Please add a 'Depot' checkbox to all towers so that players can decide which tower(s) idle drones should (evenly) park next to and await new orders. (A drone that waits for orders halfway across the planet from any providers just slows things down.)

Strikes me as eminently reasonable, yes. Helps cut down the travel time from fringe outposts as the drones tend to congregate there
I'll probably start by doing exactly what you requested, but there's probably some room later to change the distribution (Like giving moorings a configurable limit for the amount of drones allowed to park there, and/or having some way to prioritize moorings over others). But an even spread is a good start and should cover my most common use-cases

Hmmm... I've implemented the depot idea and will release it as soon as I've properly tested it. Right now it's a simple checkbox inside moorings, enabling it will cause idle drones to head to them, trying to spread themselves evenly amogst depots

But I'm not sure I like the extra responsibility added to moorings
I get the feeling that moorings are doing a bit too much now, and that will get worse if depot logic starts using drone limits and priority. And it does clutter up the UI. Plus I'm working on adding another feature to Provider moorings that allow you to read the docked drone's required items, which will also require new UI

In the future I might break the current implementation, replacing it with a dedicated structure so it can have separate drone limit and priority without it being entangled or contradicting the current limit and priority in moorings. It's easy to detect if a mooring was used as a depot, so alerts would be given when updating
But for now, I don't have the energy to make new graphics. So into the mooring it goes

Depots released in 1.6.0

Thank you.

Feedback:

1. Working properly as depot. Drones spreading evenly between them.
2. 'Set as depot' checkbox visually unchecks itself, but drones continue to travel to it.
3. Setting drone limit setting don't save/change oddly. If I check 'Enable drone limit' with a >0 value and check 'Enable as depot', the next time I open the tower, 'Set drone limit' is checked instead.
4. Had a (repeatable) crash when I clicked on the ghost of a provider tower I was setting up solely as a depot.

The mod Cargo Drone (1.6.0) caused a non-recoverable error.
Please report this error to the mod author.

Error while running event cargo-drone::on_gui_opened (ID 102)
__cargo-drone__/scripts/mooring_helper.lua:271: attempt to index local 'section' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
    __cargo-drone__/scripts/mooring_helper.lua:271: in function 'get_inventory_target'
    __cargo-drone__/scripts/mooring_helper.lua:706: in function 'get_inventory_target'
    __cargo-drone__/scripts/gui_mooring.lua:951: in function 'create_inventory_target_button'
    __cargo-drone__/scripts/gui_mooring.lua:968: in function 'build_gui_mooring'
    __cargo-drone__/scripts/gui_mooring.lua:1315: in function 'build_gui'
    __cargo-drone__/scripts/gui_mooring.lua:1461: in function 'on_gui_opened'
    __cargo-drone__/control.lua:249: in function <__cargo-drone__/control.lua:248>

1. I suggest adding a 'mod settings' option to not alert player that a tower isn't part of a circuit if set as a depot, set on by default. (I set a spare provider tower at each end of my mall area to act solely as depots.)
2. Close enough for now is better than burnt-out perfection. PLEASE make sure that you are implementing proper self-care; I've seen FAR too many noble projects abandoned because the creator pushed too hard for too long and damaged their health and ability to face completing what they started. It's perfectly okay to make a quick post saying, "Taking a mental health break. I'll get back to this when I can." so folks know what is going on for you.

Cheers!

1. 'Set as depot' checkbox visually unchecks itself, but drones continue to travel to it.
2. Setting drone limit setting don't save/change oddly. If I check 'Enable drone limit' with a >0 value and check 'Enable as depot', the next time I open the tower, 'Set drone limit' is checked instead.

That's odd, I have not seen this issue at all. Does this happen consistently?
Could you copy-paste its settings to a Constant combinator pre and post setting the values in the UI? So shift-right click the mooring, shift-left click the Constant combinator), and then tell me the signals from the first row in the combinator? (Moorings are actually Constant combinators in disguise)

1. Had a (repeatable) crash when I clicked on the ghost of a provider tower I was setting up solely as a depot.

Can repro, will fix

1. I suggest adding a 'mod settings' option to not alert player that a tower isn't part of a circuit if set as a depot, set on by default. (I set a spare provider tower at each end of my mall area to act solely as depots.)

Will do, was already considering it. Workaround for now is just to wire it to something, like a powerpole

1. Close enough for now is better than burnt-out perfection. PLEASE make sure that you are implementing proper self-care; I've seen FAR too many noble projects abandoned because the creator pushed too hard for too long and damaged their health and ability to face completing what they started. It's perfectly okay to make a quick post saying, "Taking a mental health break. I'll get back to this when I can." so folks know what is going on for you.

Oh, there's nothing noble about this project :P
I'm making a few more changes, then I'm putting this in maintenence mode for a while. Which will be the second time I take a break from this. You see, I started this mod like 8 months ago, worked on it for a bit and then took a break. It was only recently I actually published it because it was in a workable enough state and me and a few friends were gonna play with it. But that has been delayed, so for now I've just been tinkering away

The reason I don't have the energy to make new graphics is because... Well. I don't like making graphics :D
I only made these because I will never not try my hands at improving a craft. And I got really, and I mean really, tired of seeing flying cars

'Set as depot' checkbox visually unchecks itself, but drones continue to travel to it.

That's odd, I have not seen this issue at all. Does this happen consistently?

Yes.

Could you copy-paste its settings to a Constant combinator pre and post setting the values in the UI? So shift-right click the mooring, shift-left click the Constant combinator), and then tell me the signals from the first row in the combinator? (Moorings are actually Constant combinators in disguise)

Before (Set drone limit checked): A3 L0
After (Unchecked Set drone limit): A3

Oh, there's nothing noble about this project :P

I beg to differ. You have sacrifice time and effort to solve a problem that affects a lot of players. I call that noble.

I'm making a few more changes, then I'm putting this in maintenence mode for a while. Which will be the second time I take a break from this. You see, I started this mod like 8 months ago, worked on it for a bit and then took a break. It was only recently I actually published it because it was in a workable enough state and me and a few friends were gonna play with it. But that has been delayed, so for now I've just been tinkering away

I get it. (If you pin a thread letting people know, then ping it every month, folks will generally leave you be, as you show that you still haven't abandoned it, as so many others have.)

The reason I don't have the energy to make new graphics is because... Well. I don't like making graphics :D I only made these because I will never not try my hands at improving a craft. And I got really, and I mean really, tired of seeing flying cars

I get that, too. Oh, LORD do I get that! One sanity-saving option is to swap them out for something utterly ridiculous that cycles each day. It doesn't need to be anything profound or even animated. (Meme faces is an easy one; one day its trollface, the next day it's Pepe. :grin: )

1. Had a (repeatable) crash when I clicked on the ghost of a provider tower I was setting up solely as a depot.

2. I suggest adding a 'mod settings' option to not alert player that a tower isn't part of a circuit if set as a depot, set on by default. (I set a spare provider tower at each end of my mall area to act solely as depots.)

Fixed and added in 1.7.0

1. Setting drone limit setting don't save/change oddly. If I check 'Enable drone limit' with a >0 value and check 'Enable as depot', the next time I open the tower, 'Set drone limit' is checked instead.

Still not able to repro this issue
So, to make sure I understand
1. Check 'Enable drone limit', set to any value above 0
2. Check 'Enable as depot'
3. Close and reopen mooring (Is there any waiting time?)
4. Notice that 'Enable as depot' is unchecked, and that 'Set drone limit' (The circuit condition and not the same as 'Enable drone limit'?) is now checked instead

Before (Set drone limit checked): A3 L0
After (Unchecked Set drone limit): A3

These both of these sets, the values indicate that the mooring has a drone limit that is set to 3. And in the first set it should also be treated as a depot, which seem to line up with what you wrote earlier
So potentially this is just UI issues. Do you know if the drone limit still behaves as expected, so the correct amount of drones are still assigned?

I get that, too. Oh, LORD do I get that! One sanity-saving option is to swap them out for something utterly ridiculous that cycles each day. It doesn't need to be anything profound or even animated. (Meme faces is an easy one; one day its trollface, the next day it's Pepe. :grin: )

I remember once implementing a thing in a project, and then made the entire thing magenta and put a bunch of Lord of the Rings memes strewn all around it. It took less than an hour for the graphics people to begin work on adding proper graphics for it. They couldn't stand it XD

I get that, too. Oh, LORD do I get that! One sanity-saving option is to swap them out for something utterly ridiculous that cycles each day. It doesn't need to be anything profound or even animated. (Meme faces is an easy one; one day its trollface, the next day it's Pepe. :grin: )

I remember once implementing a thing in a project, and then made the entire thing magenta and put a bunch of Lord of the Rings memes strewn all around it. It took less than an hour for the graphics people to begin work on adding proper graphics for it. They couldn't stand it XD

That is AWESOME!!!

Before (Set drone limit checked): A3 L0

Wait, what slot were they in? I assume A3 was in the first slot, but L0 should have been on the second row (Slot 12). It wouldn't have ended up in slot 2 by any chance?

I can repro it with the Sort me mod installed, and having enabled sorting for Constant combinators
You wouldn't happen to use this mod? Or other mods that does sorting or changes logistics filters?

Issue might be fixed in 1.7.1
A warning, some moorings might have entered an incorrect state. If they behave weirdly (Drones heading towards or not heading towards them despite depot state), pick up the faulty ones and place them back down again and see if that resolves it

Returning to the Depot discussion, they have been made into their own structure in 1.8.0
Warning and alerts are given in-game