Docking my ship to a station

[Bandus]

I have a small ship. I have a station.

I am trying to understand how I can directly dock the small ship to the station to transfer over raw ores and have them start refining automatically once they've been transferred.

I have a feeling connectors and ejectors come into play in my wanting to do this, however, I seem to be particularly dense and even after watching tutorials and reading the wiki it simply isn't "clicking" for me.

Can anyone help me understand what I need to do to make this happen?

Thank you!

[Phade]

First, you aren't dense. This game can be a bit complex, and thats nothing to be ashamed of. First, small ships use a grid that isn't compatible with 'merging' with merge blocks to large grids.

For your information, grids are what determine the size of the blocks. a small ship grid uses smaller blocks, ect.

In order to transfer materials over, your small ship will need a connector conveyored up to the drills and/or a cargo container on the same ship. Once this is done, you need to take it to your station, there must also be a connector on the station (You need two, to 'connect' them)

Once you get close enough, it will auto adjust and the connectors lights will go yellow. from here, you can press P and it will dock the ship, automatically moving your ores to the appropriate location (A refinery if you have one, if you want it to go to a cargo container instead you need to build a conveyor sorter.)

Hope this helps!

[Bandus]

In order to transfer materials over, your small ship will need a connector conveyored up to the drills and/or a cargo container on the same ship.

To be clear, the conveyor will pull the raw ore from the drills to the connector which, when docked with the station, will transfer the ore to the station's connector and (assuming I've conveyor tubed it proper) transfer it to my refinery?

[Phade]

Originally posted by Bandus:

In order to transfer materials over, your small ship will need a connector conveyored up to the drills and/or a cargo container on the same ship.

To be clear, the conveyor will pull the raw ore from the drills to the connector which, when docked with the station, will transfer the ore to the station's connector and (assuming I've conveyor tubed it proper) transfer it to my refinery?

You are correct! And to use conveyors, you must attach the tubes to the entry ports on the machines. which are the ways you access each specific machines inventory.

Also keep in mind there are 'small conveyor tubes' for small ships and such. But small tubes can only attach to the small ports on the small ship grid.

[Bandus]

Alright, I think I am making progress here.

I built a connector, a few conveyor tubes from its port to a conveyor, a few more conveyor tubes from the conveyor to the port of the refinery.

I then built a connector on my mining ship and used a conveyor and conveyor tubes to route 3 mining drills to the connector. While mining, all drills move materials to the connector until it is full and then begin to fill up themselves, as expected.

I bring the ship back to the base, get close to the connector on the base, and it pulls me in and I then hit P to lock to it. Some of the ore moves to the station's connector and then...stops. It never seems to make it to the refinery but I'm not sure why.

Edit: I realize in the screenshot the station connector is red, however, that was due to some experimentation in trying to resolve this issue. It was white/yellowish and when I docked I definitely was able to control the rest of the station from the small ship, etc.

Screenshot - https://www.dropbox.com/s/neo6md4kwo2m1m7/SpaceEngineers1.png?dl=0

[Phade]

Originally posted by Bandus:

Alright, I think I am making progress here.

I built a connector, a few conveyor tubes from its port to a conveyor, a few more conveyor tubes from the conveyor to the port of the refinery.

I then built a connector on my mining ship and used a conveyor and conveyor tubes to route 3 mining drills to the connector. While mining, all drills move materials to the connector until it is full and then begin to fill up themselves, as expected.

I bring the ship back to the base, get close to the connector on the base, and it pulls me in and I then hit P to lock to it. Some of the ore moves to the station's connector and then...stops. It never seems to make it to the refinery but I'm not sure why.

Edit: I realize in the screenshot the station connector is red, however, that was due to some experimentation in trying to resolve this issue. It was white/yellowish and when I docked I definitely was able to control the rest of the station from the small ship, etc.

Screenshot - https://www.dropbox.com/s/neo6md4kwo2m1m7/SpaceEngineers1.png?dl=0

My guess is its not filling up the refinery fully because your refinery is in fact already full with what its processing. Setting up a conveyor sorter to move it into cargo containers would be a good start, but i'm not sure how conveyor sorters work.

[Bandus]

I checked and the refinery definitely has available volume for additional ore. Does the connector, conveyor tubes, and conveyor appear properly built at least? Can you think of any other possibilities? I greatly appreciate your help!

[W0lf3y]

assuming you already picked up the chunk of ore blocking the connector ( turning it red ) you can also check to make sure the refinery is turned ON and the refinery option for Use Conveyor System is set for yes.
Conveyors don't actually convey anything. their most used purpose is as a 6 point junction or a combo there of, or to use as a full block so there is not a gap where a tube would pass through a wall.

Blocks that "can" push items out:
Refinery, Arc Furnace, Assembler, Collector,
Blocks that "can" pull items in:
Refinery, Arc Furnace, Assembler,Conveyor Sorter, Connector, Ejector
this isnt necessarily a complete list. just what i could think of atm.

[Bandus]

So theoretically there is no need for the conveyor? I could remove it and just use tubes in this case?

Also, previously I had a collector where the connector is now and the refinery received ore.

[W0lf3y]

A collector would have accepted anything dropped into it and tried to push it to any available inventory.

Correct a conveyor where you have it is not technically necessary.
A refinery should also pull any ore into assuming it has space available and the conveyor setting is active.
if using a conveyor sorter, id recommend setiing it as Blacklist Option and using Uranium Ingot as the filter, and selecting the Drain All option.
Sorters are One way though it will empty your ship of everything except uranium ingots ( if you set it up the way i suggested ) and attempt to place it into any available inventory, but nothing will be able to come back through. items flow in the direction the arrows on the sorter point.

[Bandus]

I am definitely a bit baffled by this.

I'll try removing the conveyor and replacing it with a tube, but at this point:

1. The refinery absolutely has space
2. The refinery is absolutely set to use the conveyor system
3. No conveyor sorter exists between the connector and refinery (or anywhere in any of my conveyors for that matter).

[Bandus]

Here are some additional and updated screenshots in case I am missing something.

Also question: Do I need to change settings on the connectors with regard to "Throw Out" or "Collect All?"

Updated Conveyor Tube Screenshot - https://www.dropbox.com/s/99onvrel4bw885b/ConveyorTubes1.png?dl=0

Refinery Inventory - https://www.dropbox.com/s/hpgv7bmtc6q31t5/RefineryInventory1.png?dl=0

Refinery Control Panel - https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ugkeee9z036w3c/RefineryCP1.png?dl=0

Drone Connector Inventory - https://www.dropbox.com/s/4vegtqkfoyx3jqb/DroneConnector1.png?dl=0

Refinery Connector Inventory - https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4s6vvhbwfpw0bm/RefineryConnector1.png?dl=0

Incidentally "drone" is just my small ship.

Edit: I can move things manually to the refinery from the connector. I thought it would pull it automatically though...

[W0lf3y]

:P so thats what your refining. well. everything written so far is true. and your network is mostly fine. The refinery isn't pulling ore because it doesnt need to. When it is empty it will fill its available Litre volume. as it refines its items, it will pull more ore to replenish its inventory. There is an internal threshold that tells the refinery ""your inventory level is "x" pull more ore" That big ball of platinum your refining is so slow to refine that your refinery hasn't drppped below its threshold yet.

so everything is working fine for the setup you have. if you want your ship emptied every time it docks. add a conveyor sorter to the pipeline. arrows pointing to the refinery. set it up as blacklist option with Uranium Ingot filter, then turn drain all on. any ship that docks at that port will have all its items removed exept it's reactor fuel. or uranium ingots in cargos.
The items removed from the ship will be moved to any availablke inventory on the network. If the network is full. the sorter has an internal inventory as well. if all that is full then it will SLOWLY pull items as space becomes available in the network.

[RiskyEnterprise]

Come ere sweet child let ole risky tell you a story, in my day we had to drop our precious ore into space and hope it fell into a collector, kids now n days got their fancy connectors that they rub up together and exchange thier stuff in an instant, its shamefull, sinnful really. Just remember next time you want to "get it on" or "dock" with your sweetie that space jesus is always watching

[Bandus]

The refinery isn't pulling ore because it doesnt need to. When it is empty it will fill its available Litre volume. as it refines its items, it will pull more ore to replenish its inventory. There is an internal threshold that tells the refinery ""your inventory level is "x" pull more ore"

I will double check this when I get home, however, I tried removing all the platinum from the refinery and it still did not pull.

[W0lf3y]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=538967842

crap i just realised you can skip the uranium blacklist sorter. you can blacklist stone and uranium ingot in the same block, so no need to have 2