The driving force for the creation of this mod was a need to get various materials from point A to B. And once the infrastructure is in place, why not also get items from B back to A?

For example - consider the following scenario:

• Organic parts are collected on the surface. They need to be transferred to the cold caverns for cryogenic storage.
  
• Crystal clocks need to be transported from the cold caverns up to the surface for use in manufacturing.
  
• Cutter heads need to be transported from the surface to various depths for distribution

Conveyors are not ideal for an overall solution, for various reasons. (for one - you don't want 300 excess cutter heads backing up awaiting transfer). They are also vulnerable to mynocks.

Matter-movers could be used - but for the example above, we would need 3 separate lines of matter movers for the 3 different types of items being transferred. If we want to add another type of item to be transferred, we need to add more infrastructure.

Matter-movers have a high capacity for item transfer - what if they could network, and intelligently transfer multiple types of items to where they are needed, automatically and on demand? That is what this mod enables. In the next few sections we will cover the basics to build such a network.

The following sections will require the use of technology unlocked by the TeleLogistics research. It is available in the research station once matter movers have been unlocked.

The backbone of the network is based on Relays. They are basically intelligent matter-movers, but there are several notable differences:

• They are bi-directional. A relay can both push and pull items along it's beam
  
• They will share power with other relays they are physically touching
  
• They share network routing with other relays they are either touching, or have a beam connected to. This forms the basis of the network (more on this below)

Relays will share power with other relays that are physically in contact with them, as seen below. Note that there are 4 relays (each pointing in a different direction) however they are fed by a single LPT.


In the picture above, the four relays pictured (along with anything they are connected to via their beams, etc) would form a network. Upcoming sections will illustrate how items can be transported on demand throughout the network.

Adapters allow item storage to be provided to the network (e.g. it "Adapts" a storage hopper to be on the network)

There are several ways to connect adapters to the network. We will look at two examples in this section.

By pointing a relay so that it's beam is connected to an adapter, that provides a network link for the adapter.

Note that the tooltip text on the bottom left mentions that the adapter is directly connected. It also registers the storage hopper that is adjacent to it.

• "Directly connected to network"
  
• "Providing network access to 1 local storage provider"

By placing an output in direct physical contact with a relay, that will also provide a network connection to the output.

Note in the picture below, the adapter also reads as "directly connected" due to the fact that it is sitting on top of our relays from an earlier section. It also registers the two storage hoppers touching it.

• "Directly connected to network"
  
• "Providing network access to 2 local storage providers"

Outputs facilitate the use of items that are available on the network. We will cover a few of the methods to do so. They require a network connection the same way that Adapters do.

Many of the machines in the game will work directly with an output. Below, see an example of a PTG connected to a Telelogistics Output. This will allow it to check for burnable items on the network, and use them automatically.



In the following image, note how as soon as I make coal available on the network (by adding it to a hopper which is connected to the network via an adapter) the PTG grabs some of the coal and begins to use it.

In this example, the coal was only moved a few meters across one room. The real utility begins to shine when items are pulled from anywhere in the network - even kilometers away, providing the items that are needed on demand.


One area where the Telelogistics system shines is in manufacturing.

Note the manufacturing plant below. The recipe it is currently attempting to assemble requires iron gears.

In this situation, you would normally have two options:

• Grab the ingredients by hand, and provide them to the manufacturer
  
• Build a specialized system just to provide specific items to this specific manufacturer

Thankfully, neither is required in this case. If the manufacturer is attached to a Telelogistics Output that is on the network, it will automatically attempt to fetch the required ingredients.

Note the tooltip in the bottom left for the output:

• Connected to servicing beacon (more on this in the next section)
  
• Caching 5 items locally

Telelogistics Outputs will attempt to cache items required by adjacent manufacturing plants, until all required items are available. At that point the Manufacturer will take the items and commence construction.

Note in the following screenshot, once enough iron gears were found on the network the manufacturing plant was able to start construction. (Though in this case it has no power)

The convenience factor for manufacturing is hard to overstate - being able to manufacture any item which has the required ingredients available on the network (without first setting up specialized cart/belt/falcor lines/spaghetti) is quite something. And then you also have the ability to repurpose that manufacturer to make something else 5 minutes later - with zero belts to re-route.

Another method to retrieve items from the network is to use an advanced filter, as seen below:

Note the output on the right, advanced filter in the middle, and target hopper on the left.


Above, filters were shown removing items from the network. A point of caution is that less selective machines, such as:

• Basic filters
  
• Conveyors
  
• Pipes
  
• Filters set to "All Except"

Can also remove items from the network. In most cases this will not produce desired behavior. Be careful which machines are allowed to be in contact with your Telelogistics Outputs!

We previously covered how to connect adapters and outputs to the network:

• Being the target of a relay's beam
  
• Being in direct contact with a relay

Beacons provide another method. They are intended to be placed in a room. Like Relays, they require power.



A beacon must be connected in one of the two methods mentioned above (direct contact, or beam target). However, after they are connected they will share their connection with any adapters or outputs in their room.

In this case, a relay above the ceiling of the room is connecting the beacon to the network. It is receiving power via an inductive charger underneath it.

In the tooltip:

• "Connected to 10 remote endpoints" - This is a reference to other machines on the network
  
• "3 adapters serviced" - This tells us that this beacon is providing network access to 3 adapters in it's room.

Beacons allow you to operate a larger volume of outputs/adapters in a room without needing to run relay lines to each one individually. We don't want spaghetti, right?

Note that beacons do incur a not-insignificant energy cost per item moved. For high volume loads (e.g. ore), if power consumption is an issue it may be more economical to direct-connect an output, or use one of the methods in the advanced section.

As this will cover more advanced topics: if you have not become familiar with the basics of the mod yet, it is recommended that you stop reading at this point and go build a basic network to familiarize yourself with the basic operation. The following are more advanced (possibly confusing) points for more specialized usage.

Relays have a secondary mode of operation. If their beam targets a storage hopper, they can operate as a combination of a (Telelogistics Output / Advanced Filter / Matter Mover) and directly move items from the network into the target hopper.

There are two main benefits:

• As this does not require a beacon, power requirements (per item) is lower.
  
• As it does not require a Telelogistics Output and Advanced Filter, it allows faster transport of items (it is not bottlenecked by the speed of the filter - the full speed of a MK4 relay is at your disposal, if desired)

To use this functionality:

• Target a Telelogistics Relay at a storage hopper.
  
• Highlight the relay
  
• With the item that you desire to output selected in your hotbar, press the T key

Stockpile mode allows for storage stockpiles. It can be toggled (via CTRL-Q) on outputs/adapters/relays (if in direct-feed mode).

(Note that the following notes regarding outputs also apply to relays if they are in direct-feed item output mode)

It has the following effect on outputs when enabled:

• Will ignore adapters that are also set to stockpile mode (a stockpile does not feed back into itself)
  
• Will only fetch items from adapters that report as "full" (e.g. 100/100 ore)

What this allows for is peripheral storage of excess ore, manufactured items, etc. Whenever a hopper reports "full" - outputs set to stockpile mode will then allow fetching of items from that hopper (until it is no longer "full").

This allows for manufacturing/smelting to continue for a time, as opposed to stopping altogether once it's hopper stops. You may not want your alloyed machine block line to stop simply because the hopper(s) have filled up.

To utilize this functionality (in this example, using mass storage)

• Build an array of mass storage blocks
  
• Provide a Telelogistics Output, set it to stockpile mode (this tells it to only fetch excess items)
  
• Link an advanced filter to the output, select the desired item, feed it into the mass storage input/stocking port
  
• Add a mass storage output feeding into a hopper. (Select the same item for output)
  
• Provide a Telelogistics Adapter connecting to the output hopper
  
• Set the Telelogistics Adapter to stockpile mode (this will prevent the output from bullet #2 from fetching from it, which would cause a loop)

The above will provide you with potentially unlimited (albeit, slow as it is limited by the speed of the M/S drones) mass storage overflow for an item of your choosing. Repeat as desired for other item types.


As higher tiers of Relays use more power per item to obtain the higher throughput, sometimes lower tiers are desired (for energy efficiency).

The logistics pathfinding code in the mod is reasonably tolerant of redundant links. For example, a line of MK3 relays could be paired with a line of MK1 relays (running side-by-side to the same target). The lowest-cost route will be used when possible, but when it's throughput is saturated the higher cost, higher throughput line will be used.

The power-sharing and route-sharing nature of relays makes utilizing this functionality relatively painless for the user to implement.