i think that that is a consequence of using active providers. in factorio, active providers are emptied first and as fast as possible, thus calling robots even when there is only a single piece of ore. that is also the reason why they might start filling all storage chests with ore when more ore is mined than can be smelted (using requesters in front of the smelters). when more ore is requested than can be provided by active providers, storage chests are emptied, and last are the passive providers.
too bad that there are lots of different mini-threads in this mod portal so that many things are said and discussed multiple times in parallel. that (and several other reasons) is why i still prefer the forums.
in another post, i had asked about the active vs passive providers and this mod was changed to passive providers 5 days ago in version 1.0.6, but now is changed back to active providers 2 days ago in version 1.0.7. why ?
every type of chests has some disadvantage when used for mining:
- active providers cause the above problems (many transports for single ore, and filling storage chests)
- passive chests might fill up and sit there even when the mining drill is out of power and should be replaced, and they are only emptied when all active providers and all storage chests are cleared of ore first (but i prefer ore to wait in such passive chests instead of filling ALL my storage)
- storage chests probably would be the worst choice since any other items might be added automatically and thus block a mining site "forever".
