Low overhead asteroid cleaning

[Occam Blazer]

Since a clean map is important for performance reasons I've been developing a hands-free way to keep my games tidy. My solution is probably not novel, but I have not seen a write-up of it, so here y'all go.  It is a pure joy to watch a group of dupes dig out an area followed by an unprompted sweeping. If you start this system early in your game and manage priorities your dupes should be able to keep the map clean without any oversight and just a little initial sweep time.

The concept is to divide your workforce into groups: Sweepers, Gofers and (optionally) Toppers. Then, construct a two-story infinite storage and restrict access to the levels based on job function. The bottom level storage dispensers have Sweep Only enabled. The top level have it disabled. All dispensers drop debris into the same pit.

Sweepers clean the map. Give them access to the top level. Depending on their Storing priority they will scurry about the asteroid bringing debris back to storage. I usually disable their Supplying priority to reduce decision making lag.

Gofers go fer stuff and are your supply crew. They have access to the bottom level and all the material stored there. I usually disable their Storing priority too.

Toppers are responsible for topping off local storage bins and loaders. They are only necessary if you disable Gofer storing priority. These dupes have access to the bottom level, are restricted from the top level and have a medium or high Storing priority. Toppers need to be able to Store and Supply.

Here's the simplest setup (no toppers).

On the left is the infinite storage area and on the right is a local storage bin (maybe sand for a  water sieve or coal for coal generators). Jean is the Cleaner and Ada is the Gofer (and Topper).  Ada can take material from storage to the bin, construction jobs or whatever. Jean will wander the map bringing materials back to the storage area.

It is necessary to restrict Cleaners access to local bins or they will remove material from the bin and take it back to the storage area. This isn't a priority thing - putting stuff in dispensers is always more important and a different task than putting stuff in bins. Conveyor Loaders are safe since dupes can not remove material from them. Conveyor Receptacles are safe unless you have manual use enabled.

This system takes a little care to avoid infinite storage loops. Sweepers will take material out of bins and bring them back to storage, so keep them away from local depots - use Gofers and/or Toppers. You have to periodically revisit the set-up while you bring on new dupes, but once your population is set (for me that's 16-20 dupes) you don't have to mess with it any more.

Watch out for storing potentially hot materials. Once you crack space, disallow regolith from your infinite storage. Obsidian is also a good one to treat with caution. I don't sweep abyssalite. Oil biome materials and hot metals are okay if you have a cooling solution for your storage area. Consider how to handle hot igneous rock from magma vs room temperature igneous rock from mining. Watch out for liquefiables.

This solution couples pretty well with a logistics system. Last play-through I had a nice single-rail material delivery thing going but that needs more work before I present it.

Here's my current game with priorities too. Stinky is my single Topper.  I usually split Cleaners and Gofers so each group has about the same aggregate Strength, but this time around I'm putting more into my Cleaners. The left storage is for material that off-gasses, like bleach stone and oxylite, and is not strictly necessary.

 

Try it.

 

[Gurgel]

Nice.

What I currently do is have a large storage array (I do not like infinite storage) set at prio 6 and as soon as my base has long-term sustainability, I simply leave things running overnight. Not really elegant, but effective.

[MarcinW]

I am also not a fan of unlimited storage area, as most materials stack up to 25t and when hovering over them you see popups which does not fit a screen. I love building big storage rooms wondering what to do with all that stuff and looking as it slowly get depleted.

Real fun starts when you are out of materials and you have to depend on space missions.

[Occam Blazer]

12 hours ago, Gurgel said:

(I do not like infinite storage)

8 hours ago, MarcinW said:

I am also not a fan of unlimited storage area

 

Lotta hate for infinite storage (-: This technique is pretty easy adapted to bin storage with a few autosweepers down below.

 

[TheMule]

I do something very similar with my very early (pre-rails) egg handling for ranches. I used to keep them at 7 critters only (despite being 96 tiles in size) and manually sweep eggs now and then to sweep-only bins, and manually unloading bins to drop the eggs.

Now, I build something like that as soon as I have dispensers. I have one dispenser, only the top one. One dup (or two) has top access and is tasked with removing the eggs from stables. All the others have bottom access, can grab meat/egg shells and move eggs to incubators. No more manual sweeping.

[Occam Blazer]

30 minutes ago, TheMule said:

I do something very similar with my very early (pre-rails) egg handling for ranches. I used to keep them at 7 critters only (despite being 96 tiles in size) and manually sweep eggs now and then to sweep-only bins, and manually unloading bins to drop the eggs.

Yah, this is great for keeping your stables clean before you research rails.