copper drill produces coal - why?

[failsafe]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2886529471

My copper drills produce coal instead of copper. Maybe I'm doing something wrong... but doesnt seem to really. Why is this happening? I'm playing Demo, if this changes anything.

[Fel]

It doesn't.
Drills directly output their ores on the tile in front of the arrow, they don't need inserters to work.
When you use inserters, they interract with the inventory inside the machine, which happens to be the fuel slot.

What you are doing is removing the fuel from your mining drills.

[AlexMBrennan]

The tutorial would have told you that mining drills drop the ore they are mining in the tile indicated by the yellow arrow. You need to build a conveyor belt in that tile to move the ore away and allow the mining drill to continue mining. That is why the error message is saying that the output is full - the output tile is blocked by the inserters.

The inserters are removing the coal you placed in the mining drills which is where the coal is coming from.

[failsafe]

Ah, okay. Now I understand ;-). Thanks.

Obviously: stupid me ;-)

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

There is a situation which can occur in freeplay where a mining drill produces more than one type of material but only if the mining area overlaps different types of deposit. I know that isn't your issue as others have already told you but it is useful to know for the future.

[DCYW]

If this happens, you will have to leave a space then inserter to transfer to the transport belt. Chests full up first before transferring to transport belt.

[Fel]

You use the filter function of the splitter rather than inserters for that, it's way more effective and doesn't hinder the flow of the belt anywhere as much as going through the troubles of using inserters.

[failsafe]

Thanks guys.

If you dont mind I ask one more question: I've noticed that resources are finite in this game - does it become a problem in late game that we run out of coal or something and suddenly big part of large system stops working?

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

Aside from oil the patches are finite yes, however the map is virtually infinite and bigger and bigger patches of ore are generated as you travel further from the spawn area.

Not to mention there are other fuel sources than coal, oil can be made into solid fuel for the boilers and non-electric smelters and uranium can be made into a super dense fuel for a reactor core setup for massive amounts of energy. Solar power is another alternative but you need a large amount of space to support that.

[failsafe]

引用自 Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia：

Aside from oil the patches are finite yes, however the map is virtually infinite and bigger and bigger patches of ore are generated as you travel further from the spawn area.

Not to mention there are other fuel sources than coal, oil can be made into solid fuel for the boilers and non-electric smelters and uranium can be made into a super dense fuel for a reactor core setup for massive amounts of energy. Solar power is another alternative but you need a large amount of space to support that.

Okay, that is cool. I've noticed how complex the system becomes in late game, consisting of thousands of pieces... very idea of re-setting even 20% of this sounds like a big "no-no" to me ;-P.

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

Most of us just use trains to haul ore and basic refined materials back to the main base when the patches nearby have depleted.

Only thing you need to relocate is the mining drills and maybe a few trains.

[Emaulligu]

You don't dismantle the factory everytime you change ore patches, especially as they're much futher apart, instead you build mining outposts and use trains to bring the ore back to the main factory.

If your boilers are consuming coal at an alarming rate, you may want to start putting down solar panels inside your base to reduce the reliance on steam engines, at least during the day.

[failsafe]

So, I build core and it remains more or less the same, but I expand to gather resources. Seems okay.

[Emaulligu]

Trains are built specifically to transport a massive amount of cargo over long distances.

[Myrkana]

引用自 failsafe：

So, I build core and it remains more or less the same, but I expand to gather resources. Seems okay.

go play the tutorial. It seems like you didnt from your questions

[shadain597]

引用自 failsafe：

So, I build core and it remains more or less the same, but I expand to gather resources. Seems okay.

I mean, you'll (probably) still want to keep expanding the main production lines to increase factory throughput, but yeah, it's easier to move the resources to the factory than it is to move the factory to the resources.

Also, later on you get construction bots and blueprints, so you can basically just copy+paste, for example, a huge copper-smelting subfactory. Design it right once, then just drop the blueprint and let the robots take care of setting it up every time after that.