Inventory Management Options: Let me trade fuel-likes for convenience

Question

TL;DR: Inventory management is not fun.  The core gameplay loop is very fun.  I propose adding:

• A slave drone that consumes fuel (biofuel, coal, fuel, turbo-fuel, compacted coal, etc) in exchange for inventory logistics.
• A special type of powered storage box the slave drone can pull stuff from with input belt slots.
• A special type of powered storage box the slave drone can put stuff into with output belt slots.

Details:  Inventory Management sucks right now, and it's really not fun.  The rest of the game is quite fun, however.  The specific user story is "I am trying to build an outpost on the other side of the map, but I forgot [insert basic thing here, like 47 stacks of concrete], and now I have to spend 20 minutes running/driving back to my starting base and juggling inventory instead of playing fun part of the game."  My end goal is being able to trade fuel from my inventory in exchange for a robot slave to go get stuff from a box for me.

So, first, I'd like to introduce the FICSIT UTILITY CARRYING KITE, which FICSIT issues to every one of its peons.  It's a little nuclear-powered drone that follows me around, and is where the robotic FICSIT voice comes from whenever a tech gets completed.  The FUCK's main purpose is to carry things for me, either to a storage box from me or to me from a storage box, as well as watch me to make sure I'm not violating FICSIT company rules.  In order to carry stuff around, however, it needs fuel (because its nuclear battery only produces enough power for it to follow me around and judge me), and it also needs special boxes: specialized enough to not be used for general storage / factory buffering (because then everyone would use that box for everything).

So, to solve that problem, I propose the FICSIT SMALL HAULABLE INVENTORY TRUNK (acronym intentional), a new type of storage chest.  The SHIT requires power, because we have to make it inconvenient so people won't use it for every kind of storage need.  I propose the V1 has 10 inventory slots, costs 5 MW, and requires Reinforced Iron Plates to build.  It has belt inputs, because otherwise inventory management continues to be an annoying problem, but no outputs.  I propose 1 input to start.  We want to automate feeding the box, after all.  FICSIT can allow me to get bigger and better SHITs as I ascend tiers, which have more available slots and more belt inputs in exchange for more power.  This allows me to retrieve items easily enough, but it doesn't allow me to put items.  This could be a problem, except...

FICSIT's R&D team has recently developed the HAULABLE OFFLOADING UTILITY STORAGE ENCLOSURE, the opposite of the SHIT: a powered storage box with a belt output that the FUCK delivers things to via a convenient landing pad on top.  Possible upgrades include more slots for buffering (before the FUCK tells me there's no room for more of my stuff), more output belts for more throughput, and maybe even filtering to allow the FUCK to only put my shit in the correct HOUSE.

These, combined, allow me to build a SHIT-HOUSE facility to act as a sort of in-game Amazon Fulfillment Center, whose workers (in this case, each player's person FUCKs that they give) are actual robots. This turns inventory management from an annoying chore into something to be automated, expanded, and streamlined: e.g FUN.

Other Thoughts:

• The TODO checklist could include a FUCK-SHIT button to tell my FUCK to get all the materials listed on it from my SHIT facility.
• The amount of fuel consumed could be based on the size of my demand (1000 concrete vs 10 concrete) and, if it's not a PITA to implement, the distance to the SHIT containing my shit.
• The FUCK could be non-instantaneous: I have to wait N seconds or whatever for the FUCK to retrieve from my SHIT or to my HOUSE, where N could be based on the amount of stuff being moved or the distance to the SHIT/HOUSE.

Comments

Nicely done, agreed this could be a useful addition.

Answer 1

As to the

I am trying to build an outpost on the other side of the map, but I forgot [insert basic thing here, like 47 stacks of concrete

This is why there are the little < - > < amount > < + > boxes at the top of each item in your build menu.  So you can enter the number of buildings you are planning to build. And it'll show you what stuff you need to complete all those.  Really handy when you're planning a new outpost.

Comments

I do use those.  The problem I run into is for things like belt poles, power poles, walls, splitters, mergers, belts, walkways, and other supporting buildables.  Like if I'm going to build a 24-refinery structure, how do I estimate the concrete I need for foundations?  Other than just knowing ahead of time by copying a floor plan (or making my own after having done it once), I don't think I reasonably can.  My current strategy of "fill empty slots with concrete, steel beams, iron rods, iron plates, cable, and wire" hasn't worked well, either.

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First thing I do when making an outpost is setting up a nearby concrete production.  You always tend to need more than you anticipated.
Limestone is everywhere

Step 2 for a reasonable size base is setting up a iron miner 2 smelters and a iron plate, iron rod, wire and cable.
Gonna need a ton of those as well.

It saves on trips having to worry only about trucking in the more advanced stuff.

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Again, all things I do when permitting.

https://satisfactory-map.com/

The 4 pure crude oil nodes on the mid-left of the map are why I'm having this frustration: Not much room to build (unless you have lots of foundations).  Only other resource nearby is Caterium, which is great if you're trying to make a Computer factory and have the alternate circuit / computer recipes.

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This is an old map.  Those nodes in the north east desert no longer exist.

If you talk about the 3 nodes in the red jungle/bamboo forest. There's a limestone node nearby.  If you talk about the 4 oil nodes in the north. There's a limestone node just beside oil nodes and 2 iron nodes nearby at the cliff up north.

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Limestone is literally everywhere. I have small concrete factories (miner and 1 or 2 constructors and a storage bin) all over the place.

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I apologize for not using cardinal directions.  When I said mid-left, I was referring to the Western edge, about halfway between the north/south edges.