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[LoSboccacc]

I don't know exactly. they need a flagship and when docked can transfer cargo to the flagship. this flagship can send cargo to a parent entity as well, so theoretically yes, but needs to be put in practice

[Ygdrad]

If it's not an automation unique to fleets, then logic blocks will probably be needed. you can only transfer cargo through a rail docker if the source's cargo has pulling disabled, which means you could have the flagship pull the cargo form the miners but pulling from it to a station would be impossible unless you turn off the pulling on the flagship cargo first. I haven't tried logic circuits at all in Starmade, but I'm guessing there's  a way to detect that a ship is docked and temporarily turn off pulling.

[LoSboccacc]

maybe skipping the flagship cargo and have the station pull from the drones directly?

[Eric Blank]

If you can get the drones to dock to the station and unload and launch via logic then that could work. Problem being convincing them to dock to the station; fleets can only be ordered to recall to carrier, that carrier must be the flagship in their fleet and itself must not be docked to anything, and they must have been docked to it via a docking pickup point at least once prior to giving the order (so they know where to go) i guess you can ram them in the stations general direction, but that takes effort too

I find the best practice is to have the drones dock to their flagship, transfer cargo, then dock the flagship, turn off its cargo pulling and pull cargo from it. There's a thread specifically to help he around the bugs with drone mining; https://starmadedock.net/threads/how-drone-mining-works.27918/

[BigD145]

That all sounds like a nightmare.

[LoSboccacc]

after much much tribolations I managed to build a compact point defense turret that doesn't look completely rubbish. building anything small is a nightmare

Spoiler: popup turret, with full vertical traverse (click to show/hide)

the rail system could use being a little more lax, like having block cast a spherical mesh would solve a billion problem related to the edge 'invading' nearby block space during rotation

[Gabeux]

Today I got out of the "factory in the dirt" stage and managed to build a "starter station" (downloaded blueprint) that came with a shipyard, initial factory setup, and even a decent starter ship to replace my horrid one.

First thing I did after that was to build a small mining drone (also a downloaded blueprint) to see if I could set anything up. So about that:
- The mining Fleet needs a flagship otherwise it won't work. It can even be a ship core.
- If the Flagship docks, the drone stop mining and Fleet goes to Idle and remains that way.

What I'm not sure though is if the Fleet went to Idle due to me, a player, taking control of the flagship..Or if it was the docking that made them go idle. I stopped playing before testing everything properly.

If it works, even if slowly, it would be great.

[Ygdrad]

I'm guessing you should clear all pirate threats(can you do this?) from a system before sending out a mining fleet.

[Gabeux]

I'm planning out a survival automated factory and mostly testing things and seeing if it's viable, doable and useful.

Currently, here's what I have:

- Limited Production by using Storage blocks (1 Factory + 1 Storage Block for each item).
 > Use Cargo Spaces if more blocks are required
- Fill an inventory in one production cycle through Factory Enhancers
 > Unfortunately, Storage block logic is really broken and you can only reliably query if a Storage is Empty.
- Power Saving by using the only Storage logic available
 > If Storage is empty, activate Factory (hopefully filling the Storage). If Storage has anything inside it, disable Factory.

I think this makes automated survival production useful and cost effective. You can always manually turn off items if they are too expensive/etc, or make 100 of each item per cycle and, whenever it's needed, it'll make 100 more a few seconds later.

It's not a great system by any means, but either I don't know obscure details on how stuff works and interacts, or I'm using too much of a Minecraft Applied Energistics mindset for automation, or the game lacks enough stuff to properly automate things (which seems to be the case, since you can't check if an inventory is full, or can't check how much of an item you have in an inventory, etc).

E: I'm planning this to be used along with Shipyards and Shops. For remote personal use, it would require that you use a "Request Chest" to request items off the system on demand, or name each inventory to access them directly through the UI, etc.

[LoSboccacc]

I just drop everything in a single storage, with factories all pulling and being pulled from it. there's some waste, but it makes super easy to chain and combine and mix production.

btw one of the next reboot will update it to the latest versions, *353

[Gabeux]

The simplest solution is always the best solution, IMO. In StarMade, since we have a filter, I prefer to have everything in a single storage too. I started sorting things into different storage boxes in the beginning, only to think "Why am I doing this?" later.

But with factories pulling and being pulled from a single storage block, how to you deal with recipes that takes other crafted blocks? Like, Wedges and other shapes?
You make them 'locally' for each process?

[LoSboccacc]

they pull intermediate products from the common storage where the previous factories put it. sure one two cycles are wasted at the beginning but once the pipeline it's running the production output is the same.

the real issue is limiting production. like, if you want only 50% of hull converted in wedges. I think the new logic blocks can do that tho, but it's a lot of work

[Gabeux]

Hmm I have no idea either, you'd either have to make intermediate products locally for each process (i.e. have one process making Grey Hulls, one making Grey Hull, Standard Hardener and Grey Standard Hull, etc), so you'll always have Hull and other shapes available (not exactly limiting production, but it won't eat through you Hull stock), or use this way I said on the other post to limit everything and access everything separately.

The new logic blocks are the Sensor and the Randomizer? Not sure if those are the ones, but the Sensor unfortunately only tells you how full a Storage block is.

It becomes annoying to me the same way Inventory Sorting in Space Engineers is. I lost maybe 6h+ on that trying to make a sorting system using vanilla only, only to get frustrated and use the well known Inventory Sorting script and bang, instant sorting.
I don't know what happens to me in those games, but I take a problem personally and feel incredibly stupid when I can't make it work, lol. Eventually I just have to accept that either the system is not designed to handle/allow what I want, or it was designed with the opposite goal than the one I have.

In the case of StarMade, by watching videos I see that people just make loads of blocks at once, and mine for a LONG time when they need more blocks, so limiting production and power usage is unnecessary as people jump from a factory in the dirt to a huge space station. Maybe this is the intended flow, so giving you the tools for proper production automation is low priority.

[LoSboccacc]

I guess you can do like this:

massive pull main chest

hull factory pulling from main with x production/tick

second storage pulling from hull factory

wedge factory pulling from second storage at x/2 rate

third storage pulling from second storage at x/2 rate

main storage pulling from third storage and wedge factory

[Eric Blank]

Ratio of hull/wedge/hepta/tetra I use is usually like 4:3:1:1. Very roughly, anyway. So the first stage might produce hull cubes in a multiple of 9, the second stage would be the three sloped factories, wedges taking 3, heptas and tetras each taking 1, 4 of the cubes going to storage. Usually build a few corners on demand, as I dont use many of them.

I like to (attempt to) make smooth curves, though.

To whomever suggested the devs change the way tetras/wedges/heptas/etc work so they all pull from the base block and you just select the shape, they've actually done that now, so you only have one block in your inventory/manufactured and select what variant you want to put down.

And now we have grate blocks, looks like a ladder kinda, pipes have t-bends/crossways etc
Also new textures, not sure I like all of the changes, but some things definitely look better.