[MOD] (Alpha 8) A2B: conveyor belts & co. [v0.8.0]

[Ramsis]

I'm intrigued by this system.

Can someone make a video of the mod working? Sorry for the odd request it's just I'm sitting at the office right now and really interested in seeing this bad boy work!

[noone]

Mod has been updated to v0.6.2. If you load the belts with rock and slag chunks, they won't throw error messages at you anymore. But the rocks still don't move as they are supposed to, so it's half-a-fix, really. The code also went through a major structural overhaul thanks to asarium. It's really quite pretty now, and looks nothing like it used to !

Next up, getting these rocks to move properly ...

[IWannaChaos]

Would colonists being able to walk over the conveyor belts (or cross them like with sandbags) interfere with the mods function? Because that would be useful to me. The first thing.

[Iwillbenicetou]

No. But they do transmit power

[noone]

Would colonists being able to walk over the conveyor belts (or cross them like with sandbags) interfere with the mods function?

Our scientists are working on a possible revolutionary teleportation system which might allow you to setup passage points every now and then. That would require a deep understanding of Quantum Mechanics, and will certainly be costly research-wise to assemble, though. No need to get excited just yet about that, we are some way off this feature, still.

In the meantime, Health & Safety regulations forbid us to allow our customers to wander across a conveyor belt, and this will never be implemented as such in the A2B products. Although we do not officially encourage it, *if* you were to by-pass some of our XML security measures protecting your colonists and send them crossing a working belt, we would certainly be curious to hear about the outcome - most likely a flashy red message on the screen

[Iwillbenicetou]

I love your mod, I love it so much. Also another way is to find a way to code a conveyor, but make it speed you along, like sometimes at launch points for spaceships,, they have it lead to the entrance of the shuttle. Of course they are really cheap, but they would be earlier game, and wouldn't require too much research.

[Sakata]

Someone really really should show people how conveyors work (and how to manage stockpiles with them).  Been using BP+'s ones and still haven't figured out how in the world to make them useful, though I see the potential there, I can't for the life of me figure out how to make them work as intended.

[Ramsis]

Someone really really should show people how conveyors work (and how to manage stockpiles with them).  Been using BP+'s ones and still haven't figured out how in the world to make them useful, though I see the potential there, I can't for the life of me figure out how to make them work as intended.

Agreed. Still requesting video tutorial or picture tutorial.

[noone]

Thank you for contacting our customer service help line. We always value your feedback.

The A2B mod is no different from any other mod out there, in that it is absolutely optional. It may very well be that a player's strategy/gaming style/base design removes the need for conveyor belts altogether. Nevertheless, we at A2B rely on it heavily, and thought others might too.

There is a very simple way to determine whether you *need* conveyor belts in your colony (whether in A2B, BP+, IndustrialRim, etc...). A belt really is nothing more than a system transporting material from point A to point B (the different pieces allow for more complex designs beyond a straight line, but do not alter the basic concept). Let us assume that the material you want to move from A to B is distributed uniformly within a radius R_mat around point A, and define D_AB the distance from A to B. Three scenarios are possible:

1) R_mat > D_AB : if you have your material all over the place, then of course you do not need a conveyor belt. Simply having your colonists carry each item to point B will be much more efficient.
2) R_mat ~ D_AB : in this intermediate case, conveyor belts may or may not be useful. The determining factor will be the amount of material to be transported, and the exact distribution around A (if it is not uniform).
3) R_mat << D_AB : this is when conveyor belts are most useful. You have a set of items very close from point A, and B is located much further away. When your colonists carry the material, they spend 50% of their time carrying nothing, and if D_AB is large, this will be a long time, where they could do something useful instead ! Having a conveyor belts running from A to B in this situation will free that 50% of time for your colonists. They first start at A, and make rapid trips around this location to load the belt, and then go to B only once to deal with the items once they get there via the belt.

Long story short, estimate for your different items what R_mat and D_AB are, and that'll tell you if the A2B system can help.

Still requesting video tutorial or picture tutorial.

We at A2B are a motived group of engineers and scientists dedicated to giving our customers the best conveyor belt experience possible. Sadly, we do not (yet) have a dedicated marketing department, but would certainly hope to build one as our system expands In the meantime, here are 3 examples that may help.

A) your fields are producing a lot of food, to the point that your colonists do not have enough time to transport it to the nutrient paste dispenser's hoppers or storage room. This is even worse if your farms are away from the hoppers. In this case, building a small belt from your farms to the storage rooms can help a lot.
B) you have dead bodies all over the place, and are fed up of carrying them to thr burner. Once again, you can use a belt to help in this case.
C) If you use some mods with can automatically generate material (e.g. metals), then you can plug a belt right next to them, and carry the newly produced items directly to your storage room, instead of having colonists doing it ! Hands-off production !
D) Weapons all over ? Why not construct a launch pad outside your base, and ship them all there ! Not only does it free some space, but if it is outside your base, people dropping from the sky might even be lured there instead of your kitchen !

And the list goes on. As I said before, your base design may be so that you won't find the need for the belt. Or maybe you will find a lot of use for them. Up to you !

There's a couple of features I want to add soon: a) ability to connect to 'normal' hoppers, b) ability to 'create' a big pile of items, c) possibility to 'cross' belts & d) possibility to 'split' belt (i.e. send potatoes to the left AND to the right). a), b) & d) should be quick. c) will take more time.

Altogether, this should help make the A2B system even more polyvalent. If you have any more ideas or specific needs, let me know.

[Bodog999]

The problem with the rock and slag chucks error messages is that the conveyors try to disallow pickup which you cant do for rock/slag chunks.

Edit: Also I forgot to say that I waited too damn long for a mod like this. And its FINNALY here!

[Revealer]

hmm love the mod but, i have one problem. The colonists always pick the material from the unloader and transport it back to the loader over and over again.
So what am i doing wrong? or would it possible to make the unloader a Stockpile so i can set it to the same priority as the loader, so they would just leave it there?

[noone]

The colonists always pick the material from the unloader and transport it back to the loader over and over again.
So what am i doing wrong? or would it possible to make the unloader a Stockpile so i can set it to the same priority as the loader, so they would just leave it there?

We will soon have an update to the mod where the Unloader will drop the items on the floor. You can then design a stockpile at that point (manually), set its priority to that of the loader, and your colonists won't touch the material (unless another stockpile has a higher ranking, of course). And because the spot is occupied, the Unloader will not keep spitting items away, and the belt will fill up slowly. Alternatively, you will also be able to 'turn off' the Unloader, so that all the items get stored on the belt, and you do not need to design a specific stockpile to receive them.

Right now, you can do the same thing, but it is only a temporary fix ... :  create a stockpile near the Unloader, set its priority to that of the Loader, and your colonists will fill that one first (they go to the nearest stockpile to fill, apparently). So, they won't go back and forth anymore. Of course, that's only a temporary solution - once the stockpile is full, then they will revert to the Loader.

I'm hopping to submit the next update in the not-so-distant future ... we have some cool improvements in the way things move and new belt item ... and hopefully the 'usability' of the system will better as well.

[Revealer]

ah Ok thx, and till then i found an other solution i changed the unloader to passthrueable so i can create a stockpile on the same position as the unloader

[pincergames]

the selector in this picture stops the whole conveyor when the unloader branch is full.
is it possible to let the selector automatically disable itself and let everything pass when there still an item on its output branch?

[noone]

is it possible to let the selector automatically disable itself and let everything pass when there still an item on its output branch?

Yes, in principle, it certainly would be possible. However, I am reluctant to implement it, because it would be an annoying feature in most cases. For the moment, your best solution is to do this manually by 'unselecting' the item that is clogging the belt. Changing your design could also help in this case: if you were to switch the position of the in-going and out-going belts into your kitchen, you would ensure that even if the belt is full of food, your dinner plates would always move out (branch the out-going belt below the selector). In the long term, this would let the belt unsaturate on its own. In the current design, your colonists will cook 8 meals and stop there, because they won't go anywhere. If you change your design, your colonists will cook 'forever'.

In the next release, we will have a new belt element that will give you more freedom in 'sorting' items. Thinking about it just now, I just realised that you will be able to combine it with a belt selector to achieve exactly the effect that you have in mind - select items and make them by-pass the selector if the branch gets full. I'll describe how to do this when the next version is released (nothing fancy really, it'll just require to place the belt items in the correct order).