Logistic & Construction Bots - rain9441/factorio-tls GitHub Wiki

https://github.com/rain9441/factorio-tls/blob/master/screenshots/03-bot-unloader.png

When the first seed train arrives, a small number of logistics bots and construction bots are unloaded into the steel chest buffers via preconfigured stack filter inserters. These bots are then directly inserted into the two roboports that are part of the seed blueprint. We split the bots into two different roboports so that we don't end up in a situation where a roboport is full of construction robots and those bots block additional logistics bots from being put into the system. The steel chests are connected with wire to the roboports which report the number of bots that are in the network. This allows us to know both how many bots are in the roboports as well as how many are in the queue to be inserted into the network. We even connect the wire to the stack inserters and configure them to report what they are holding so that we can know precise amounts. If the system manages to jam up because there are too many bots sitting in those direct-feed roboports, that is okay because the moment the bots are needed they will make room for more bots of the same type to be fed in from the steel chests.

Bots that are in the logistic storage system are not counted as bots at the outpost. This is important because we don't have a way to transfer bots from a storage chest back into the roboport system. In this system, we simply ignore the ones in the chests and send them to the trash system to be recycled at the main base. This helps simplify the outpost, prevent circular loops from forming, and allows us to send bots to the trash system.

A second train is used to deliver bots in bulk. The purpose of the seed train is not to deliver all of the resources for the outpost. A second train which can haul 1000s of bots at a time is a better candidate for supplying bots to distant outposts.