Ranching using new automation tools - or how to conveyor belt 1 egg at a time

[Blodo]

I recently picked the game up again after the release of the automation pack and I have to say the new gates and sensors are great. Things that previously required semi-complicated builds are now much easier to do, and I particularly like the new timer sensor because it makes an otherwise relatively large and complicated gate set up for timers unnecessary with a more intuitive interface to boot.

Since I've started a new map I got to the point where I want drecko plastic for steam turbines before I have the full oil plastic set up going, which means its time for a drecko ranch. I took a design inspired by Neotuck (sadly the sweeping through glass bug does not work any more) for the main enclosure, but I knew I also wanted automated egg handling to keep it as hands off as possible while I work elsewhere. Since drecko eggs take absolute ages to hatch, the setup has to involve an incubator, but I also don't want it to waste power  while the main enclosure is full. The first thing I tried was a separate, minimally automated room with an incubator that dupes would hand deliver eggs to, and I'd just let the critters inside of it overhatch since in theory this would mean each time a drecko dies a new one is delivered to the main enclosure right away. The problem with that of course is autowrangling still assigns dupes to constantly wrangle critters even if they have no other critter drop-off to go to, which wastes dupe time. So that idea went out the window.

Instead I figured I'd return to the usual breeding enclosure and separate hatching/shearing enclosure setup, but with eggs being fished out of the hatching enclosure to go to a separate room with an incubator for fast hatching if the breeding enclosure is underpopulated. Now I can't rely on dupes for doing this because they will keep delivering the eggs to the incubator, it needs to be conveyor based so it can be controlled by signals. This means two problems need to be solved:

1. Auto-sweeper delivering eggs to conveyor loader only when required: conveyor loader can be turned off by signal, but auto-sweeper will still deliver to it. I want the eggs to keep hatching in the hatching room so I can still keep shearing. Letting an egg expire in the conveyor loader is a waste, especially with drecko eggs.
2. Auto-sweeper picking up more than one egg when it is delivering eggs to conveyor loader: I want exactly one egg to go to the incubator room (I don't want critters hatching there outside of the incubator), but the auto-sweeper will pick up multiple eggs before it deposits anything in the loader.

How I approached problem 1:

The best way to control whether an auto-sweeper delivers to a loader is by using a mechanised airlock which blocks the sweeper's "line of sight". The mechanic is easy: when I want a sweeper to deliver to a loader, I send a signal to open the airlock, the sweeper can see the loader and starts dropping stuff into it until the airlock is closed again. The problem with doing this in a stable room with critters that either fly or crawl on walls is that they tend to walk into the open airlock and get stuck or leave the room altogether, which we obviously don't want.

Auto-sweepers can sweep through closed pneumatic doors but critters still can't get through them. So I used those doors as a net to stop any dreckos from wandering where I don't want them to go, they can stay permanently closed and it doesn't stop the auto-sweeper from doing its job.

How I approached problem 2:

I can't stop the sweeper from picking up more than one egg, but I do know that the loader only sends one egg per "tray". The answer is then to let exactly one egg through into the incubator room, and let the other eggs loop back around into the hatching/shearing room. I did this by using a conveyor shut-off followed by a conveyor rail element sensor from the automation pack. Once it detects an egg, the conveyor shut-off is closed and the other eggs loop back into the hatching/shearing room. The loader however sends the egg trays in an uninterrupted batch, which means after the shut-off is closed off by the rail element sensor, an unwanted egg also gets through and two end up in the incubator room. I dealt with that by using the new timer sensor to toggle the conveyor loader so that it would send staggered trays.

With both of these problems solved I have a completely hands off drecko ranch with dupe labour only involving shearing, grooming and (for now) delivering dirt for the mealwood to the storage bins below the farm tiles (if the task assignment system doesn't assign them a task that an auto-sweeper should be doing anyway). Here is the set up. The area where the eggs are dropped into (lower left) is set up in such a way that the auto-sweeper can access it but dupes cannot. This stops them from taking eggs to the incubator by themselves. Also ignore the dreckos outside of the enclosure, they're all wild anyway. Ignore the storage bin in the left corner of the enclosure too, that was just for testing and it's going to get replaced by another wheezewort.

The automation overlay with the timer highlighted. Not complicated at all, these timer settings stagger the eggs being sent off by the loader. I've also tried 0.5 second setting, and it just seems to interrupt the loader animation and releases an egg every second "cycle". The loader door is open only when there are no critters in the incubator room, and there are less than maximum critters in the breeding room. The conveyor element sensor is connected to a buffer gate which leads to a not gate which then leads to the conveyor shut-off. The buffer gate is set to 120 seconds which is more than enough for any eggs in the loader to make their way back to the hatching room.

The conveyor setup. There are two separate networks: one for eggs, the other for plastic, egg shells, phosphorite, etc. Note the bridge right after the shut-off on the egg conveyor network (on top of the incubator). Theoretically I didn't need that bridge, but what I did need is an input one tile after the conveyor shut-off, otherwise the egg trays would just keep moving back and forth between the chute and the shut-off when it was closed. Not sure if this is a bug, you'd think a closed conveyor shut-off wouldn't act as a sink any more, but there you have it.

I was thinking after I've done all this how I would've done it without the conveyor element sensor and the timer sensor, and while I could probably hack together some gates for the timer, I'd probably have to have another loader in the incubator room to get all those additional unneeded eggs back down below. The way it's done above is a lot less messy and more intuitive than that IMO.

Also, interestingly there is no reason why the incubator room setup cannot be used in tandem with a drowning chamber for say hatches, or any other critter really. Here's a screenshot of the exact same setup with a hatch farm.

Hope this helps somebody.