Vertical base and fabricators

[RogueScholar]

I've decided to put my fabricators on a level above my silos and refineries. I used the angled conveyor that goes vertical. I went up about 12 blocks high, then went back horizontal. I have attached some fabricators to that raised part of the conveyor, but when I choose to make something, the little radio electricity/radio signal thing starts sparking, but only on the fabricators that are on that upper level. It doesn't seem to be communicating with my silos for them to send the resources.

Here's a pic. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/786288779463838745/5F64102C8077FA0FDFFE679DFA16E765C73ABA6B/

Thanks again. You guys have been great with all the questions I've had so far.

[WoogieMonsutā]

All your stuff is Refined: I've found it best to store only Raw as the crafting process seems to prefer refining the items as they are needed.

[RogueScholar]

Well, I do have some unrefined resources in my silos. Why wouldn't the fabs pull those up? I guess in that case, I'd have to put a refinery up top also. I'll see what that does.

[RogueScholar]

I tried the refinery up top, that didn't do anything. So, I adjusted the direction of my conveyor so that all 3 paths that flow past the silos all travel the same direction. Then I had them join back together into one path that goes vertical. And that did the trick. However, I'm now having another issue:

I have a refinery, a GSO Fab and a Geo Fab all up top. I decided to make a Geo battery. When I told it to start crafting, everything lit up like it was supposed to, with the component factory also lighting up, waiting for resources to make components. Well, the component factory will only pull in the refined resources for a certain recipe, but not the resources to make sub-components for those recipes.

For example, for the Geo battery I'm making, it requires 4 Titanic Alloy's, a Fuel Injector and an Ion Pulse Cell. The Titanic Alloy requires a Hardened Titanic and 3 Titania Ingots. The component factory will pull the 3 titania ingots from my silos, but not the resources to make the hardened titanic (2 Titania Ingots + Luxian Crystal). Instead, I have to manually tell the compoent factory to make a Hardened Titanic, which it then pulls back into itself for the original Titanic Alloy it was trying to create. Since I need 4 Titanic Alloy's, I have to do this at least 4 times, manually, for it to work.

This is awfully frustrating, seeing that all the videos I've watched show everything just working like a charm, pulling in exactly what's needed. And I haven't come across a tutorial that explains if there's a certain method that needs to occur for proper crafting. Thanks for any help.

[Audion]

Originally posted by jumpymonkey9:

I tried the refinery up top, that didn't do anything. So, I adjusted the direction of my conveyor so that all 3 paths that flow past the silos all travel the same direction. Then I had them join back together into one path that goes vertical. And that did the trick. However, I'm now having another issue:

I have a refinery, a GSO Fab and a Geo Fab all up top. I decided to make a Geo battery. When I told it to start crafting, everything lit up like it was supposed to, with the component factory also lighting up, waiting for resources to make components. Well, the component factory will only pull in the refined resources for a certain recipe, but not the resources to make sub-components for those recipes.

For example, for the Geo battery I'm making, it requires 4 Titanic Alloy's, a Fuel Injector and an Ion Pulse Cell. The Titanic Alloy requires a Hardened Titanic and 3 Titania Ingots. The component factory will pull the 3 titania ingots from my silos, but not the resources to make the hardened titanic (2 Titania Ingots + Luxian Crystal). Instead, I have to manually tell the compoent factory to make a Hardened Titanic, which it then pulls back into itself for the original Titanic Alloy it was trying to create. Since I need 4 Titanic Alloy's, I have to do this at least 4 times, manually, for it to work.

This is awfully frustrating, seeing that all the videos I've watched show everything just working like a charm, pulling in exactly what's needed. And I haven't come across a tutorial that explains if there's a certain method that needs to occur for proper crafting. Thanks for any help.

This would have been a LOT easier to debug if it wasn't freakishly tall.
However, i think i know your issue.
Conveyors don't like to pull off conveyor loops.
Here's an example of what i mean
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=939004063
To fix this, just put your fabber/whatever directly on the loop.

[rditto48801]

I would give the same opinion.

Conveyors only 'push' in the direction they are pointing. They will not 'pull' items.
So the game doesn't see a valid path.

It would be nifty is there was a specialized filter that would sync with production blocks to pull required resources off of a pasing conveyor system, but otherwise let the resources pass by.


I also second the suggestion to not refine resources the moment you get them.
Some things do require unrefined materials, so I would suggest removing the refineries between your recievers and silos, and only put them right before production chains and delivery cannons.
Nothing is more frustrating then having a special project in mind, and realizing a key component (or something you need to replace) needs unrefined resources to make.


Personally, I also loop conveyos past fabricators, back into my silos, in the off chance I have to cancel production, or the game derps up and the refinery 'misses' a resources (which I hear is now fixed in unstable), so unused resources don't clog things up. The loop goes past the area where I put Scrappers when needed (I say 'as needed', as I have an active SCU and don't want them grabbing block magnet held items I want stored in the SCU). A few filters 'grab' components that get past the production chain, and that come from the scrappers, and dumps them onto a secondary conveyor branch that deposits them right before the production chain starts, with a silo on that secondary branch (and the last 'resource' silo is against the part that feeds back into the main loop). The silos on that secondary filtered branch grab components should they not be needed for production.
It helps with stockpiling components, and also helps speed up production of more complex components if you don't have enough component factories to make them from start to finish in one go. (which requires 4 component factories for exotic components if you want to make them start to finish without needing a conveyor loop)

On a side note, once you get GSO and GeoCorp Scrappers, some of their basic blocks are handy for 'storing' basic resources using an SCU.
It's how I 'store' most of my basic resources, like fiber chunks and plumbite ore.


On another side note, I would suggest adding an AI and a few blocks mounting turreted weapons to your base. You never know when your base might get attacks.
Also, add a 'spine' of blocks to the vertical conveyor section (and bubbles when you can spare them and power them), so an attacking tech can't easily topple your little production tower.

[RogueScholar]

Rditto, Audion, that was helpful, thank you.

Rditto, thanks for the ideas. I'm remaking my base to try to incorporate some of those ideas. I do have a few turrets around my base that weren't in my pictures, but it couldn't hurt to have more. Would you recommend seperate turrets on the rotating anchors? Would having an AI tech attached to my base, with guns mounted all around, work as a defense?