Scriptable Drones

This mod adds drones which can be scripted in lua to do things that you need. Think computercraft turtles, but in Factorio.
Forum post: https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=52695

Command Line Usage

The help command should give you all the info you need. The command line simulates a basic shell, with a few utility functions. Feel free to request new command line features.

API

Your gateway from Lua to the Factorio world is the bot object. The bot object provides these functions:

• bot:get_pos() = Gets drone position object
• bot:get_marker_pos(marker_name) = Gets marker position object
• bot:move(pos_object,[callback]) = Move to position object, [optional] run callback when done
• bot:move_offset(offx,offy,[callback]) = Move to offset, [optional] run callback when done
• bot:move_to_marker(marker_name,[callback]) = Moves to marker position, [optional] run callback when done
• bot:wait(callback,timeout_secs) = Run callback after certain amount of time
• bot:update(callback) = Run callback every tick
• bot:print(text) = Runs print with text, will automatically convert tables to readable strings for debugging purposes :)
• bot:input(prompt, callback) = Prints prompt, and then runs callback with the input parameter when input is entered
• bot:select(index) = Selects index in drone inventory (1 - 5)
• bot:get_stack() = Gets what is in a stack at the index in the SimpleItemStack format
• bot:drop_item(count) = Drops count of what is at index in inventory to the ground
• bot:place_item() = Places one of the items at index (if placeable)
• bot:destroy(object_name) = Destroys the object if it is below the drone
• bot:retrieve_item(object_name) = Picks up the object if it is below the drone
• bot:detect_entities() = Detects what entities are below the bot, returns an array of names
• bot:detect_range(range) = Detects entities in a range up to 20, returns a table with name as key, and a table with a pos attribute with the objects position as the value, ex. {player={pos={x=10,y=10}},otherentity={pos={...}}}
• bot:container_insert(container_name, count, [inventory_type]) = Inserts count of item at index into the container of container-name if it is below the bot, [optional] specify container type, see defines container types
• bot:container_retrieve(container_name, item_name, count, [inventory_type]) = Retrieves count of item_name from container_name if it is below the bot, [optional] specify container type, see defines container types
• bot:get_item_prod_data() = Gets item production data, returns an array with the format {inputs=[name=value,name2=value2], outputs=[...]}
• bot:get_fluid_prod_data() = Same as get_item_prod_data, but for fluid production
• bot:get_electric_data() = Same as get_item_prod_data, but requires the bot to be above an electric pole, (I actually do not understand the format that electric poles return for production data, but I will update this when I do)
• bot:register_net_call(name, callback) = Registers a callback on the drone network, can be called with the next function
• bot:get_net_call(name) = Returns the callback named name, which you can then run
• bot:mine(ore_name, callback) = Mines the ore. Runs callback when the ore is done being mined. Callback is REQUIRED or ore will not be mined.
• bot:nfc_copy_file(source_file, [run_on_copy]) = Copies the source file to the closest drone (1 tile away range). [optional] If run_on_copy is true, it will automatically start the file on the bot that it is copied to.

An example script with a usage for many of these functions is provided here.

Marker usage

Simply craft a marker, and click on it to set it's position name.

TODO

What should be done in the future:

• Bot networking
• Displays that bots can connect to
• Power and charging system
• Lower tier coal power bots
• Suggestions welcome

Things to be wary about

Problems that need to be fixed:

• Multiplayer has not been tested, don't expect it to work consistently. Please report any desyncs/errors you get in multiplayer to the forum post.
• Sometimes when running, the game will exit due to code errors, if you run into this, please take a screenshot and send it to me along with a description of what you were doing

Version History

v0.4.5 - Compatibility patch for multiplayer
v0.4.0 - Stability fixes, api fixes, changed from using construction bot entity to using simple entity, added bot rotation, added nfc_copy_file, mine, added computer-position-markers, added move_to_marker. note: NOT COMPATIBLE WITH PREVIOUS RELEASES, please destroy and replace drones in old saves
v0.3.0 - Added network callbacks, detect_range, new run gui, and input
v0.2.0 - Fixed crashing on malformed scripts, cleaned code, added production and inventory management bot api functions
v0.1.0 - Initial release