Using Logistics Bots To Distribute

[Mowglia]

I often see questions like "Are bots useful?" and "How can I make a bot use my PLS/ILS?", so here is how I set bots up to distribute blue juice from a PLS/ILS.

First set a logistics station to distribute blue juice (or warpers, or whatever), which requires a slot in the station.

Then construct a little device like this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334365617

Which is a splitter, with a small depot on top, and a logistics distributor on top of that.

You can arrange these logistics units in various useful configurations:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334366970

Now hook the logistics units up to PLS/ILS ouput tracks, fill them with bots, select blue juice (or whatever) in the logistics units, and set them all to distribute. Like this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334367920

Or this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334367667

And obviously you can chain as many as these units as you want along the output tracks of the PLS/ILS.


On the receiving end just set up a logistics unit, fill it with bots, set it to receive blue juice (or whatever), and feed the tracks into your spray coaters. Like this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334368292

Or this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334368554


You can also use bots to resupply your mech, but since I don't bother then I will leave this for others to explain.

However, I DO BOTHER using the logistics inventory (the three columns on the left hand side of your regular inventory), given you can use these slots (almost) exactly like your regular inventory. Each logistics slot can hold up to TEN regular stacks. Used correctly this can increase your inventory capacity by an additional 250% (360 stacks).

Like this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334394286

[Jaca862]

Doesn't work for me, seems bugged. i tried everything and bots aren't even flying out of the distribution center no matter what settings i use

[teravisor]

Originally posted by Jaca862:

Doesn't work for me, seems bugged. i tried everything and bots aren't even flying out of the distribution center no matter what settings i use

You need to set both sender and receiver logistics to Deliver to distributors, for receiver turn the bar to the right of checkmark so it receives
After that sender should say "X routes" where X is not 0. Only after that it can send anything using bots between two logistic distributors.
At least it works for me.

[Dashiell]

Originally posted by Jaca862:

Doesn't work for me, seems bugged. i tried everything and bots aren't even flying out of the distribution center no matter what settings i use

If you didn't research bots range, your receiving points are simply too far, at base lvl fidget spinners have pathetic range.

[josmith7]

Originally posted by Dashiell:

If you didn't research bots range, your receiving points are simply too far, at base lvl fidget spinners have pathetic range.

Yep, and if they're not in range then when you click on the logistics distributor you can see some text saying (IIRC) "n potential routes - not in range". (Or at least something like that)


To fix it research the Distribution Range upgrade.
(You can try to work around it by using paired receive & send logistic distributors that are all just within range of the next pair -- but that's building intensive and the bots tend to spend most of their time endlessly moving the same material between the same pair rather than to the next pair. (By pair I mean on a pair of storage boxes connected by belt or sorter, one of which has logistic set to receive and the other logistic set to send)

[Mowglia]

Originally posted by Jaca862:

Doesn't work for me, seems bugged. i tried everything and bots aren't even flying out of the distribution center no matter what settings i use

I didn't get into the specific settings as it was the general thrust of the idea that I wanted to illustrate, but yeah, check out what these other dudes said as they've covered the potential issues.

To test the thing simply put two logistics units right next to each other and see if you can get bots to move stuff between the units. If that doesn't work then the issue will be logistics settings rather than range.

Also, and something I previously forgot to mention, is that the logistics distributor itself (with the bots in it) is using the respective small depot (beneath it) to send/receive items. Thus you need to set the depot up correctly too; typically I only use a single stack of the 30 available in a small depot, and set the rest to "red" (unused). No point in filling the entire crate with blue juice :D

The logistics distributor works similar to the way a PLS/ILS works in the sense that send/supply is the blue tag, and receive/demand is the orange tag :)

[josmith7]

Originally posted by Mowglia:

Also, and something I previously forgot to mention, is that the logistics distributor itself (with the bots in it) is using the respective small depot (beneath it) to send/receive items. Thus you need to set the depot up correctly too; typically I only use a single stack of the 30 available in a small depot, and set the rest to "red" (unused). No point in filling the entire crate with blue juice :D

Good point.

If the building the receiving logistics distributor is sitting atop (Depot Mk.I, Depot Mk.II, Battlefield Analysis Base) has no usable room then the bots can't deliver items to it. So if you'd set the usable squares to 0 then the bots can't work; same if you reserved all the active slot for a different item type; or even if you just filled all the active slots with other items.

And if the item type selected to send isn't available in the building the sending logistics distributor sits atop then the bots have nothing to move