Storage system overhaul

[BaloneyOs]

I really enjoy this game but the main reason why I usually stop playing after some time is because of the broken late-game logistics. Although much better than a few patches ago (relishing the fact that I can support 22 dupes with one grill), occurrences such as dupes going across the entire map to pick up a few milligrams of iron from space is BS, especially considering iron constantly spawns there in small quantities.

 

To that end I have a few suggestions to counteract this degree of inefficiency. For the record, I know the game isn't done yet but seeing functionalities like these not added this late in development is beginning to raise some concerns.

 

1. No-sweep zone and auto-sweep zone (drag selection style)

No-sweep zone would be areas where dupes are never allowed to pick up items. Conversely the auto-sweep zone will always have assigned sweep errands. IMO this is a much better solution than just a "sweep only" checkbox on compactors.

 

2. Item drop-off (building)

This has been suggested recently and I wholly agree that we need something like this. The fact that we can't drop off eggs other than in a compactor or incubator is kinda silly. It would also be nice to have one with an empty bottom like the fish release, so that I can drop something from a height and use gravity as a method of shipping. Bottom line is that I think we at LEAST need an egg drop-off.

 

3. Compactor sweep range (compactor setting)

The lack of this is the biggest reason why I use sweep-only compactors until I have enough of a workforce to waste. Just think about all those times where your dupe would round trip across the map, occupying exosuits multiple times on the way, going through at least several airlocks wasting energy, just to store a few kg of Drecko poo or something.

 

4. Type/weight filters for sweep command

I believe this has also been suggested recently, but it would be immensely helpful in cleaning up specific areas. Filters like these should also be integrated into the sweep zones. Wouldn't it be amazing if certain materials below a certain weight in certain areas were ignored unless you give the sweep command yourself? Imagine if your Puft farm had a "don't sweep any slime" setting, which brings me to my next suggestion.

 

5. Disable dupe delivery (to any building)

Picking up microbits of iron from space for your metal refinery? Sweeping puny amounts of slime from your puft farm every time a single puft huffed too much gases? All solved by this option, without pointlessly restricting access. I had a huge gripe with this when I was renovating my wild puft farm where I had to disable auto sweep on my slime compactors or else dupes would often waste time picking up slime that they really needed to just leave alone. This option should obviously still allow sweeper arms to interact normally.

 

6. Critter sensor function outside of a room

Because honestly I don't see the point of restricting this to a maximum size of 128 tiles. Currently I have shine bug solar farm that's about 180 tiles big and I can't automate grooming due to the sensor needing a "room" to function.

 

7. Ranching station critter filter.

Want open-range hatches without accidentally touching your perfectly wild shine bugs? I know I do but this fails if your shine bugs are not quarantined. If they add more flying critters in the future the problem would only compound.

 

There's still some other less related stuff on my mind like immunity thresholds for crossing doors and taking vitamin supplements, but for now the elephant in the room is definitely late-game logistics. It's getting to the point where I would consider this an unfinished game if features like these are not implemented by release.

[AileTheAlien]

5 hours ago, BaloneyOs said:

Compactor sweep source range (compactor setting)

I feel like this one here would get a lot of impact, for a hopefully small amount of effort. It at least feels like less effort than everything else listed. I know it would have impact, because recipes in Rimworld let you set a maximum range to grab ingredients, and it helps out a lot. ONI should have this setting on compactors, and on any other building where a duplicant can deliver / use ingredients (stoves, crushers, outhouses, etc).

[Sasza22]

Mostly nice ideas. The item drop off though would allow for infinite storage in one tile which would make compactors kinda useless. Instead i think eggs should be delivered to critter dropoffs where they can hatch on their own.

I`d love continous commands like auto sweep, auto mop, auto dig. Would make managing space easier at the cost of dupe time and allow to keep our living zone clean without manual management every time.

I`m not sure if a range for the compactors can work with the current system, but if it`s implementable it might help. Especially with the dupe behaviour of delivering stuff to the compactor near to them at the start of the task instead of the one closest to the item. It would also allow us to have different priority compactors in different zones without dupes carrying items from one to another, instead it would make dupes clean said zones with different priorities.

[BaloneyOs]

18 hours ago, AileTheAlien said:

ONI should have this setting on compactors, and on any other building where a duplicant can deliver / use ingredients (stoves, crushers, outhouses, etc).

Good catch on the wording, and agreed that the less design clutter the better. The issue I take with only having this change on release is that it doesn't solve the problem of dupe labor being utterly wasted on transporting quantities that are too small. It's ridiculous that by cycle 600 iron construction materials could take over a cycle to deliver because SOME of the dupes decided that space was the place, and stuff like space iron and puft slime are generated almost nonstop in literal grams at a time. Considering how well this game is designed in many aspects I find it gross that door permissions and walls are the only real means of mitigating this hole in efficiency.

I do use an auto sweeper for my puft farm but have to use a clock sensor to make sure that it isn't wasting energy on micro quantities of slime throughout the day.

7 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

The item drop off though would allow for infinite storage in one tile which would make compactors kinda useless

Used to believe this as well, but current mechanics with stacking materials being more space efficient is already a design conflict with storage compactors. I've seen many mentions and screenshots of tricking an auto sweeper into dropping an egg, which means the same can be done with any material if desired. Hell you can even just manually empty a sweep-only container every time it gets full to achieve a similar effect, though you would need to sweep manually in this case. At the moment, compactors feel more like an organizational tool than an efficient means of storage.

But yes as you also mentioned, the options with moving eggs is probably the main focus here and I agree that having critter dropoff being able to handle eggs would be an excellent addition.

[AileTheAlien]

9 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

infinite storage in one tile

The solution is again, to copy other games that already exist. Rimworld, and Factorio both spill items to nearby tiles. Even the original Diablo had loot spill into a radius of tiles!

[D.L.S.]

2 hours ago, AileTheAlien said:

spill items to nearby tiles

It is not always possible: tall 1 tile wide hole, you drop on the bottom bunch of pickable items, where they will go - teleport on very top, or tunneling through walls to closest gas/liquid cell, or get buried(buried object mechanic) in near walls? It would be trading of one bugs for another.

 

[Sasza22]

14 hours ago, D.L.S. said:

t is not always possible: tall 1 tile wide hole, you drop on the bottom bunch of pickable items, where they will go

We could make itmes form a pseudo-tile if reaching a certain mass. It would be soild for other items and dupes but not liquids nor builidngs. On it`s own would spill into other tiles if there is room. Single itmes could be still picked up from the stack.

This is doable but it would be more of an annoying mechanic preventing infinite stacking than anything useful.