Logistics networks
An abstracted transport layer where items are requested and delivered automatically across a base, freeing the player from hand-routing every connection. Factorio's logistic bots are the archetype: instead of belting every item, you set requester and provider chests and drones handle distribution. Designers use logistics networks as a late-game complexity-management tool — once factories sprawl beyond what manual routing can handle, an abstracted delivery system lets players think in terms of supply and demand rather than individual belts. Key decisions: when it unlocks (too early and it skips the belt-routing learning curve that defines the mid-game), the tradeoffs versus manual transport (bots are flexible but power-hungry and throughput-limited), request priority and buffering, and whether the network is bots, trains, drones, or pipes. Pitfall: an over-powerful logistics layer trivializes the spatial-routing puzzle that is the genre's core fun — it should relieve tedium at scale, not replace the engineering challenge that made the game engaging.
- Dev effort: Medium
- Timing: Real-time
- Common in: automation