Truck Station

The Truck Station is a vehicle building used to automatically move cargo to/from motor vehicles and refuel them. It is mostly used paired with automated vehicle routes, although it can operate standalone, such as for the purposes of quick refueling.

Usage
The Truck Station has three conveyor inputs and two outputs. Facing the ports side of the station, the leftmost input port (leading into visual fuel tanks in the structure) is used for filling the Truck Station's fuel slot only, while the center inputs and right outputs are used for moving cargo into/from the Truck Station.

Whether the Station loads or unloads can be configured in the UI, with the yellow button being the selected option. Refueling occurs always as long as the Station has fuel to refuel and it is the same fuel as the vehicle already has. Vehicles only receive enough fuel to make it to the next Truck Station. Truck Stations do not completely refuel the vehicle.

In order for loading to occur, the Truck Station has to be powered and the vehicle has to be within the building hitbox of the Station. Power will be consumed while any vehicle is in range, even while no items are being moved. Once all vehicles are clear of the truck station, power usage drops to the standard 0.1 MW standby. Automated trucks have to be instructed to stop while recording, which is indicated by a "pause" node. The duration of the stop can be adjusted.

If maximum efficiency is important then Conveyor Belts are best since they require neither power nor fuel. However, laying kilometers of belts is tedious and vehicles moving about are rather satisfying.

Two stations

 * Input: a miner on a pure coal node producing 120 units/min
 * Build a station near the coal node and connect fuel and one input
 * Build a second station near your base or a water source. Set this station to "Unload". Connect one output to your factory or coal generators.
 * Build a tractor and record a round trip path

Four stations

 * Input: overclocked or multiple miners producing 240 units/min of coal and a maximum of tier 2 belts (120 units/min)
 * Repeat the two station setup, but double the stations at each end. Make sure the single tractor visits all four. Only use multiple tractors if the distance is causing throughput issues.

Three stations

 * Inputs:
 * A miner on a impure coal node producing 30 units/min
 * A miner on a pure quartz node producing 120 units/min
 * Build a truck station near the coal node. Set it to "Load". Leave it empty though, only connect the fueling portion to the coal miner.
 * Build a second truck station near the quartz node. Set this one to "Load" and connect one input to the quartz.
 * Build a third truck stop near your factory and connect one output. Set this one to "Unload".
 * Build a tractor and record a round trip that visits all three stations at least once.

Dedicated fueling stations

 * Input: A miner on a impure coal node producing 30 units/min
 * Build a truck station near the coal node. Set it to "Load" and connect both inputs.
 * For each truck station pair that lacks its own fuel source, build a dedicated station to receive coal. Set this station to "Unload" and connect one output to the fueling port of the other station.
 * Build a tractor and record a round trip that visits all the dedicated fueling stations.

Trivia

 * Factory Carts work with Truck Stations, which may occassionally prove useful given they consume no fuel and are relatively fast. This also allows them to be refueled, which provides no benefit over providing no fuel. Fuel is consumed as fast as in a Cyber Wagon.

History

 * Patch 0.5.0.0:
 * Updated appearance and UI
 * Now has two input and two output Conveyor ports beside the fuel input
 * Patch 0.3.6.10: Fixed distance field update settings on the Truck Station
 * Patch 0.3.5.3: Fuel inventory in Truck Stations no longer breaks after a client player interacts with the building
 * Patch 0.3: Fixed issue with clients being able to resources other than energy sources into the fuel slot of the Truck Station
 * Patch 0.2.1.4: Added to the Map
 * Patch 0.1.15: Changed Sending/Receiving back to Unloading/Loading for clarity
 * Patch 0.1: Fixed vehicles getting stuck in the Truck Station

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