PI Question about routing

I’m a newb at this, so I followed the instructions on a Youtube video. I think I may be regretting it.

I set up my extractors to rout my Base Metal to both a Storage Unit, and Three Factories. The Factories also have two way routes to the Storage Unit. It’s been working great, and the Reactive Metals are piling up in the Storage Unit. So far, so good.

Now I’ve installed a launch pad to send the Reactive Metal to another planet, for the next step. I installed a link from the Storage Unit to the Launch pad, but I can’t get the metal to route from the Storage Unit to the Launchpad. I get the message I can’t set up a route from one storage to another. Nor can I drag/drop from anything to the Customs Center.

Where do I go from here, or what did I do wrong, and how can I fix it.

Yeah storage to storage is not available. You were correct on that.

  1. You can always route direct from factory to launch pad but if it fills completely there is nowhere for product to go.
  2. The solution I use is to route from factory to storage. Then when I have time I just do a expedited transfer (there is an icon within the storage unit for this adjacent to the create route button) which is available once every 8 hours. You can expedite to your launch pad this way at your convenience. It is similar to drag and drop. First you select the storage which is holding the product then selecting expedited transfer. Just double tap the launchpad and a window should open. Then transfer what you want.
  3. Hope this helps
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I usually go extractor - storage - factory - launchpad

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A good answer, one detail though (which is not always relevant)

The cool down on an expedited transfer is based on the volume transferred and the capacity of the links between the two locations. I think there’s a five minute minimum, but don’t quote me on that one.

The general model of: extractor → storage → factory → launchpad is one I use, if I’ve a lot of capacity I may direct a few of the factories back to the storage just to fill everything more slowly, but a good buffer storage between extractors and factory does help with the initial few cycles of the extractors swamping everything.

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This.

For P2 planets:
Extractor → storage → factory p1 x3 → launchpad → factory p2 x2 → back to launchpad
(With two P1 branches converging to one launchpad)

For P1 planets:
Extractor x2 → storage → bunch of factories p1 → launchpad x2

They’re not optimal for yield, but can go quite a while before I have to haul.

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This is my setup, never need or use storage.
Extractor-Pad-Factory(p1)-Pad
Pad-Factory(p2)-Pad-Factory(p3)-Pad

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Yep, launchers can function well as storage.

@CowRocket_Void Just wondering, don’t you run into issues on that first P1 setup that your factories cannot produce because the extractors keep the launcher topped off at the start of the cycle?

I pretty much always route extractors to storage first, it gives room to build up a good buffer at the start of the cycle when you get more P0 than your factories can use, until later in the cycle where your factories can eat into the buffer when their required input is higher than the output of the extractors.

I’ve seen that happen from time to time, but only on short pulls. I don’t pull any shorter than seven days anymore, dont need too. 106 planets keeps me busy :smiley:

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