Rocket Platform Automation Port

[Electroely]

I was setting up a system to have a rocket automatically requested to fly back and forth between two planets to load metals from the far planet and bring them to my main planet.

The Rocket Platform's auto-output port is weird, though: It won't output green when the crew isn't in (even though they get requested when the auto-input gets green anyway) and it'll output green even if cargo loading isn't complete (despite that being a checklist item). So what exactly is it useful for?

I wish cargo ports at least had an auto-output so I can tell my rocket to leave the planet once it's loaded up on metals. They even have a "Cargo Transfer Complete" status!

[cpy]

That thing is broke as hell.

[KonfigSys]

the design for cargo loading/unloading is bad or broken and now even mixed with internal ports. It also does not allow you to load until the cargo module is fully unloaded. I had terrible time transporting gases.

It would be good to have a separate building for internal ports which connects to the rocket platform but has three input/outputs (gas/liquid/solid).

It will be good to have a menu for other cargo building - loading/unloading/auto regimes.

Currently the orbital parcel sender may render rocket cargo hauling obsolete.

I did the automation with a simple timer (just connect the auto-output with input for launch through a filter) - sometimes I used two filters to exceed 200sec limit. The timing (300 sec for my metal transportation trips) was enough to completely load/unload the cargo module, bring more food/oxylite/dirt, remove waste from the habitat module. As I recall I was unloading metal and loading Sulphur/Salt also so that could be a reason for extra time required.

[Electroely]

6 hours ago, KonfigSys said:

the design for cargo loading/unloading is bad or broken and now even mixed with internal ports. It also does not allow you to load until the cargo module is fully unloaded. I had terrible time transporting gases.

It would be good to have a separate building for internal ports which connects to the rocket platform but has three input/outputs (gas/liquid/solid).

It will be good to have a menu for other cargo building - loading/unloading/auto regimes.

Currently the orbital parcel sender may render rocket cargo hauling obsolete.

I did the automation with a simple timer (just connect the auto-output with input for launch through a filter) - sometimes I used two filters to exceed 200sec limit. The timing (300 sec for my metal transportation trips) was enough to completely load/unload the cargo module, bring more food/oxylite/dirt, remove waste from the habitat module. As I recall I was unloading metal and loading Sulphur/Salt also so that could be a reason for extra time required.

Oh, I haven't thought of using a timer. That's a good idea! With a solid cargo bay (which I was using at the time), 2.7t at 20kg/s would take 135 seconds to unload, 135 seconds to load for a total of 270 seconds, so 300 would work well, though for my purposes I would've just used a 200 second timer since I wasn't unloading anything.

I think you're correct in saying that the interplanetary launcher may render cargo modules obsolete, but I think that's just because of poor balancing ATM. I feel all cargo bays need more storage space to begin with, and the module limit system should be reworked to allow for comfortable use of these modules.

[babba]

7 hours ago, KonfigSys said:

the design for cargo loading/unloading is bad or broken and now even mixed with internal ports. It also does not allow you to load until the cargo module is fully unloaded. I had terrible time transporting gases.

It would be good to have a separate building for internal ports which connects to the rocket platform but has three input/outputs (gas/liquid/solid).

It will be good to have a menu for other cargo building - loading/unloading/auto regimes.

Currently the orbital parcel sender may render rocket cargo hauling obsolete.

I did the automation with a simple timer (just connect the auto-output with input for launch through a filter) - sometimes I used two filters to exceed 200sec limit. The timing (300 sec for my metal transportation trips) was enough to completely load/unload the cargo module, bring more food/oxylite/dirt, remove waste from the habitat module. As I recall I was unloading metal and loading Sulphur/Salt also so that could be a reason for extra time required.

I started flying to other planets with rockets, but haven`t yet used the rocket ports and haven`t done much yet with rocket cargo (un)loading because the system(s) seem confusing to me and I rather start using it when Klei has spent more time working on it. Just reading about it makes me think...

[KonfigSys]

On 4/2/2021 at 7:19 PM, babba said:

I started flying to other planets with rockets, but haven`t yet used the rocket ports and haven`t done much yet with rocket cargo (un)loading because the system(s) seem confusing to me and I rather start using it when Klei has spent more time working on it. Just reading about it makes me think...

probably it is about time to use it - Klei changed that today. I have not checked it in the game yet but it sounds right from the update description.

[Electroely]

I finally got a chance to give this a shot again.

What I found out is that the auto-output still only goes green if the pilot boards the rocket. The auto-output won't ignore cargo anymore, so that's definitely an upgrade, but I still wish there was a way to request launch as soon as the rocket is loaded rather than waiting for the pilot to go inside for whatever reason to auto-launch.

I'm not sure if this was always a feature but I noticed the launch button gets greyed out when you connect an automation wire to the rocket platform, so it's even more inconvenient getting something like this to work...