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Drone Service Station

Charges electric drones in the field and recovers heli drones for queued refueling. Grid-tied, with an oil buffer for heli refuels and a recovery vehicle for rescues.

Stats: Power in variable (draws from grid) · Consumes Oil, buffer 100 t

How to obtain: The recipe unlocks when you complete Spire, Drone Power Trial. Requires the Basic Drone Operations research (Terraform Index 180,000). Fabricate a Drone Service Station Kit on a Fabricator: 2× Machine Frame, 1× Control Unit, 2× Circuit Panel, 1× Battery Cell, 1× Liquid Pipe Segment. Deploy from Inventory.

Access: self / get_component(id) · Like every component, exposes .id and .name.

Queue model

Section titled “Queue model”

Electric charge and heli refuel jobs share one FIFO and the same service bays. An oil-blocked heli keeps its queue position but does not occupy a bay, so ready electric work may bypass it.

Methods

Section titled “Methods”

.outpost

Section titled “.outpost”

The outpost where this building is deployed, as an OutpostRef.

.get_docked()

Section titled “.get_docked()”

List of all drone ids (electric and heli) currently parked at this station. Read each drone via get_component(id).

Returns: List of strings

.charge(drone_id, target_level=1.0) SELF ONLY

Section titled “.charge(drone_id, target_level=1.0) SELF ONLY”

Queue a parked electric drone to charge until its battery reaches target_level (greater than 0, at most 1). Example: self.charge("drone_small_1", 0.8).

Returns: ActionResult · Outcomes: "charging" (success, job active) / "queued" (success) / "target_reached" / "not_docked" / "station_offline" (transient) / "invalid"

.refuel(drone_id, target_level=1.0) SELF ONLY

Section titled “.refuel(drone_id, target_level=1.0) SELF ONLY”

Queue a parked heli drone to refuel until its oil tank reaches target_level. Draws oil from self.oil_in.

Returns: ActionResult · Outcomes: "refueling" / "queued" / "target_reached" / "not_docked" / "station_offline" (transient) / "no_oil" / "invalid"

.dispatch_rescue(drone_name, target_level=1.0) SELF ONLY

Section titled “.dispatch_rescue(drone_name, target_level=1.0) SELF ONLY”

Send the recovery vehicle to a field drone chosen by your script; there is no hidden fuel threshold. Electric drones are charged in the field to target_level and resume their route. Heli drones are carried home, then join the normal refueling queue. Scrambled drones are also carried home so docking can reset their electronics. Launch requires station power, but the mission can finish through a later outage.

Returns: ActionResult · Outcomes: "ok" / "already_dispatched" / "station_offline" (transient) / "not_found" / "not_stranded" / "invalid"

.cancel_rescue() SELF ONLY

Section titled “.cancel_rescue() SELF ONLY”

Abort the in-flight rescue. The drone is released at its current position (keeping any charge already delivered) and the service vehicle flies home.

Returns: ActionResult · Outcomes: "ok" / "no_rescue"

.is_rescuing()

Section titled “.is_rescuing()”

True while the service vehicle is on a rescue mission.

Returns: Boolean

.get_rescue_target()

Section titled “.get_rescue_target()”

Mission target’s display name while the service vehicle is outbound, servicing, carrying, or returning; empty string when idle.

Returns: String

.stop(drone_id) SELF ONLY

Section titled “.stop(drone_id) SELF ONLY”

Cancel one active or queued job (charge or refuel). The drone keeps any energy or oil already delivered.

Returns: ActionResult · Outcomes: "ok" / "not_found" / "invalid"

.clear_queue() SELF ONLY

Section titled “.clear_queue() SELF ONLY”

Clear every active or queued charge and refuel job. Docked drones stay parked and keep their current battery and oil.

Returns: CountResult (payload .count) · Outcomes: "ok" / "no_op"

.get_active()

Section titled “.get_active()”

Drone ids currently occupying active service bays (charging or refueling). An oil-blocked heli is waiting, not active.

Returns: List of strings

.get_queue()

Section titled “.get_queue()”

The single FIFO list of queued drone ids across electric charging and heli refueling.

Returns: List of strings

.status(drone_id)

Section titled “.status(drone_id)”

Detailed status for one drone’s service job. Electric: dict with state, target_level, battery_wh, capacity_wh, rate_w, bay_index, queue_index. Heli: state, target_level, oil_tons, capacity_tons, rate_tons_per_hour, bay_index, queue_index.

Returns: Dict

.get_bay_count()

Section titled “.get_bay_count()”

Number of simultaneous service bays.

Returns: Number

.get_charge_rate(drone_id)

Section titled “.get_charge_rate(drone_id)”

Wh/h currently being pushed into the named electric drone (0 if not in an active bay).

Returns: Number

.get_refuel_rate(drone_id)

Section titled “.get_refuel_rate(drone_id)”

Oil t/h currently being pushed into the named heli drone (0 if not in an active bay or the station has no oil).

Returns: Number

.oil_in

Section titled “.oil_in”

Oil FluidPort for heli refueling supply. connect(...) with an Oil Pump or oil tank’s stable machine id or display name; a remote source also needs a completed conflict-free Liquid Pipe route.

Command mailbox

Section titled “Command mailbox”

peek_command() · next_command() · command_count() · clear_commands() (SELF ONLY): see Script Commands.

See also

Section titled “See also”