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AID - Automatic Item Delivery

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AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:06 pm
by ranzolger
AID - Automatic Item Delivery



for vanilla factorio, no mods needed!
please see second post for feature relatet stuff and my last post for latest news

V5.4a




this is for everyone who is tired of setting up train routes for small amounts of items to remote stations (like mining outposts, military outposts or whatever).
it should work with cityblocks aswell. i made this to connect independent robot logistic networks (RLN) without covering long train tracks with roboports.

every station you build will be automatically supplied with the items you request there. so you don't have to worry about missing stuff at your factories.
think of a station like a combination of a requester and a passive provider chest.
what it looks like - the depot
watch and see - the station

how it works (roughly):

all stations are disabled by default, so the trains aren't moving around when they are not needed (as trains will not go to inactive stations).
each station will activate as soon it requests something and will stay active until its request is fullfilled. also every station will activate when they can fullfill a request.
next to the train stop are a couple of lamps which indicate if the station is active (red = inactive, green = active).

the depot will be active at all times, but after the stacker is a closing signal. it will be closed if there are no trains needed.
the depot is an advanced stacker and central part of the system. you only need one, but that is essential.
you can connect the depot to your starter base or build it somewhere else on the map. the most important thing to keep in mind: you cannot provide/request liquids!
think of the depot as a kind of storage chest.



how to build:

at first you need the depot. it is the central part of the AID system. you only need it once. it can be build in your starter base or somewhere else on the map, that doesn't matter.
after that you only need to build stations.

all stations and the depot need to be connected by the red wire for the requesting service and general functionality. the green wire is for remote requests only.
so if you need a wire for other purposes, go without remote requests. connection point is the big electric pole next to the train stop.


after building the depot there are a few things to do:
1. remove the CC (remove after build) which prevents latches from going ham.
2. check the robot amounts at the CC which are supplied to the RLN [preset to 250 logistic and 100 construction robots].
3. next to the station is a set of CCs for fuel. its a thresholded request -> requesting.
4. if you extend the stacker, connect the signals with the green wire (like the first three ->bp-book).
depot sections
after building a station there are a few things to do:
1. remove the CC (remove after build) next to the requesting CCs.
2. check the robot amounts at the CC which are supplied to the RLN [preset to 100 logistic and 100 construction robots].
3. set station name at train stop (e.g. 'AID Q05') [preset to 'AID Q01'].
4. set station ID at CC next to train stop (e.g. 'Q'5) [preset to 'Q'1].
station sections

setting up trains:

the only place to build trains is in the depot! there is a stacker with three tracks (easy to expand).
al trains have to be composed 2-2-2 (2L-2CW-2TW, as seen in the first picture). for a system without liquids you can go 2-2 ofc.
if you need more trains, build more tracker stacks and put new trains on those tracks. this is important as the depot counts in and outgoing trains (-> reset section).
build at least as many tracker stacks as you build trains. it is not necessary to allocate items slots in the waggons (in a matter of fact it would be contra productive).

the train schedule is always (wait conditition: 5s):
1. 'AID Depot In'
2. 'AID Depot Out'
3. 'AID Q01'
4. 'AID Q02'
5. 'AID Q03'
...
N. 'AID Station QNN'
train schedule

requesting:

you have a couple of sets of CCs for your requests. the three on the right are for static requests. here you simply add your items with the amount you want to be stored within the stations RLN ('any item'#).
if you need more CCs just add and connect them with the red wire. those are the CCs you will/should use the most.

there are two identical sets of thresholded request CCs. here you can set a low limit ('L'#) and a high limit ('H'#) and in the middle 3 CCs the items you want to request ('any item'1).
the amount for the items must be 1. it would be one more step of work for you and f*ck up the AID-System if you increase the amount.
there are two sets for two different threshold values (if you need them). in case you need more than three CCs add and connect more with green and red wire.

for the liquids: next to the tanks are some CCs to request the liquids. the type of liquid you want to request must be set with a value of one (e.g. 'crude oil'1). liquids are always delivered by full loads (50k).

don't forget to activate the request CCs. they are turned off by default.
requesting

remote requests:

you can set up requests remotely. it is quite simple: just use the 'remote request' CC and input the station ID (eg: 'Q'5) and the items (with amounts) that you wish to request. turn the CC on for a short moment (a couple of ticks are enough) and turn it off again. thats it.

every remote request you send, will be added to the stations memory (so do not activate/deactivate the same remote request CC more than once).
there is an indicator lamp whether the station has active remote requests or not. it will be lit in cyan if it has active remote requests. next to the lamp is an combinator where you can see what items are requested (info by mouse-over).

i would recommend to transfer the remote requests to the request CCs if you want them to be permanent (when you are nearby). it is not possible to request liquids atm.

there are a couple of ways to reset the remote request memory -> reset section
remote requests

reset section (may be used for troubleshooting):

there are three CCs for various reset options. to reset, just turn them on and off again (signal is needed only for a couple of ticks). thats it.

1: it says what it does: it resets the stations memory (including remote requests).
2: the middle one is for (remotely) deleting remote requests. just enter the station ID 'Q'# (+ 'R'1). [preset to 'Q' and 'R'1]
3: this one will reset the whole AID-System. all stations and the depot memory will be purged (including all remote requests).
reset section
at the depot are two special reset CCs. in case one of your trains got destroyed or dismantled for some reason, do the following:
use the one with the red signal to close the stacker (stacker will be closed as long as the CC is on). no more trains will leave the depot, even when there are active stations.
wait until all trains are back on the stacker and activate - deactivate the reset CC (signal 'R'1). this will reset the train counter.
special depot reset
there are CCs to reset single parts of the station memory, but you won't need those. they are a left overs from my construction process.



others:

i've added some comfort features at the depot:

next to the stacker exit is an indicator lamp which will be lit in yellow if there are one ore more trains en route.
between the depot-train-stops and the liquid tanks is a large lamp indicator row. it shows how full your stacker is (red = occupied tracks/trains in stacker, green = free stacker tracks).

next to the stacker is a track with a couple of deactivated stations. they are pre-named with my naming scheme, so you can pre-program the train schedules.
this can be done by putting a locomotive on the small track below the stacker exit. from there you can copy paste train schedules after building new trains and see what(/which) stations are active. also there is a chest with small amounts of fuel for new trains.

there is a train stop 'AID depot P' at the depot. this is where the player can go to in case of maintenance. this station will not be used by the AID trains, its exclusive for the player (max lenght: 4 cars).


some nice things added to the bp-book:
- stacker tracks
- 2 outpost CCs (some items needed in outposts, connectable to static request CCs)
- railway crossing (just a suggestion for track-building)
- station material collector (all items needed to build a station will be delivered, connect the electric pole with the static request CCs of the station, if you need those item to be delivered. de-construct this tiny setup manually to get all the items in you inventory.)



some things to keep in mind:

- if you request items you do not produce, some stations might be active all the time and the trains will drive in circles without reason
- please do not connect the depot to liquid processing facilities, use a station for that
- do not put two stations/depot in the same RLN, in our tests it fucked up the AID-System (exept you request the same items with the same amounts)
- build new trains only on stacker tracks, as the depot counts in- and outgoing trains
- requesting items at a station which are produced there might lead to problematic behaviour (this is subject to further testing)
- you cannot remote-request liquids, i do not plan to implement it in the near future as i would need to add a quite some combinators



feel free to ask about this. this is still beta, but should work quite nice. especially the liquids aren't fully tested yet. would be nice to get some feedback.





this was build (and tested so far) in version 0.16.51. first version was this one: Smart Trains.

there are some similar approaches like:
'Chunk-aligned modular railway system with LTN Stations' or
'Noob attempts train deliveries' or
'Smart Train Deliveries with Combinator Magick [0.13/0.14]' or
How to Build Point-to-Point Logistic Trains in Base Factorio or
'Decentralized Logistic Train Network' or
Vanilla Train Network by Haphollas
and more to find. other inspirations were found in the factorio forums, wiki and other sources.

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:07 pm
by ranzolger
just the bluprint string for copying (due to character limitations):

V5.4a
bluprint

until now all versions V5+ are compatible to each other. you will only miss a couple of features/functionality.
some pictures are from older versions, but are still viable. player interaction documentation is still valid.


i have some ideas for features which i may add and wanted to ask if you think those would make sense:

- manually activating stations so train will go to that station (even without request/offers). might be used for empying the storage chests at the stations (and getting the stuff to the depot) or emergency player transportation.
- remote requesting for liquids (as mentioned before this might be quite complicated)
- it should be possible to filter most control signals out of the green wire, so you can use at least a couple of signals for other global stuff

please let me know if you think those features are nice to have. pls submit other ideas aswell.


History:

V5.4a
- reconnected wire in depot

V5.4:
- liquids should work now

V5.3a released:
- thresholded requests should work properly now (again >.< )
- improved train throughput at depot
- added CC next to the big electric pole with version number
- other minor changes/improvements

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 2:52 am
by herkalurk
I have been playing around with your blueprint book. I made my depot at my home base, so I have all of the items available. I made a test station. On the station I requested 6 lubricated fast belt. The train loads them, and goes to remote station, sits but doesn't unload anything. Goes back to depot and repeats on endless loop. I have removed the combinators you say to remove upon build. The default request for bots worked fine, it's now just failing on requesting other items.

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:35 pm
by ranzolger
omg... that happens when you change things at the last moments...

i found the bug and its quite easy to repair. just connect the train stop and the two combinators above with red wire (see image). nothing further to do.
wiring

one of the last things i've changed was this reset and train content sorting section. somehow i forgot to connect those wires, i'm sorry.
the blueprints are updated already to V5.1. thank you very much for noticing herkalurk.

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:29 pm
by Selvek
This looks awesome! I've been pondering about something like this for a while, but never had the motivation to actually design one :lol: Can't wait to try it out!

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:59 pm
by herkalurk
SimmonS wrote:omg... that happens when you change things at the last moments...

i found the bug and its quite easy to repair. just connect the train stop and the two combinators above with red wire (see image). nothing further to do.
wiring

one of the last things i've changed was this reset and train content sorting section. somehow i forgot to connect those wires, i'm sorry.
the blueprints are updated already to V5.1. thank you very much for noticing herkalurk.
I'll download the updated blueprint book and test. If all goes well I will end up building resupply stations around my map.

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:56 pm
by ranzolger
aaaand another one...


i just had a little testrun myself and found out that the thresholded requests are buggy.i redesigned it, should work smoothly now.
added a little tweak at the train counting section aswell.

sorry for any inconvenience (as i mentioned its still beta).


V5.2 released, bluprints are updated.


EDIT:
after quite some time testing we found new bugs/missing features:
- thresholded requests are still buggy (inserter filter is not set correctly, they only unload until the low limit is reached)
- i will try to filter most control signals out of the green wire, so you can use at least a couple of signals for other global stuff
- some minor comfort stuff

Edit2:
- V5.3a released

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2018 1:19 pm
by St_Vitruvius
Hi

I've been playing around with this and I'm trying to modify it slightly, so I'm able to make the trains longer later on.

First off, I'm trying to learn how it works.. And I seem unable to figure out how to get the the train to load fluid at a station. (no. 2 in the save).

I'm I doing something wrong?

Edit: File couldn't upload. So I've put it on Google Drive instead: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XqL6a ... 5Zqm91l02k

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:18 pm
by ranzolger
nice to hear someone is trying this out...

i can try to create a little closer documentation, but it may take some time. i haven't worked on this for quite some time (we use it and it works so far, just slower than anticipated).

but now to your problem...
i downloaded your savegame and had a look at it. i don't have the required mods installed, but i took a look anyways.


i found some things to discuss:

-your station #02 wasn't connected by red wire (but i think that is not the real problem)

-the liquids are requested at CCs next to the tanks at a station. if you put liquids in the item requester CCs the system can't handle it. liquids are kinda special (not used at many stations), so i placed their requester CCs in a special place ;-) additionally liquids are always transported as full load (50k).
SimmonS wrote: ↑Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:06 pm for the liquids: next to the tanks are some CCs to request the liquids. the type of liquid you want to request must be set with a value of one (e.g. 'crude oil'1).
- you cannot provide/request liquids at the depot (updated post). the depot only stores leftovers from other supply runs and redistributes it to the stations.

- the station ID CCs are set a little wrong (even it has nothing to do with the original issue). in the description 'Q'1 means Signal 'Q' with a value of '1' (so 'Q'23 means Signal 'Q' with value a of '23'), not additional signals (in your case 'Q'1 + '0'1 + '2'1 instead of 'Q'2). i hope this makes sense.

in the post to the previous version is a better picture explaining some sections (even they moved). maybe the description itself can help you a bit. even though some things changed, the general idea still stands.


i hope that helps. please let me know.
if not i will download the mods and have a closer look.
sorry for the late answer, forgot to set mail notifications on.

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:33 am
by warsome
Seems to be a bug in 0.17
likley a signal wire at the deop not going to where it needs to.

I find that the first request train goes though, but after that the trains park in the deop and the lights stay yellow (ie waiting for train) so the depo is locked until i manually use the reset. I tried to figure it out, connecting a random seemly unused green wire to a rail signal. (looks like that is what it was for) but then the trains all just go around and around.

it is a bug with the 'train counting' function. hope you can fix.

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 5:27 pm
by ranzolger
im quite shure the problem was the incoming counting signal. as in 0.17 some longer wires arent connected anymore.


green circle


ive moved the signal a bit, so the green wire connects again. may be done by an additional power pole aswell. updated blueprints.
i hope that solves this issue. good to hear someone is using/trying the AID system ;-)

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 10:57 am
by sas_metkij
Hello, I need your help. I don't understand why my train doesn't leave the depot. Yellow lamps are constantly lit near the depot.
I made the order, connected all the wires.
https://imgur.com/a/red1xFW

Re: AID - Automatic Item Delivery

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 7:58 pm
by ranzolger
ok... the last post was 5 years ago.
a lot has happened since then and i didn't maintain this blueprint.

i'm really sorry, but i can't help you with anything anymore. its been ages ago since i made this and i have no idea anymore how anything works.
there was a time when wube reduced the range of the signal cables, so there might be (internal) broken connections (see last post).
with the upcoming addon, this system (as it is) will be obsolete anyways.

again: sorry but i can't help you.

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