Question about resource storage and availability for research

[Kesirah]

I did a bit of RTFM, but can't find a concise explanation of this issue.

I'd like to research, say, the Coal Gasification Plant. My research lab says I need to have 20k coal to do this research, but that right now I have between 10 and 15k. So, do I increase coal production to get enough coal to complete this research?

Or, I want to make more books, but when I click on the Book Publisher, it tells me that I should consider producing more coal, and it looks like it wants 6k coal right now.

But when I check my Statistics Bureau, it says I have something like 30 million coal in storage, Under Change, I see it go positive (green), and negative (red), but it says I've stored 30M coal.

Where is this stored? How can I use that stored coal? Why won't my coal consuming factories, or my research, use those millions of coal just sitting somewhere in storage?

I have seen that it looks like Warehouse is broken. So maybe I should go delete my warehouses? That might increase my fuel production, but that would be okay if I can get access to the materials I'd like for production?

My sense is - the resources in storage are available for production, but it feels like the plus/minus reflects impacts on that inventory. But the research lab appears to be unwilling to pull resources from storage?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[WingedLeo]

Hi. I don't know if I got the problem right. But if your coal is lying in a storage building that consumes it, it can't leave on its own

[Kesirah]

Thanks for that response - what can I look for to see *where* those millions of coal chunks are being stored? I'm mystified. Hope you can help!

[WingedLeo]

You can look in the statistics bureau, but if it doesn't show up there, you'll have to do it manually

[Kesirah]

Thanks for your response! I did check it out.

Statistics Bureau is how I know the coal is being stored, but it doesn't appear to be any way to tell *where* it is stored. Looking at coal producers and coal consumers, I don't see any indication that they are storing it. I do have warehouses, but I don't see quantity stored for those, either.

Why accumulate/store material that isn't available for research OR production? And if the SB says it is being stored, where is it?

[WingedLeo]

If you check it manually, you will definitely find it. But like I said, if your coal is in a building that consumes it, it won't show that building in the stats.

The reason why it accumulates is different modes, maybe some you enabled (Resource Input Buffer or Input Capacity Override)

[Kesirah]

Wow! Oh, lord, I see it!

I didn't even think about consumption building storing it - thanks so much for your hint! That makes way more sense!

So, I'm looking at a LVL 20 Glass factory. It requests 1.5k Silica, 825 Coal, and makes 825 glass, each "cycle".

But if I check storage, it says I'm storing:
1k Silica
33.41M Coal
4M Glass
1k Semiconductor (no idea why, though?)

I checked Resource Input Buffer, and it is set to Auto - I never did anything with that setting, as I didn't know what it was. Choices are Stockpile, 2x, 5x, 10x, 20x, 50x, 100x.

Since I'm storing 33M coal, that is much more than 100x825, so that must mean that the Auto setting is choosing Stockpile. So if I changed it to 100x, that hopefully means that I won't pull in any more Coal until my storage for this consumer drops below 100x825, or 82.5k units of coal.

Do you know if it also means I won't store outputs, either? Like will it limit how much glass I can store? I sort of doubt it, since it is an "input" buffer?

Thanks so much for your help, and sorry for being a little dense - it never occurred to me that consumers would store input, but it sure does make sense.

I really hopes this helps the next hapless fella like myself who can't figure this out!

[WingedLeo]

It's okay. Yes. This only applies to the input
Good luck in the game)
Also, do not hesitate to ask in game chat. People there can help more quickly with a problem or question. (English chat is more active)