[0.11.3] repair packs in roboports not being used

[Kelderek]

Construction bots only seem to use repair packs that are stored inside roboports if the bots themselves are idling inside that same roboport. If you have repair packs inside a roboport but there are no construction bots idle there, then those repair packs are not available to construction bots elsewhere.

For example:
Roboport A contains 100 repair packs and 0 bots, located next to front line defenses which need regular repair.
Roboport B contains 0 repair packs and 10 construction bots and is further away but still connected to the same network.
Logistics network contains no other repair packs inside provider or storage chests, the only repair packs are currently inside Roboport A.
The problem is that bots in Roboport B will stay idle and will not attempt to move to Roboport A to grab some repair packs to do necessary repairs.

This can be observed by ordering your construction bots to build a blueprint somewhere, this will draw them all out of the roboports where they were idling and when finished they may end up in other roboports than where they started. Unless you have repair packs in provider or storage chests or evenly distributed to all roboports, then sometimes repairs go untended.

Repair packs that are stored inside a Roboport should be marked as available in the network so that construction bots idling elsewhere will be able to retrieve them to perform repairs.

[windmill]

You are correct I get the same result. only way is to make sure all your roboports have repair packs. I don't know if this is a bug tho if more like something that needs to be implemented/feature

[Kelderek]

I guess it depends on how you look at it. In my case, since I saw that roboports have special storage for repair packs, it never occurred to me to store packs in logistic storage chests also/instead. All of my repair packs went into the roboport storage and I specifically put it where I knew the damage would happen (right near my walls and laser turrets). So the fact that no repairs happen at all when the bots are idle elsewhere would seem like a bug in my mind.

If there is going to be special storage space inside roboports to hold repair packs then the bots should be able to find it even if they are currently in another location as long as that roboport is part of the same network. It seems like a bug to me that this "feature" did not get added to the game at the same time that repair pack storage was added in. Bug or feature, it is something that is needed.

[slpwnd]

Good point. But not really a bug. This is how it was intended (long time ago though). Having roboports work as storages for repair packs for external (not stationed in the current roboport) robots would further complicate already quite complex mechanism. Moving to Not a Bug.

[Kelderek]

If this is the intended design then I would suggest removing the repair pack storage from the roboports to make it less confusing. If the storage is there and the bots don't use the packs (because they are stationed elsewhere) then it really is a pain to figure out why repairs don't happen. If the bots only are aware of packs stored in the same roboport where they are stationed, then it would help to have a way to force a permanent stationing of a number of bots at that port. Right now there is no way to prevent your construction bots from leaving the roboport to get stationed somewhere else without removing that port from the same network, and we may have other reasons to keep the network intact. Perhaps if there were permanent storage slots for bots where those bots would never leave the influence of that one port and have other "free" slots for bots that could come and go between ports at will.

I realize that this is not a major issue, but it is highly confusing when you come across this situation and the workarounds (like separating the network or adding logistic storage for repair packs) are not immediately obvious in my mind.

[DaveMcW]

If you remove the repair pack storage, you have to add logic for the bots to dump partially used repair packs somewhere (and logic for what happens if they can't find anywhere to dump them).

I support doing all of those things.

[Boogieman14]

Good point. But not really a bug. This is how it was intended (long time ago though). Having roboports work as storages for repair packs for external (not stationed in the current roboport) robots would further complicate already quite complex mechanism. Moving to Not a Bug.

Just out of curiosity, wouldn't it be possible to set these roboport storage slots to act as passive providers? That wouldn't require any additional logic on the robot end, I'd think.

[slpwnd]

Good point. But not really a bug. This is how it was intended (long time ago though). Having roboports work as storages for repair packs for external (not stationed in the current roboport) robots would further complicate already quite complex mechanism. Moving to Not a Bug.

Just out of curiosity, wouldn't it be possible to set these roboport storage slots to act as passive providers? That wouldn't require any additional logic on the robot end, I'd think.

If we were to implement this then this is the way to do it imho. The point is, I agree the behavior is kind of confusing and we probably will do something about it in the future, but I wouldn't consider it a bug in the game for now.