Conveyors and cargo

[Balboa7499]

Okay guys, so pretty much my question is simple. I've been browsing google for hours, on youtube and steam and cannot find a solution that works!

I have a small base in survival, I have a connector that is attached to conveyor tubing and runs into a cargo container, this connector on the base is set to collect all. I have a small air ship that has a connector and is set to throw all. If I put something into the ship connector inventory why will it not transfer into the cargo container on the base?

Yes the owernerships are set to me. Yes it is all powered.

If anyone could tell me how to set the game to online and bring someone in to help me set up this conveyor I would greatly appreciate it considering this isn't my only logistics problem.

[Loues.S.Cat]

That isn't how connectors work.
The one set to throw out all will eject everything in its inventory,
the one set to collect all will pull everything it can into it's inventory until it is full
What you need is a sorter block set to a blank blacklist and setting it to drain all.

[Balboa7499]

Could you go into a little more detail as to why I need a sorter and where to put it exactly? I don't understand why the two connectors aren't working they way they are. I am still new to the game so please excuse my inexperience :P

[Loues.S.Cat]

Connectors provide a breakable junction between two diffrent conveyor sections. they also provide an eject function
Pull all will cause the connector to start pulling anything it can into it's inventory
throw out all causes it to eject anything in it's inventory if there is room, which there isnt if it is connected to another connector.

The sorter has a function called drain all in which it will try to pull everything through itself. but it is a one way connection, so as long as you don't have a loop it will pull items in fron one half of the grid (on it's input side) and push out onto the other (the output side).
If there is a loop it will likely do nothing.
If you set the sorter to have a blank blacklist it will pul anything at all through itself, so it can be used to easily drain one grid into another. so by putting the sorter behind a connector, with the connector as the input, anything that connects to that connector will be drained of materials.
if you add items to the blacklist then it will pull everything but those item
a blank whitelist will block everything, and a white list with items on it will pull only those items

[Balboa7499]

Thank you! I understand the general idea of it now. So the sorter pulls items correct? If so does that mean to make an assembler craft 10 steel plates I need a sorter to "pull them" from the assembler into the cargo container?
As of right now I have an assembler and a refinery, both will pull materials from the cargo containment systems but won't put anything back into the cargo containers.

[Lander1]

The assembler has cargo space inside itself that it will use first. You could use a sorter but it is generally not necessary unless you want specific things to happen (like certain components and resources in different cans, etc...).

[ShadedMJ]

Your small base connector set to collect all is collecting all items from THE BASE inventory to store inside the CONNECTOR.

It seems fairly obvious to me from
http://spaceengineerswiki.com/Connector

I always felt the "throw out" was intended to toss inventory into space or to a COLLECTOR (not connector).

[Loues.S.Cat]

Assembers, refinaries and things like that will automatricly push and pull items from their inveentories as needed.

[Balboa7499]

See for the assembler and refinery it won't push finished materials back into the cargo space even if its internal inventory is full.

[Loues.S.Cat]

Yes they will...
They only time they wont is if there is nowhere to push too.

[Balboa7499]

Lemme go back and do some more testing. Thanks for the help. If I cna't get the refinery and assembler to push out when full I'll post some pics.

[MrNo]

As others have said, but just giving a great deal more detail:

Assemblers will pull ingots from within the available network to craft things, as needed. It will output constructed items to its own inventory; when that inventory fills up, and it tried to produce another item, it will try to dump its own inventory into a cargo container somewhere in the network. If there's no available space to dump its inventory into, it will stop.

Refineries work the same way.

I have rarely had opportunity to use a conveyor sorter, though I've also rarely ever made my conveyor system all that complicated. For what you're trying to do, I usually just move resources over by hand. I suppose you could set up a system to draw all items from a connected ship, though that will mean that *all* items will be pulled (components, for example, when you might only want ore), unless you specifically filter them out, and then my impression is that you will not be able to push them through the sorter at all.

[CelticChaos]

Simplest of setups:
Make sure ownership is the same on all blocks, usually "Me"
Connectors on but don't check Throw out or Collect All
Ship Cargo>Connector><Base Connector>Conveyor>Refinery>Assembler> Base Cargo

As stated above you can use a sorter but it is not absolutely necessary. With the setup above the Refinery will auto pull all your ore from the ship until it has reached max inventory. The assembler will auto pull from the refinery as ingots become available. If the assembler reaches max inventory it will auto push to available cargo containers until they are full.

The key things are ownership, blocks on, and set to use the conveyor system.

[CelticChaos]

One thing I forgot to mention is that with out a sorter to act as a traffic stop (sorters have a one way flow) your assembler could push components into the base connector > which is one of the main reasons that many people use them for ore drops.

[Balboa7499]

Okay so update, got the whole conenctor thing sorted out and working, thank you guys for that bit of help. Haven't worked on the assembler setup yet.

Althought another thing crossed my mind. If I have 2 cargo containers stacked ontop of one another and conveyors only run into the bottom one. Will the 2nd get used once the bottom one (one with conveyors) its full?

[CelticChaos]

Yes, the conveyor system will use every storage container that has room and is connected. The part that confuses me and I don't have a good answer for is the priority given to each. As I mention earlier, I have see the assembler fill up a connector before it will fill a cargo container. I think it might have something to with the distance from the assembler, but I am not sure.