Build 26202946

Back when I announced that vehicles would be the next update, I didn’t realize how much else the game needed before they’d fit in.

• Basic automation with tools and Swinger Arms

• Sealed factories and their environments

My initial plan was to throw something together to bridge the tools and the outside world, but there was this little voice in my head that told me, “Don’t do it.” So here we are.

Sidenote: no, Plexum didn’t stop being developed. In fact, it overdeveloped…

Automation expansion

This update brings more than just the vehicles promised last time, over a month ago. It also lays the groundwork for the faster, more impressive machines you’ll be able to build yourself. For now, you’ll have to make do with the small ones.

The small one

A connection machine links the inside of a factory to the outside. It can only be placed on two sides of your factory, so plan ahead.

It’s made up of three modules: a connection module, an input module, and an output module. Place the connection module first, then attach the input and output modules. Once the machine is complete, you can connect conveyor rollers to move items between it and a Bridge Tool.

Before it can operate, configure the connection machine as either a receiver or a provider.

As a provider, the machine learns which item to handle from the incoming item. A receiver needs a little more setup: choose the item it should request.

The smaller one

The Bridge Tool can receive items delivered to it by a Swinger Arm. It can also receive boxes from a connection machine. When it needs to create boxes for outgoing items, you’ll need to supply boxes made from wood.

An introduction to vehicles

Plexum’s vehicles aren’t the kind you see driving outside your window. They’re automated, slightly weird-looking machines that carry boxes of items between RoadStops.

Before placing RoadStops, you’ll need to build roads. Plan the route first, though: changing it later may mean dismantling the things you built along the way.

The bigger one

RoadStops move items between factories and the road network. Each one is configured by a nearby connection module and handles the item and role assigned to it. A RoadStop also needs to be connected to a usable road route.

A good order to build things is: factory (with an airlock if you want to get inside) → connection machine → roads → RoadStops → vehicle depot.

The little drone on each RoadStop carries items to or from its connected connection machine. Once the connection machine and roads are set up, the RoadStop doesn’t need separate configuration.

The biggest one

Last but not least is the vehicle depot. It makes vehicles, tracks available delivery jobs, and dispatches vehicles to complete them—provided you’ve supplied the materials needed to build the vehicles.

There are currently three vehicle types, each with its own recipe. The depot is configured through its own interface for now; it doesn’t accept automation. Once a vehicle is ready and a matching delivery job is available, the depot sends it out.

Summary

The addition of this layer allows for a much bigger operation that you might initially have thought: you're able to start a factory that makes ingots and bars on one side of the planet, near an ore resource, have vehicles move these ingots and bars to different factories on the other side of the planet, where you'd consolidate your crafting, to move them onward to yet another part of the planet.

Factories are what make things, and vehicles and logistics are what move things around.

Changelog

Added buildables

• Bridge Tool

• Conveyor Straight

• Input Module

• Output Module

• Connection Module

• RoadStop

• Asphalt Foundation (10 × 10)

• Vehicle Depot

• MK1 Vehicle

• MK2 Vehicle

• MK3 Vehicle

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where a Swinger Arm wouldn’t grab a newly placed tool as intended.

• Fixed several save/load issues affecting player-built objects and world resources.

• Fixed an issue that could significantly displace some roof pieces and other objects after repeated save/load cycles.

• Fixed UI issues related to factory environments.

• Fixed an issue that could leave an airlock stuck in certain situations.

• Vehicle depots, vehicles, and in-progress deliveries are now saved and restored.

• Fixed the rotation of boxes created by logistics.

• RoadStops and connection machines no longer accept new work while offline, and must be offline before dismantling.

Additions and changes

• Added inventory and recipe filtering for faster item lookup.

• Vehicle and logistics movement now stops while the game is paused.