Tips on recycling efficiently?

[RollingThunder8]

Hi.

I wonder, could someone advise on how to be most efficient with things such as Polluted Water/Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide etc? Which have some practical uses but of which the excess ideally needs to be disposed/converted into clean water. So far my strategy has been to suck it all up and stick it in reservoirs, both to get it out of my way and also so I've got it handy if I ever need it (some plants specifically want to be watered with polluted water, or bathed in a Carbon Dioxide or Polluted Oxygen environment). I'm sure something could be done using Automation and valves, but they're beyond what I've ever really used before; What would be ideal would be a system whereby I prioritise sending the material to where it's needed, perhaps in one big "dump" each Cycle, and only AFTER these needs have been fulfilled do I divert excess towards reclamation facilities. But then if I do that, I don't want to end up reclaiming so much that I have none left for the next Cycle. Of course some things can't be "reclaimed", like Chlorine, so that's simple - just suck it up from the source, store it in a reservoir, then pipe it to where it's needed.

[ZombieDupe]

CO2 can be used by slicksters, or earlier in the game to be consumed by Carbon Skimmers. That in a closed-loop system with a Water Sieve (requires sand) to get rid of excess CO2 and turn it into polluted dirt. You can turn that into regular dirt through compost piles but in small amounts. Some of the polluted dirt will likely turn to polluted oxygen, which you can clean with Deodirisers (also requiring more sand to clean oxygen) next to the Water Sieve and simply get clay from them. That can be refined through a Kiln into ceramic, which is a really good material for insulation.

With excess latrine polluted water you can feed to a thimble reed or two to get reed fibre. This means excess polluted water doesn't need to be stored in reservoirs but in the form of the grown reed fibre which you will need lots of late into the game to make the insulation material and quite a bit of for atmo suits earlier on.

[RollingThunder8]

On 8/30/2021 at 1:27 PM, ZombieDupe said:

CO2 can be used by slicksters, or earlier in the game to be consumed by Carbon Skimmers. That in a closed-loop system with a Water Sieve (requires sand) to get rid of excess CO2 and turn it into polluted dirt. You can turn that into regular dirt through compost piles but in small amounts. Some of the polluted dirt will likely turn to polluted oxygen, which you can clean with Deodirisers (also requiring more sand to clean oxygen) next to the Water Sieve and simply get clay from them. That can be refined through a Kiln into ceramic, which is a really good material for insulation.

With excess latrine polluted water you can feed to a thimble reed or two to get reed fibre. This means excess polluted water doesn't need to be stored in reservoirs but in the form of the grown reed fibre which you will need lots of late into the game to make the insulation material and quite a bit of for atmo suits earlier on.

Hi, thanks for the tips but I'm not sure I made myself clear. I'm not asking "what can I use these problematic things for", I'm asking "How do I make sure I prioritise supplying these things (Thimble Reed, Slicksters etc) BEFORE any excess is sent to be reclaimed or destroyed?" If I just have branching pipes, the rules of pipe transport will just split the flow 50/50 which only ensures my base gets what it needs if I'm creating vast excesses of the stuff. There must be a way using automation to say "send this stuff here first, until I've sent enough, and only then send the rest over here"

[sakura_sk]

4 minutes ago, RollingThunder8 said:

"send this stuff here first, until I've sent enough, and only then send the rest over here"

That's how a bridge works for pipes. It doesn't need automation.

A bridge prioritizes the direction from its input to its output, so connecting a second pipe line to its input, would send there any excess that can't go to through the output (e.g. leading excess polluted water from lavatories to thimble reed farms).

 

[Ntr1cate]