony

[Ninefinger]

Here is an updated release, if nothing else i hope this helps A2Bcorp out a bit. A2B Conveyors A11

All credit goes to A2Bcorp and special thanks to Obs for providing the update.

[A2Bcorp]

Thanks for the link, Ninefinger. Any help is always very appreciated.

Although if anyone manages to update the mod faster than we do, why not email it to us first via pm so we can use it to create the official release faster - without confusing the mod users with official and non official updates ?

Please (please!) don't take this as an angry/negative/sarcastic comment - we at A2B are certainly glad to see the mod being updated and used and shared ! But we are also very happy to get help via Github or pm to speed things up and make things better - this is why the A2B corporation was set up in the first place: to ensure that the mod does not rest with a single user, but keeps living and evolving beyond us all ! And so we're always looking for new contributors to join us on Github - be it for one alpha update, or for longer endeavors !

As 1000101 wrote above:

it's 99.9% ready, it's the 0.1% that has been holding it back for a couple days now.

Basically, we have a small visual glitch, but the official A11 version should come out very soon. This update will contain good things here and there, and teleporters+receivers will now form their own "extension" to the base mod (alongside the expanded Selectors extension). More details when the release actually happen.

[rsof69]

Thanks for the link, Ninefinger. Any help is always very appreciated.

Although if anyone manages to update the mod faster than we do, why not email it to us first via pm so we can use it to create the official release faster - without confusing the mod users with official and non official updates ?

Please (please!) don't take this as an angry/negative/sarcastic comment - we at A2B are certainly glad to see the mod being updated and used and shared ! But we are also very happy to get help via Github or pm to speed things up and make things better - this is why the A2B corporation was set up in the first place: to ensure that the mod does not rest with a single user, but keeps living and evolving beyond us all ! And so we're always looking for new contributors to join us on Github - be it for one alpha update, or for longer endeavors !

As 1000101 wrote above:

it's 99.9% ready, it's the 0.1% that has been holding it back for a couple days now.

Basically, we have a small visual glitch, but the official A11 version should come out very soon. This update will contain good things here and there, and teleporters+receivers will now form their own "extension" to the base mod (alongside the expanded Selectors extension). More details when the release actually happen.

when will it come 1 to 2 days ?

[A2Bcorp]

It will come.