Autofactories

What makes them different

Your vessel can print, but it can't do anything else while it's doing that - 3D printers are sensitive bit of equipment. Autofactories have four features that make them more attractive than just printing everything yourself: managed print queues, device scrapping, blueprint discovery and automatic post-print commands.

How to use

When specifying the type of device to print at an Autofactory, you can also configure auto-adoption by an AMI controller. This allows you to add a set of mining drones to the queue and have them automatically assigned to a specific mining controller for example.

You can also specify a command to send to the newly printed device, like automatically travelling to a specific location.

These two features combine to complement your bootstrapping strategy when setting up in a new system. Bring a set of resources on the voyage, print an Autofactory at the belt, and build up a queue.

While the Autofactory can only print one device at a time, there is nothing stopping you from printing more Autofactories and setting up a full industrial manufacturing operation in a system. Establish transport routes to keep the location inventory full.

Queueing a print job

$ curl -X POST https://api.replicant.space/v1/devices/AF7C2310 \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
    -d '{
      "command": "enqueue_print",
      "device_type": "mining_drone",
      "controller": "MC91FF22",
      "oncomplete": {
        "command": "travel",
        "destination": "LERNA-BELT-1"
      }
    }'

The controller and oncomplete fields are optional.

{
  "queue": [],
  "queue_length": 0,
  "status": "enqueued"
}

Viewing the queue

The print queue will show in the normal device details on the /devices/<code> endpoint.

Removing items from the queue

$ curl -X POST https://api.replicant.space/v1/devices/AF7C2310 \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
    -d '{
      "command": "dequeue_print",
      "index": 1
    }'

Clear the queue

$ curl -X POST https://api.replicant.space/v1/devices/AF7C2310 \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
    -d '{
      "command": "clear_queue"
    }'

Cancel the current print

$ curl -X POST https://api.replicant.space/v1/devices/AF7C2310 \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
    -d '{
      "command": "deactivate"
    }'

An alternative

If the upfront cost of an Autofactory is too much to bear, there is a blueprint out there for a Structural Fabricator, which might be useful despite its limitations.