Can I shut certain machines off to resume just getting ingots?

[Vyper]

So I have a mining Mk1 going to a smelter, then a crafting machine. Is there a way to just put the crafter in neutral and let ingots flow through it to the storage container?

[Ferg]

I dont think so. You can set up a splitter to feed one to the crafting machine and one to a storage container, but honestly there is no real reason to store ingots aside from personal preference.

[T_kibble]

Yes. You can go to certain machines and turn them on standby, this will cease their function until turned back on.

[admanzelli]

yes but the longotes will not pass through, they will only get stuck

[Mist of Majora]

Vyper - I solved this in my game by always including storage containers at key points in my production line (ESPECIALLY early on). With some creative pathing, you can quickly reroute the flow of your materials by moving a single belt, and later when u get more options, u won't even need to do that much.

[DaTank]

If you put a splitter before the Smelter you can siphon off the excess to a storage container.

OR

You can build a Miner with a belt going to a storage box with a belt leading to the smelter.

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by DaTank:

If you put a splitter before the Smelter you can siphon off the excess to a storage container.

OR

You can build a Miner with a belt going to a storage box with a belt leading to the smelter.

i use the first option in like, all my setups for any given product. it does slow overall production lines but having a stockpile of any given resource helps in the long run. i typically make up for this with power slug over clocking till i find a good balance on everything. really the battle is balancing power consumption till its consistent across the board.

[Vyper]

Ty all, I'm pretty new so I don't have the splitter yet. I bought this thinking there would be more survival elements but now I'm enjoying watching my machines run lol

[Wish Maker]

Originally posted by Vyper:

So I have a mining Mk1 going to a smelter, then a crafting machine. Is there a way to just put the crafter in neutral and let ingots flow through it to the storage container?

You can create an alternate output. What you do, is on your Smelter, instead of linking it to a Constructor right away -- link it to a Splitter. You can leave this Splitter alone as long as you like, but later you can attach a Lift to it. You can track Ingots up to two alternate pathes / lines, saving time and resources.

[Mist of Majora]

And this is off topic, but based on the direction of the thread so far, here's two pieces of advice that helped me a lot in the long run.

1) Early on, the game feels like it's pressuring you to manually craft everything. Do your best to resist this. It may be difficult at the earlier tiers of bio burners, but even automating something as little as iron plates will help you in the long run.

Especially with the earlier tiers, it will probably take even more time to automate parts of your factory compared to manual crafting, but you'll get a lot more out of the game in lots of areas. (As you progress, having automated product lines already built will be a godsend too!!!)

2) Sort of a repeat of my previous comment - always use storage containers at the end of each of your product chains. Ore is infinite, and electricity is very manageable, so you should always try to have as many (if not all) products being made at all times and being stored. It's always better to need something and have too much of it, than needing something and having to manually craft it from scratch.

[RAMChYLD]

Originally posted by admanzelli:

yes but the longotes will not pass through, they will only get stuck

This is why I buffer my production at every tier. For example, Iron ore -> container -> Smelter (Iron Ore to Iron Ingot) -> container (buffer) -> Constructor (Iron Ingot to Iron bars) -> container (buffer) -> etc. Using a buffer ensures that I can get something lower down in the process chain if I need it.

[archmag]

Originally posted by admanzelli:

yes but the longotes will not pass through, they will only get stuck

If you only need up to 100 of them you can let them be stuck for a while then take them out of the smelter and activate the constructor back.

Or if you produce more ingots than your constructors spend there will be 100 of them that you can take from constructor itself without stopping anything.

[nYu]

Every machine got a switch , if you look inside while pressing E

[GobboKirk]

A pass trough option for all machines shouldn't be that hard to implement though.
Works on real machines after all :9

[Vyper]

Originally posted by RAMChYLD:

Originally posted by admanzelli:

yes but the longotes will not pass through, they will only get stuck

This is why I buffer my production at every tier. For example, Iron ore -> container -> Smelter (Iron Ore to Iron Ingot) -> container (buffer) -> Constructor (Iron Ingot to Iron bars) -> container (buffer) -> etc. Using a buffer ensures that I can get something lower down in the process chain if I need it.

Nice I like this

[Vyper]

Just unlocked platforms so now comes figuring out a layout. So does everyone just run really long belts from the nodes to the factories? I mean some nodes are gonna take huge belts to get there