Rail Logistics Dispatcher

by Viidi

Adds a dispatcher (building) to automate railway logistics based on provide and request stations. Has intuitive interface. Was inspired by LTN but went a different way.

Content
15 days ago
1.1 - 2.0
3.75K
Logistics Trains

i Add maximum items for a request & also option for positive output on requester station

2 years ago

Add Maximum items for a request/provide
Add maximum for each item (specifically for providing multiple items on the same train/from the same station.)

I tested out having multiple items being sent on one train delivery. (One station providing both item to another station requesting both) The Dispatcher set item count conditions too high. ex. 6k>solar panels + 4k>accumulators, when the train is only 1-4. It can only accommodate 4000 solar panels together with the 4000 accumulators. It's probably possible to do something like this with circuits in signal mode. Or I have to alter things on the request side But it would be nice to have that in the GUI as well.

Add an option for positive requester station output.

This one can easily be done in-game with a single arithmetic combinator when the station is in 'show exchange mode', and is therefore just nice to have.
I use it for filter inserters just to be sure that nothing accidentally gets put in the station. I had one incident where a train had both copper ore and copper plates when it should only have one. I'm not sure what happened there - i think i accidentally changed an order at the wrong time? Unfortunately i lost the save by overwriting.

Thank you and have a good day. :)

2 years ago

Hello. Thank you for your interest in the game mod.

What you described in yellow looks like a mistake. I didn't notice that, maybe something is broken. Could you post your save where it shows up?

2 years ago

I tested it a bit more, and it looks i might have remembered it wrong (i was in another part of the base and wasn't looking all the time).

It looks like this is caused when 2+ resources are above the minimum threshold for delivery, but also below maximum for one train. This can easily happen if stop is connected while the buffers are still filling up

I provided a save so you can easily see: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b_Ed_rfIsVwSdd6Zsnq6Z2itXpzB5UvE/view?usp=sharing
You can try removing a rail when you load in to check the train conditions.
Test setup:
Requesting:
4 wagon solar panel. Minimum 2 wagons (=8000 & 4000)
4 wagon accumulator. Minimum 2 wagons (=8000 & 4000)

Providing:
2 wagons minimum solar panel. (=4000)
2 wagons minimum accumulator. (=4000)

In this set up, the train condition will gradually switch from ~5k solar and ~2.9k accumulator to 8k solar panels. The changing condition is because i have the 'update at stop' option enabled. The solar panels getting the priority is most likely just because the solar panels are filling up earlier than accumulators, rather than because of the Dispatcher / mod settings. Once the buffers are correctly filled, it seems the train will just attempt to request the full 8k of one cargo then the other, instead of doing it half of each.

Unfortunately Multiple cargo on one train is very complicated to set up, and also to debug. Especially because it also depends on the different design of the stations. Thank you for taking the time to look at these.

2 years ago

Hello. Thanks for the save.

Indeed, the mod cannot know anything about the configuration of the loading/unloading station. It operates only with train size, offer and request.

It is necessary to make a station that can load any resource into any car. This is easy to do with mods that have large chests (Merging Chests is my favorite) Maybe the maximums will help, but here we need to think things through.

2 years ago

Thank you for always replying so quickly!
Maximum items was just my idea for how to fix things for this kind of setup. Worst-case scenario, I can always just use a vanilla train if I have specific requirements like this. :)

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