Always request space platform foundation first

[kpreid]

What?

When a space platform makes requests for construction, always sort space platform foundation first in the list, and cargo bays second.

Right now, foundation and cargo bays are usually in about the middle of the list (for the platforms I’ve designed). This means that a lot of buildings may be launched before any of them can be built. Instead, request foundation first, so that buildings can always be built as soon as they’re received.

Why?

• If you’re building or modifying a platform by hand rather than from a blueprint, it’s harder to read when lots of things are ghosts. Sending foundation first will reduce the chances of that, because while you always need both foundation and a building to put on it, foundation is useful for all buildings whereas a rocket load of that building is more specific.
• Another user mentioned (but not in the suggestions forum or I can’t find it) that with a large platform, it’s possible for the automatic construction requests to get into a stuck state where the hub is full but nothing can be built. If foundation were launched first, it would always be possible to build the buildings so they don’t take up hub space. Similarly, launching cargo bays second ensures that any necessary cargo space expansions are available (but that is a much less likely problem since it requires there be non-building items involved).

[Sworn]

Another user mentioned (but not in the suggestions forum or I can’t find it) that with a large platform, it’s possible for the automatic construction requests to get into a stuck state where the hub is full but nothing can be built. If foundation were launched first, it would always be possible to build the buildings so they don’t take up hub space. Similarly, launching cargo bays second ensures that any necessary cargo space expansions are available (but that is a much less likely problem since it requires there be non-building items involved).

+1

Yah, I got this one myself, copy and paste my space science, and it got full of items, and nothing got build because there was no platform to expand it.
Annoying as hell. Sure, just send some items down, and some platform up and job is done, but still annoying

[mmmPI]

That kinda make sense but i've seen people on other topics complaining that they want the ammo to be loaded first.

[kpreid]

Good point. I build all my platforms on Nauvis, so I don’t need to worry about quickly supplying ammo. But, that sounds like something that would be hard to handle automatically at all, and so would be better served by building a small interim blueprint before a big one — because you’re going to want to build everything involved in supplying the turrets, and that could be all sorts of things.

[macdjord]

Note that if you're building a platform in the orbit of a planet other than Nauvis, you can't just slap down a giant blueprint and then start sending stuff up to build it with, because even if you send the ammo first, it does no good without guns to shoot it, and those guns are presumably at the edges of the blueprint. You'd have to build up in stages, first build a minimal platform with guns and ammo to defend itself, then ship up the resources to build the blueprint, then build the blueprint all at once so you can start using the new guns.

Now, you do need to keep the platform supplied with ammo as you're shipping up the parts for later expansion. I think it would work fine if the priority list went ammo -> foundation -> cargo bays -> everything else. As long as nobody requests so much ammo that it completely fills the hub, it won't stall out.