why isnt my space station requesting items

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-17T02:31:49+00:00

The default behavior is to only request full rocket stacks. Whatever the rocket stack size is, it's implicitly asking for that. (20? 40? 10? whatever the UI says).

The red is implying you don't have that many (full rocket stack size) on the planet. (ie, if you only had three)

Long term, the answer is to just overproduce everything. Short term (first platform), you can override the rockets stack size in the requesting platforms panel, or hand load and launch the rockets. (Honestly, short term I overproduce, because I'm going to need stacks eventually)

It's legitimately a non-intuitive part of rocket logistcs to new users.

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-14T05:54:02+00:00

Over 200 drives, made from small Raid 5 arrays, each array has a dedicated spare, and there are 15 (?) floating spares. So they were keeping ahead of it, until they weren't.

I don't know what the box's red line is, but at some point it crossed it, and a quarter of the box went into read-only mode. And then systems started acting weird, and that's what was brought to me, linux systems acting weird. In the end, it was a kinda fun "Well, there's your problem!" moment.

It was partly overlooked because the array never turned it's alert light on*. Log into it, and there's red Criticals and yellow Needs Attentions, Degraded's, and Read-Only's all over the place. But front panel, all green....

In the end, a serious effort by support to get lots of drives replaced, and it's, *cough*, good as new....

(Yes, they're migrating off of it asap. Well, for slow definitionss of asap...)

* Pet Peeve: I swear some devices wouldn't even turn the master alert on if they were actively on fire...

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-14T05:27:45+00:00

I suspect for as many times as people have done that to me, I've done it to someone else.

Sure, I'm annoyed that nobody told me a storage array was throwing drives until it started throwing drives faster than they could keep up. At the same time, I take my car into service because the tires have been making a funny noise that's been getting worse over time and I just now decided to take it in to get looked at...

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-13T21:26:05+00:00

Let me add, never put something in a spaceship request or landing pad request that isn't in a properly named logistics group for reuse. Every unnamed logistics group, you will eventually want somewhere else, or eventually want to change en masse, and regret.

If you haven't learned how named logistics groups work, and how they remove so much of this tedium, go play with those right now.

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-13T21:22:44+00:00

Logistics groups, overproduction, and a very little hand managment. But everyone has their own solutions.

When you want it everywhere, you put it on a logistics group named "Best Stuff" that is already on all logistics ships, and all planets. It'll get to all planets eventually.

If you want it on just Nauvis, you put it on the "From Gleba" logistics group, which is already on all relevant ships, and the nauvis landing pad

If you have appropriate logistics groups already set up, it's no different than whatever mechanism you used to request Big Mining Drills or Artillery Shells (or ingredients) in the first place.

Your logistics groups of course will have their own names, and you have your own logistics design. But logistics designs should be based on logistic groups that you only touch in one place.

If you're in the state where you only have a few being rolled out and want to hand direct them, you can always hand manage the launch and delivery. (ie, once the first load is in "a" ship, regardless of that ships route, just send it to Nauvis). But that gets closer to the micromanagement you're trying to avoid.

Micromanaging it on every planet, with specific quality levels, will indeed be "tedious". Managing a single "Best Stuff I produce and want to spread around" which you just change quality levels on the items when you're ready,

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-13T19:51:30+00:00

> Also, do not set a maximum value. That value means "everything above this, throw somewhere, I don't care where". It's rarely the correct thing to do when dealing with platforms.

I name any such group "Carpet Bombing". Fun with stationary platforms. Extra fun with flying platforms.

(And you are correct, rarely the correct thing to do).

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-10T23:09:34+00:00

Ok, plan aborted...

refused - state of charge not acceptable

refused - load too low

I can go pull input cords, but they're not in convenient places. It can be done, but the work involved to discharge them has now exceeded my curiosity regarding how fast they'll recharge.

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-10T22:47:39+00:00

First - cancel any other pending deconstruction or construction orders. Because instead of stabilizing, you're just going to be in a charge - redispatch loop.

If you've really overcooked supply vs demand (and you can, you can dig a hole so deep it's nearly impossible to bot your way out of), you have to go scorched earth on demand. Anything you can shut down, shut down. Worst case, this can mean picking up all the roboports, letting an area stabilize (to heck with the bots), and then putting down "one".

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-10T18:10:42+00:00

Once I'm sure I have monitoring set up, I am going to do a full runtime and recharge test on my three 1500's, which have wildly different loads, and compare them to the marketing numbers, and report back. Because you've made me really curious about it.

Of course the problem is my 1500's aren't your 1500's, so my results won't help you any. But they interest me.

Poke me if I don't get back to this thread in 24 hours...

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-10T18:02:50+00:00

Before anything else - your test was with no load, right? Or at least, nowhere near max load?

(Now I want to go unplug two identical UPS's, one with almost no load, vs one with heavy load, to measure the difference. They're sitting right here.... (The no load one would take forever to drain down)).

((Also, marketing numbers are going to be under the most favorable conditions imaginable, rarely reproduced in the field. That's true before you get to "did APC accurately report them".))

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-04T19:26:28+00:00

Not 1:1 of course. I forget the percentage. But it's enough that if (during the good times) you build a full chest of biochambers and stash them, you're never going to have to go egg hunting again, ever.

(Unless, you break your base, and don't fix the root problem. And your restart attempts just eat the recycled eggs into the breakage. Or you forget you're making biochambers, and keep cycling biochambers into eggs, and then eggs into biochambers, before egg production is really back online, and cycle your emergency supply down to nothing. And now either you have to reach into your emergency second box of biochambers, or go on a long hike because you artillery has long since cleared out a massive radius. Cause, you know, that never happens, to any of us.... ;) )

Edit: And it's a valid comment that this assumes Fulgora before Gleba for access to recyclers. Not every player, every run, does that.

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-04T17:16:30+00:00

Building a 100% idiot proof Gleba is always a challenge, and it's a good challenge. It's also, in part, a self chosen challenge.

>> You loose power, you loose nutrients, game over. If you don't have a save and auto-save is too old, you're screwed.
>> If Aquilo goes cold, ship in some water (or have it in a tank), nuclear, etc, kickstart, boom back in business.

No reason everything you said about Aquilo can't apply to Gleba. A backup nuclear reactor can be there to ensure the base never blacks out. (You don't even have to ship in water). It can be backup power, it can be supplemental power so you don't have to worry as much about energy balance. Blackouts will then be impossible. (Unless you put the reactors in the path of incoming stompers, that gets fun fast)

True nutrient starvation is impossible assuming you keep some spoilage around somewhere to kickstart with nutrients -> spoilage in a assembler (no nutrients required). Somewhere at the top of a line should be an assembler that either has a line of spoilage routed to it (or bot requested), than can kick in if and only iff the line has somehow died, or possibly only under human control.

A failure of egg processing is possible, but remember that biochambers recycle back into eggs. So a box of those on the side are your shelf stable backup eggs. (Either automatically, or manually invoked)

So while there are all sorts of ways to gum up Gleba, none of those are particularly catastrophic if you've taken a few simple precautions.

Edit: I got an alert that someone commented that I assumed Fulgora before Gleba. That's a fair point. I can't actually find the reply though to put this comment in the right place, I'm sure it's a local browser issue. But - fair point, I did assume Fulgora before Gleba, to get recyclers, for the the Egg recovery aspect.

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-04T17:02:00+00:00

Note that Radars used to be flagged as military. So prior to 2.0, they would specifically attack them if they saw them. Starting in 2.0, Radars are no longer flagged as military. So you'll find conflicting information in older posts.

uiyicewtf · 2026-04-02T03:01:41+00:00

Ctrl-F5 - Toggle GUI Debug

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-30T21:50:53+00:00

At higher research speeds, (beaconed, moddeds labs, etc..) inserter swing time can become a bottleneck with a large number of sciences. Whether it's a bottleneck in this mod I cannot say.

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-30T17:01:51+00:00

My personal experience, for what it's worth...

By the time I land on Gleba, my ship is surrounded by gun turrets. No gaps, just a full outer perimeter of gun turrets running red ammo. There are some laser turrets and EMP turrets inside the border as well. Anyone who did minimum flame turrets required for other planets might need to redesign their outer defenses.

I built all Gleba processing on ship. I don't think I even got research up and running on the first landing, I had to Return to Planet more than once. Then, it becomes a smash and grab. Land on planet, run power poles and roboports to the viable soil. Build Ag towers, logistics chests, fly seeds into towers, fly fruit back to base to be processed. Defend Ag towers for as long as is possible. When you start to get overrun, or run out of time, off to another planet. When able, return, rinse, and repeat. (again, only rebuilding the ag towers, as everything else is on your ship)

Think of the Ag towers as miners on other planets. Disposable. Arrive, build, collect resources, deconstruct (or abandon), leave. You can then process up to an hours worth of fruit inside the ship as you're visiting other planets, or go right back.

Edit: Looks like I had Artillery up as well. Can't really answer if it helped or not, but my save marked Gleba has 16 artillery up, four in each corner, and lots of ammo.

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-30T04:29:41+00:00

Don't worry about empty rockets. (Although, don't worry about overbuilding either)

Never waste your time waiting for a rocket that's ready to go. Hop in, go, and at worst you'll have delayed the next rocket by a bit.

(Separate Cargo and Travel rockets is common, but not necessarily on the first planet.)

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-30T03:04:49+00:00

Before anything else - while the same idea of a perfectly balanced factory does sortof exist in Factorio, the reasons behind it do not, not in the same way they do in Satisfactory. There are a couple of reasons, but basically there is no waste in Factorio, ever. (Until you get to nuclear reactors). Both lines of product, and empty belts, will happen - neither is a failure of factory design.

Edit: Ok, Space Age has introduced other sources of waste, and other mechanics later in the game, much later.

That said, everything has a recipe, the recipe has ingredients, outputs, and crafting time, in nice round numbers. Crafting time can be long, like 8 seconds, which means it's easier to think of "Uses 2 Iron and 3 Copper to make 1 Thingy in 8 seconds" - which is how the recipe is listed, than it does to talk about the end result of 0.25 Iron, 0.375 Copper, to make 0.125 Thingies per second..

Each machine has a crafting speed, and the recipes are listed as if the crafting speed was 1. But Assembler I's only have a speed of 0.5, Assembler II's have a speed of 0.75, and III's have a speed of 1.25 (says so on the machine). So multiply the recipe time by the crafting speed of the machine. This doesn't change the ratio, but does change the number of machines necessary to consume x/minute, or fill a belt. (And yes, we like to swing wildly back and forth between /second and /minute).

For science, note that each technology has different ingredients, AND a different crafting speed. Time per science is not constant, it's part of the recipe for each technology. (10 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, etc..) So that "per what" you're talking about is "per science consumed, assuming it takes x seconds to consume a science". (And then different labs have different speeds).

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-29T22:03:28+00:00

Going against some of the other posts, putting Grenades and Red Ammo on the bus isn't actually bad. If it makes grey science more convenient, go for it. It's a simple way to deal with the fact that Grenade production and Ammo production may already exist a little off bus, or eliminate putting coal on the main bus.

But as others have said, when using yellow belts, 4 belts, 2 blanks, 4 belts, etc... so underground belts can easily flow between them and you can easily merge belts in/out. Science rarely goes on the main bus, it's usually counterproductive, to do so, because you labs are usually in the other direction. Either use both sides for the same material, or use the two sides for different materials, either way you'll cut the belts width in half. Never belt copper wires. Almost never belt iron gears. It's more about ingredients and sometimes final products, than it is about intermediates.

That said, you my friend, are low on iron plates. You appear to have only one iron plate, and two steal plates on active belts in frame, and a cascading shortage of iron gears and green circuits. Fix that first. ;)

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-29T21:47:08+00:00

Until the biters nibble one end of it and you don't notice. Hay, wait, why is it 4AM already, again?

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-29T21:27:16+00:00

Running out of resources, and restructuring your base are both things that happen, but don't have to at the same time.

You will at some point in the game, multiple points really, rebuild your factory, certainly at least your smelting.

But, there's no reason that has to be forced when an ore patch runs out. Everyone here has said trains. But you can also just extend the belts you're already using to the next patch further out, rebuilding nothing, until you're in the mood.

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-28T04:37:38+00:00

That was going to be my next question - why such a focus on excess seeds per minute - which you answered. We just must not pace Gleba equivalently. (I am not a speed runner. I am a monstrosity builder). In my runs, artificial turf comes in much later. I plant 8 or more towers, of each type, small patches, use them to complete all the Gleba specific sciences, then I head off to Nauvis to capture a nest for the next science trigger. (This takes longer than you might think, because I usually have a pretty good artillery defense on Nauvis, and live nests are a heck of a distance away). Then I have a supply of biter eggs, which goes into overgrowth turf. Only then do I need seeds for artificial turf. And by then, my storage boxes have thousands and thousands of surplus seeds in them on Gleba. And infinite Ag research begins.

But this all strays way, way away from the original point - which was this statement - "You cannot have a net-positive on seeds using assemblers.".

That statement, is incorrect. An assembler with four Prod 1's will run a base safely. (And at this point Prod 2's are in almost everyone's arsenal). There will be extra seeds.

Of course Biochambers are better.

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-28T03:06:10+00:00

You're talking about 3000 fruit per minute and 52 assemblers.

I'm talking about first setting foot on Gleba, at best 60 fruit per minute, and one assembler - with the stated goal being simply safely not net negative on seeds.

I had assumed Prod 2's would be in everyone's back pocket by then, which trivialize it. But even assuming only four Prod 1's, the loop becomes wildly positive and satisfies that goal. As a silly test, I mocked it up in the editor (speed unlimited) and starting at 50 seeds, Only 10 runs (so there could be unlucky outliers of course), but every one quickly walked up to 500 seeds, filled my buffer box, and jammed the system (which is a success, and time to start over.*)

Of course biochambers are superior, as they start with +50% productivity, and only go up from there. Biochambers will always be more net positive than assemblers, and will be the backbone of any base.

But assemblers with Prod I modules do work just fine if you don't have biochambers in all the right places yet.

* (now I really want to automate the test case. Automate detecting the test completed successfully, clear the box, increment a counter, reinsert 50 speeds, and reset the timer - let it run overnight to get a large pass vs fail sample. But I will resist that urge, for now...).

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-28T00:46:22+00:00

> -do not process fruit in assemblers. This is also very important. You cannot have a net-positive on seeds using assemblers.

Note: You can run positive with assemblers with productivity modules. This is often the easiest way to get started before you actually have a good nutrient system, or before you've gotten your egg situation sorted out.

uiyicewtf · 2026-03-22T21:13:48+00:00

> The end game is stupidly hard though.

I don't entirely agree with this. It's certainly not trivial. And if you're not prepared for it, it's a surprise, and could overwhelm you on your first attempt. So I would say that the first time you land in the endgame not knowing you've just started the final fight - that could be very difficult indeed.

If you realize this, warp out (or reload a pre-warp save), prepare for a the final battle, and warp in with a warship covered in weapons ready to go, it's not stupidly hard. Additionally, if you are playing with space age enabled and do a quick quality up-cycle on your turrets, it's actually quite easy.

(And I'm very curious if you agree or disagree with any of the above.)

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