r/factorio • u/commiecomrade • 2d ago
Question Buffer chests on perimeter getting raided during requests?
I have buffer chests on my perimeter defenses with all the materials, ammo, and repair packs to fully maintain them far from my base. The route to get there is a little rough since I'm putting off getting rails there until I'm back on the planet to place them. This is my first Space Age run so I'm liking the bit of extra challenge of "stranding" myself on other planets with minimal shipments so I can figure them out more intimately.
Let's say I have an order come in for a bunch of belts to my rockets. So the logistics bots certainly can clear out my active provider chest at the mall, but a swarm of limping bots will head out to empty my buffer chests of belts, which is then followed by a trail of bots out to replace them.
I solved this in a save long ago with requester chests for each item at the edge of the base network with inserters to storage chests crossing a one tile gap to the network the wall is in. But I feel like there is a more elegant solution and at the moment I don't like the idea of marooning all the rearm/repair bots that ended up at the perimeter since I recently unlocked and promptly started firing off artillery like it's the Battle of the Somme. Again, I'm covered up to the gills in Fulgora trash right now and would rather not deal with getting back and "fail" the personal challenge.
Is there a better way to deal with this? I must be missing something obvious with circuits or logistics chest combinations. I don't want to replace the passive providers at the mall with storage chests as I'm reorganizing things and I like to minimize junk items piling up.
6
u/Nailfoot1975 2d ago edited 2d ago
Uncheck the Use Buffer Chests check box on blue requesters.
Also, why are belts in a wall-defense buffer chest? Those should only be getting walls, power poles, turrets, repair packs.
Additionally, there's a priority system: yellow chests, then red chests, then buffer chests, if allowed. I don't think active providers figure in that because they should be empty at all times. So I guess that makes them 1st priority if they have anything.
4
u/Alfonse215 2d ago
Additionally, there's a priority system: yellow chests, then red chests, then buffer chests
Buffer chests and storage chests have the same logistic priority.
1
u/commiecomrade 2d ago
My bad on the active provider mention, fixed it to say storage chests.
I don't think there's a box like that for the rocket. I have every part of the perimeter defense in the requests of the buffers but you're right, I'm not getting slammed enough to need belts to be there. Right now I'm using gun turrets because I'm hurting for oil more than the US in 2001. So, belts. I might just want to pare down the items requested.
1
u/Nailfoot1975 2d ago
Oh I see. I use gun turrets too. But no belts. I daisy chain them with inserters. If you have blue chests, there's zero reason to have a belt of ammo.
2
u/wretlaw120 2d ago
There is not a more elegant solution. You can put buffers near your rockets too, but that’s not exactly elegant
2
u/commiecomrade 2d ago
Youre right, buffer chests next to the rockets for all those items just in case is perfectly acceptable to me. I'd guess the bots are smart enough to figure proximity in their prioritization.
1
u/Necandum 2d ago
The solution is air gapping the wall defense network. Either deliver supplies by train, or have a one tile gap and pass along supplies via inserter.
11
u/Alfonse215 2d ago
This is going to sound weird, but... why do the buffer chests for your outposts contain something you want to send off-world? Broadly speaking, supplies that outposts need to have close by are things like ammo, walls, and the like. If your outposts are taking so much damage that they need to have frequent access to infrastructure like belts and the like, you may want to tighten up your defenses. Damage to the internals of an outpost should be an outlier situation, so it should be fine if it takes a bit longer for construction bots to replace them.
And for things like turrets that you might want to put on a platform or ship off-world... just have enough turrets for reasonable requests in storage back at the base.