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[Button]

A good way to handle "Where needs what?" input is to use minecarts on pressure plates instead of traditional stockpiles at the destination.

This. Wow. That's a really great idea. Minecart without enough weight triggers some circuitry to indicate "need more food here", then the router switches to that destination. Can one minecart dump into another? Button, I am not sure if I should thank you or curse you, because now I have to do this.

I don't think a minecart can dump into another, but if you dump into a stockpile and then have the weight-sensing minecart pull from that stockpile, I think that should be sufficient. Particularly if you also add a "cooldown" to the track, to prevent another minecart from being sent along before your dwarves have had a chance to load up your weight-sensor minecart.

I got started on a similar idea once upon a time, but got bored before I got it working . I made a table of the best materials for minecart weight-based switching on the wiki before the boredom set in, though.

[gnidan]

I made a table of the best materials for minecart weight-based switching on the wiki before the boredom set in, though.

Oh hey! Neat! I definitely stared at that table/section for a long time, before I decided I didn't mind setting up hauling routes for each source/destination.

[Detros]

Can one minecart dump into another? Button, I am not sure if I should thank you or curse you, because now I have to do this.

Beside minecarts dipped in water/magma, I think there is no other way to put items into minecarts then via dwarves. Though you can achieve minecarts in minecarts...

[Innocent Dave]

Do dwarves have access to items in minecarts the same way they would in a traditional stockpile?

[gnidan]

Do dwarves have access to items in minecarts the same way they would in a traditional stockpile?

Almost certainly not. I guess you'd have to use the weight-trigger minecarts as a buffer, giving to a stockpile. So haulers would theoretically keep the stockpile full, from the cart, and the routing system would be designed to keep the cart full.

EDIT: Button elucidates all

[gnidan]

Beside minecarts dipped in water/magma, I think there is no other way to put items into minecarts then via dwarves. Though you can achieve minecarts in minecarts...

Can you dump through a channel into another minecart?

[Button]

Do dwarves have access to items in minecarts the same way they would in a traditional stockpile?

Yep!

The differences I'm aware of between minecart storage and stockpile storage (other than storage space and mobility) are:

• Dead things in minecarts don't rot or cause negative thoughts.
• Minecarts currently have a bug where if they're linked to a stockpile which has no empty squares and at least one of those squares is occupied by something the minecart doesn't want, the minecart won't generate jobs to pull what it does want.
  
• Items need to be explicitly placed into minecarts by dwarves - they can't just be dropped in.

[greycat]

Can you dump through a channel into another minecart?

Unless this has changed recently, no.  The item just lands on the same tile as the minecart, but not inside the minecart.

[Detros]

Can you dump through a channel into another minecart?

Unless this has changed recently, no.  The item just lands on the same tile as the minecart, but not inside the minecart.

Imagine what could be done if DF just have something like Minecraft hoppers.

[Gentlefish]

I suppose you could also use a pressure plate under a stockpile(is that possible? Too lazy to find out.). Once you're under a certain threshold, the pressure plate kicks off, and the minecart gets pushed into the next destination.

[Button]

I suppose you could also use a pressure plate under a stockpile(is that possible? Too lazy to find out.).

Nope!

[Detros]

I suppose you could also use a pressure plate under a stockpile(is that possible? Too lazy to find out.). Once you're under a certain threshold, the pressure plate kicks off, and the minecart gets pushed into the next destination.

DF wiki: "You will be prompted to enable what type of things should trigger the plate (water, magma, creatures, minecarts, or some combination of the four)."
Items themselves can't trigger pressure plates, it seems.

[Di]

Complicated and ineffective. A true dwarven project. I bow to you.

[gnidan]

Preview update re: routing projects:

So I lost my fort, but that's okay, now I have a better fort! And I'm building routing systems for 16 different routes, using lots of the same shared track. It's been a design process and a half.

Anyway, I got the biggest part of it done: the track waiting/release circuitry. Here's a screencap of a minecart in action, patiently waiting at each intersection before it proceeds

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Working on building the route circuitry next, to get the correct rollers turning on at the correct time. Almost done!

[milo christiansen]

I have a working minecart automatic loader using DFHack. Combined with my automatic cart launcher, item sorter, and transport belts it allows fully automated hauling.

Combine automated hauling with automated (DFHack powered) workshops (which I also have) and you can create fully automatic production lines...

Of course you need to have DFHack installed, and you need a bunch of custom scripts to run everything, but a fully automatic "wood->large ash glazed ceramic pot" factory (one of many possibilities) is a fun engineering challenge (using an automated clay gather for the other raw material, and wood for both ash and charcoal).

Currently the only way to use these workshops in in the First Landing mod, but I had a version that worked with vanilla as well, I just haven't updated it to 42.x yet...


Of course automated logistics machines only help with getting the items to/into the carts, actually getting them to their destinations is much more complicated. Your effort is truly first rate, and far better than I would have the patience to do.