Item logistics
Pipes, chests, spouts and drains.
Item logistics moves material stacks between discrete devices. It is separate from both pixel materials in the world and circuit signals: a pipe carries real items; a circuit wire carries integer information about items.
Devices
- Chest stores one material type and exposes its inventory through the familiar player/container inventory screen.
- Item Pipe moves one item at a time between adjacent logistics devices. Its sprite joins neighboring pipes, including elbows and T junctions.
- Pipe Crossover carries two independent lanes so horizontal and vertical pipe runs can cross without joining.
- Spout places material cells into the world from its item buffer. It needs an item supply and can be enabled or disabled by a physical electrical pulse.
- Drain collects neighboring material cells into its buffer. It can use a manual material filter, a circuit-provided material filter, and physical electrical enable/disable.
- Block Watcher watches in its facing direction. When the configured material touches it, it produces a physical electrical signal and publishes the observed material as a circuit signal.
Connecting a system
Place pipes adjacent to compatible logistics devices. A chest can feed a pipe, then a Spout; a Drain can feed a pipe, then a chest. Pipes move a single item at a time, so long systems are intentionally simple and readable before they become fast.
Use a Pipe Crossover where two routes must cross without exchanging items. Rotate aimed devices in their right-click panel so the Spout, Drain, or Watcher faces the desired cell.
Filters and signals
A Drain's manual filter opens a searchable material picker. Its circuit network can temporarily override that choice: a positive material signal selects the strongest material signal on the network. See Circuits for the circuit side of that behavior.