Truck full, unloader full. Does it stop and wait, or keep running for no purpose?

[zOldBulldog]

What is the current logic for unloaders?

- I only saw an option to wait X seconds at a given location. That means it may fully unload or not, depending on space available at the unloader.

- Is there an *option* to tell it to wait until empty at a given unloader?

[kLuns]

The only way to make it wait until empty is making it wait long enough.
So it's handy to know your belt speed in seconds
MK3 = 4,5 items per second
Mk4 = 8 items per second
Mk5 = 13 items per second

Make sure you got 2 belts connected into a large storage bin so the truck station can always empty at full speed and use a sink on the end of the line.

Another thing to keep in mind is the stacksize of the items
a stack of 500 takes longer to load/unload.

My trucks wait 3 minutes at some stations to make sure the truck station is empty enough when the next truck arrives.

A nice advantage is that the trucks won't burn fuel when waiting.

The only option is trial and error with math.

If the truck station has not enough space to unload, some cargo will remain in the truck. Avoid this at all costs.

[Mister Fabulous]

Vehicles follow the programed route regardless of cargo. If the drop off is full and nothing is moving, the vehicle will still only wait as long as that waypoint tells it to.

[zOldBulldog]

Originally posted by kLuns:

The only way to make it wait until empty is making it wait long enough.
So it's handy to know your belt speed in seconds
MK3 = 4,5 items per second
Mk4 = 8 items per second
Mk5 = 13 items per second

Make sure you got 2 belts connected into a large storage bin so the truck station can always empty at full speed and use a sink on the end of the line.

Another thing to keep in mind is the stacksize of the items
a stack of 500 takes longer to load/unload.

My trucks wait 3 minutes at some stations to make sure the truck station is empty enough when the next truck arrives.

A nice advantage is that the trucks won't burn fuel when waiting.

The only option is trial and error with math.

If the truck station has not enough space to unload, some cargo will remain in the truck. Avoid this at all costs.

You confirmed what I feared.

What happens is that I am a bit OCD and hate to waste power, so I only use a few sinks and I only send the higher value items to the sinks. That means that the lowest value production lines will shut down (all the way back to their miner) when things back up.

Of course, there are things I cannot do that for, as with more advanced production lines that choke if one of their outputs overflows and thus MUST have overflow sinks. But for much of the rest... no problem.

Of course that means that even if I unload things fast, once the line is backed up... the truck will not be able to unload and according to what you said, the truck will just keep going in a circle burning fuel. I just found this possibility (not triggered yet) with my Quartz mine... and yes, quartz crystals are about to drop into the "low value" list.

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My guess is that this limitation is temporary dufing Early Access. Most games have the option to "unload all" or "wait for X time" depending on how you design it. Even factorio - that this game is patterned after - has it.

So maybe it will come as part of the main game, or someone will design a mod.

[Wolfie_]

Originally posted by zOldBulldog:

My guess is that this limitation is temporary dufing Early Access. Most games have the option to "unload all" or "wait for X time" depending on how you design it.

Might be worth mentioning, Trains already do have this option, had presumed this was either (a) intended as one of the 'awarded' perks of attaining trains, ie trucks are earlier in-game tech, cheaper but less featured, thus unlocking trains becomes a more desirable goal, or (b) the wait-until-(un)loaded functionality for trucks is on the to-do list.

[kLuns]

Originally posted by zOldBulldog:

What happens is that I am a bit OCD and hate to waste power, so I only use a few sinks and I only send the higher value items to the sinks. That means that the lowest value production lines will shut down (all the way back to their miner) when things back up.

A little nit pick on this note:
Conveyor belts dont use power, but once you use them a lot for long range transport they will eat your performance.

Truck get their power from fuel. Making a truck wait at a station makes you consume 20MW for a while but you save truck fuel.
A tractor consumes 55MW when driving and a big truck 75MW.

When it comes to minimizing awesome sinks you would have to centralize overflow which will eventually will cost at least a little bit of power and some belt management.

Originally posted by zOldBulldog:

My guess is that this limitation is temporary dufing Early Access. Most games have the option to "unload all" or "wait for X time" depending on how you design it. Even factorio - that this game is patterned after - has it.

Wait for x time is imo very reliable. So if you can't wait for the fix you can ficsit in this way for now.