Create: Meta Logistics

An addon for the Create mod, intended for players with intermediate to advanced knowledge in Create's railways, storage and package routing system, and automation. Focused on solutions for offline, scalable, remote logistics, allowing players to build off of existing mechanics in Create to expand their bases.

Designed with Create's balance and level of realism in mind - no tesseracts or teleporters required. No programming background required.

New Blocks

• Filter Requester: Request up to 256 of an item (or multiple items) matching a filter, otherwise similar to a Redstone Requester.
• Stock Manifest Compiler: Connects to a storage network, and creates (output slot) manifests when powered with redstone, and accepts (input slot) tickets to perform remote orders.
• Stock Manifest Reader: Accepts (input slot) manifests and creates (output slot) tickets for remote orders. Connects to a storage network, and shows contents of the most recently accepted manifest as if it were an inventory on a stock link.
• Station chunkloader: Loads chunks in a 3x3 area around itself, for 5 minutes, when a train arrives at the connected station. Multiple chunkloaders can be linked to a single station for more area.
• Compiler Expansion Module: If a storage network's contents are too complex, the manifest compiler won't be able to list all of them. Connecting expansion modules to compilers allows item entries to be distributed between each one, resulting in one manifest per expansion module.
• Ticket Crate: Alternative source of tickets, in the same style as a creative crate. Tickets can be turned in for a steady stream of items.

New Items

• Stock Manifest: Holds inventory information.
• Item Request Ticket: Holds information about an item request.

New Recipes - Deploying+Data

• Renaming package addresses with a name tag.
• (WIP) Filtering and performing other simple operations on tickets & manifests, intended to allow assembly lines to sort and manage orders.
• Transferring materials checklist orders directly to a ticket using a ticket crate, either by right clicking or with a deployer.

Why this addon?

Normally, in order to access storages remotely with Create's logistic system, you would chunk load them - this incurs a significant cost on servers (and large singleplayer bases) the larger bases are, and often forces the entire storage system to stay loaded just to avoid simple issues.

The term "offline storage" refers to the alternative - vaults, drawers, and other storage blocks that stay in unloaded chunks most of the time, and are loaded on demand to respond to orders. With the new chunkloader block and basic use of train scheduling and cargo, chunk loading can easily be kept to a minimum all across a Create base - tied to the needs of the delivery networks you design, both with mail and other common cases - and hopefully not as finicky or unintuitive as other methods of toggling chunk loading on and off. With the compiler and reader, Create's storage can be kept in unloaded chunks more easily (which, paired with railways for long distance & large scale transport, is a powerful combination) and still be made accessible to stock keepers and other requesters. With the ticket crate, orders for goods can be automated and transported across the factory as easily as the goods themselves (but see the overview). Alongside the other features of the addon (i.e. Deploying+Data), this offers a simple, modular way to manage, sort and divide production orders across entire factories, akin to Create's packaging system itself.

The aim is for all of these systems to feel like a natural, logical extension of Create (& particularly the new shopping system), without fundamentally changing its balance. In theory, Create's stock network would not be limited by distance or scale; but in practice it often is, necessitating the design of smaller, more self-contained stock networks. Another aim of meta is connecting these networks - or stock networks in general - in a useful way.

Limitations

• Orders made with tickets count as separate "orders" from the original request. They do not encode crafting recipes, and packages ordered by a compiler cannot be repackaged with the original order.
• As of 0.4.1b, Create Factory Logistics is compatible, but only item entries will be included in tickets/manifests, and fluid entries will be ignored.

Securing your networks

• Use the compiler block's menu to control where tickets are allowed from. Select from 1 of 4 options: Any network, same origin (tickets are only valid if they came from the same manifest), same owner (tickets are only valid if they came from another locked network with the same owner), or same origin & same owner. This is especially important when allowing compilers to connect to a shared rail network in multiplayer.
• Use attribute filters to sort and filter tickets and manifests based on their origin network & network owner.