BUG_DeliveryItemChain

A logistics distributor sitting on a depot normally moves one item. This mod lets it move a chain of several items.

Use

1. Open a distributor. Right next to the game's own item slot there is a half-size copy of it: empty while the chain is empty, otherwise the first chain item with the item count. Hovering it lists the chain.
2. Click it. A grid like the replicator's opens with every item your research has unlocked so far, modded items included, one tab per item page.
3. Items start faded (50%). Click one to add it to the chain: it turns full and a box appears under it. Click again to remove it.
4. The box under an item is the most of that item this depot will hold through bots. Empty means unlimited (the default). Bots do not bring more than that.
5. Hover the distributor in the world: the hover card lists every chain item with its stock in the depot stack.

The distributor's own item slot, its player and storage modes and the bot settings work as before. The chain items use the same modes: a supply distributor offers all of them, a demand distributor asks for all of them. A chain item matches other distributors whether they have that item as their own item or in their own chain.

When a distributor is placed on a depot that already holds items, the game picks its own item as usual; if the depot holds several kinds (the game then picks none), the first kind becomes the distributor's item. The mod puts the other items in the depot into the chain. The game's guess-filter button does the same. A chain you already set is never replaced.

Upgrades

Three upgrade lines appear on the game's upgrade page, below the existing upgrades, once the tech that unlocks the logistics distributor is known. Each has 10 stages; costs start with blue matrices and add one matrix kind every two stages, all six on stage 10. Stage 10 is the last.

The distributor's own item does not count against the chain limit. A full chain refuses new items with a message; placing a distributor on a mixed depot chains only as many items as the limit allows. Charge power is still set with the game's slider in the distributor window; the upgrade only raises its top. With LogisticsBotsTweaks' MaxChargePowerScale both multiply.

The lines are built from the game's tech table at load, so no content mod is needed; with GenesisBook or other tree mods they open with whichever tech unlocks the distributor there.

How it works

Each dispatch moment the distributor serves the next item that has a partner, in turn, so the game's own bot logic (range, energy, bot count, held-up items) runs unchanged for every item. The game gives a distributor one dispatch moment every third tick; a distributor with a chain gets one every tick, so up to three items keep the game's own pace and more items share the extra moments. Extra bots from mods such as LogisticsBotsTweaks are used as normal: the limits are bot count and the distributor's energy.

The limit counts the item in the whole depot stack under the distributor. Items already flying in count against the free room as in the game.

Compatibility

• Saves: chains are stored by DSPModSave in the mod save file, not in the game save. Removing the mod leaves the game save untouched; distributors fall back to their own single item.
• DSPMultiDistributor: works side by side. Its rematch check also accepts chain items, so bots on chain trips are not recalled when it refreshes pairs.
• GenesisBook, LogisticsBotsTweaks, Multifunction, UXAssist, ErrorAnalyzer: checked, no overlap (they change bot speed, capacity, energy, or hover text only).
• Upgrade techs use ids 9311-9336. If another mod already uses one of them, that line is skipped and the log says so.
• Removing the mod: research of the upgrade techs is dropped by the game; distributors keep the larger energy storage they had in the save until rebuilt.
• Chains set with an older version may hold more items than the current research allows; they keep working, you can only remove items until under the limit.
• Not synced in Nebula multiplayer.
• Copy / paste of building settings and blueprints carry only the game's own item, not the chain.

Changelog

1.0.0

First release.

• Logistics distributors on depots carry a chain of several items next to their own item, chosen from a replicator-style grid of unlocked items with the replicator's own category tabs.
• Optional per-item stock limit: bots do not bring more of that item than the limit, counting the whole depot stack.
• Hover card lists every chain item with its stock.
• Placing a distributor on a depot with several item kinds, or pressing the game's guess button: the first kind becomes the distributor's item and the rest join the chain.
• Chained distributors dispatch every tick, so extra bots (e.g. LogisticsBotsTweaks) are all used.
• Three upgrade lines on the upgrade page, 10 stages each, blue to white matrices: Distributor Item Chain (stage 1 free, +1 chained item per stage, 10 at most), Distributor Charge Power (+50% top charge setting per stage), Distributor Energy Storage (+100% storage per stage).
• Chains are saved with DSPModSave; works alongside DSPMultiDistributor. No content mod required.