Cargo Ships with Multiple Cargo Types

[MindStorm]

I wanted to know what people's experiences with having a cargo ship run multiple resources. I have a level 2 dock running half sulfur and was wondering what issues having the other half run wood would cause, especially since the ships only leave when they are empty. I am not sure I want to dedicate and entire cargo ship to wood, and I also don't fully utilize half of a cargo ship of sulfur, don't know if I will even using that much sulfur.

I was thinking maybe a system where I have external buffer/storage for the sulfur and the wood. I would burn off excess sulfur when that storage filled up so that I fully empty the ship and do something similar with the wood. That way, it would always empty the ship of both resources.

What are your thoughts?

[clarkmp91506]

I've never needed to import sulfur ( usually turning it into slag and then dumping it as you don;t get air pollution penalty ) but i usually run a cargo ship half coal and half wood during the mid game. Currently i'm running a 2 wood, 1 coal, 1 silicon ship. I have had no problems with shipments so far on year 445. It feels like it might not wait to be fully empty when dealing with different goods (ex. full on coal but silicon and wood are empty so it goes to get them) but i cannot confirm that.

[Annoying Cat]

If you have multiple cargo types in the same ship, it'll leave to restock whenever one of the cargo types is empty and it can no longer unload anything else.

For example, I run an 8 slot port for random stuff that mixes uranium (2 slots), Sulfer (1 slot), Wood (2 slots), Water (1 slot, just because), and coal (2 slots). There's no issues with the ship getting stuck or leaving too early. All unload via conveyor directly to a warehouse or holding tank, which helps unload as much as possible each trip, but often something will eventually back up, and there's not really any issues as it'll stay on the ship between trips. Right now, it's mostly making occasional trips for coal and everything else just gets topped off but never needs to fully unload.

The bigger problem tends to be having the trade nodes developed enough to keep up with supply. For example, I have an 8 slot that is 7 coal and 1 silicon, and sometimes there just wasn't enough coal available to import without upgrading those nodes and assigning more unity/population.

[SamuraiJones]

Originally posted by Yazah:

If you have multiple cargo types in the same ship, it'll leave to restock whenever one of the cargo types is empty and it can no longer unload anything else.

I wish this was optional. "Collect cargo when [all/any] slots are empty." It seems like an intuitive method of forcing trade ratios. Perhaps there's another way to do it, but i'm newer to the game and haven't found it yet.

[TLHeart]

I have a cargo ship that is 1 sulfur, and 3 wood. If the sulfur is empty, the ship leaves, and gets sulfur, if the wood is empty, the ship leaves and gets wood. Does not matter if the other item is full, partial or empty. Works good too.

[rgx107]

The one problem I can see with this is the fuel usage. On captain setting, the 4-slot cargo ship uses 100 diesel for one trip. Expensive for 180 wood or sulfur. You would want to balance to get a full ship each trip, or use separate ships. Though I haven't seen more than 3 ships to be found and repaired. But wait, you can't really set the modules for wood and sulfur, you can only set them to fluid, bulk, or unit items. So you could have one ship of each type, and it would get a full load every time? One ship could even alternate between say coal and sulfur and you would need to sort the items at the dock. I haven't got this far yet.

[Annoying Cat]

Originally posted by rgx107:

The one problem I can see with this is the fuel usage. On captain setting, the 4-slot cargo ship uses 100 diesel for one trip. Expensive for 180 wood or sulfur. You would want to balance to get a full ship each trip, or use separate ships.

Ships don't necessarily use the full fuel load each time. I haven't really tested it or paid close attention, but it seems like it's a function of distance and how many items are being collected. So if you have a port with multiple different modules, the amount of fuel used will vary depending on how many different things are being collected in that particular trip. It seems like my ships are coming back about 1/3 full, but I'd have to test it to see what/when/if that varies. Or maybe a dev could comment.

But yes, fuel is definitely still a limiting factor, so you'll want to plan carefully before adding too many ships.

Originally posted by rgx107:

Though I haven't seen more than 3 ships to be found and repaired.

Later in the game (on most maps, I assume) you'll unlock an exploration node that will allow you to trade advanced construction materials for additional ships. I only used 4 trade ships (with 8 slots each) before I got to rockets, but had unlocked 6 and I definitely could have kept buying more.

Originally posted by rgx107:

But wait, you can't really set the modules for wood and sulfur, you can only set them to fluid, bulk, or unit items. So you could have one ship of each type, and it would get a full load every time? One ship could even alternate between say coal and sulfur and you would need to sort the items at the dock. I haven't got this far yet.

As you say - you can optimize in different ways. I definitely had an "all oil" ship, and a "mostly coal" ship. The challenge of having an 8-slot dock dedicated to a single resource was that you really have to develop those resource nodes and assign a lot of population and unity to those nodes in order to keep up with demand.

Docks do have "Fluid, Bulk, and Unit" modules, but you do have to designate which resource you want to import that fits the module type. You could theoretically micromanage it and manually change between resources on each trip, but that would messy. As your port expands (eventually up to 8 slots), you'll probably find that it'll be easiest to have some docks that import multiple resource types.

For example, 1 wood slot is totally sufficient for me later in the game, as are two uranium slots. But I wouldn't build a ship just for that.

[OKOK]

It a trade between fuel and your chosen goods.
If u have many type on one ship. They fuel usage will be very high