Logistics Guide: Transport, Rails & Rocket Cargo

Logistics in Oxygen Not Included covers the systems and patterns for moving solids, liquids, gases and cargo between production, storage, consumption and off-world transport. Good logistics minimizes travel time, avoids bottlenecks, preserves throughput, and keeps resources where they are needed without causing delivery loops or starvation.

Overview: what logistics handles

Solids: Conveyor Rails, Conveyor Bridges, Conveyor Loaders, Conveyor Meters, Cargo Bays (rocket).
Liquids: Liquid Pipes, Liquid Cargo Tanks, Liquid Output Fittings (rocket).
Gases: Gas Pipes, Gas Cargo Canisters, Gas Output Fittings (rocket), mechanical gas filters.
Rocket logistics: module selection, cargo/weight tradeoffs, and how to load/unload rocket cargo modules and fittings.
Dupes and automation interactions: supply ranges, Auto-Sweepers and Auto-Dispensers behavior, and pitfalls like infinite supply loops.

Solids transport: conveyors and patterns

Conveyor Rails move discrete "packets" of solid materials. Packets cannot be split. This affects how you design merges and distribution.
Conveyor Bridges do not have internal storage: they instantly forward inbound packets to their output and do not exchange heat with surroundings. Use Bridge rotation carefully; Bridge behavior can be used to priority-route solids (a Bridge input will be preferred until its output is full).
Conveyor Meters control flow with limits from 0 to 500 units (minimum nonzero limit 0.001). For most materials 1 unit = 1 kg; for item-counted objects (eg seeds, eggs) 1 unit = 1 item and meters cannot send less than one item.
Conveyor Loaders/Unloading: buildings with shipping inputs (e.g., Meteor Blaster) accept materials via Conveyor Rails. When loading rocket modules, install matching fittings on the rocket floor (Conveyor Loader Fitting requires Cargo Bay or Large Cargo Bay in the rocket).
Useful patterns:
- Avoid mixing different solids in a single line wherever possible to maintain throughput (same-type packets can merge/bypass; mixes reduce effective throughput).
- Use dedicated loops and bypasses so excess resources can flow past a full consumer and return to a reservoir rather than clogging the input.
- Be cautious connecting multiple inputs and outputs directly through a single building: outputs plugged into shared pipes or conveyors can block one another (last-serve queue), and inputs that pass through consumers create first-come-first-serve behavior that can starve downstream consumers due to internal buffers.

Liquid logistics

Liquids are transported in pipes as divisible flow; they can be split and rejoin and exchange heat with surroundings and buildings unless sent through a Conveyor Bridge (solids only) — pipes always have thermal interaction.
Mechanical filters are generally preferable for gas input filtering (see gas section), but the same design principle applies: minimize unnecessary merges/splits, and filter contamination early.
For rockets: Liquid Output Fittings require a Liquid Cargo Tank or Large Liquid Cargo Tank in the rocket to be able to unload. Liquid Fuel Tanks and Solid Oxidizer Tanks are separate—Output Fittings will not draw from those fuel tanks.

Gas logistics

Gases are transported in pipes that can contain divisible packets; they may be mixed but mixed flows reduce some desirable bypass behaviors. Minimize mixing where throughput matters.
Mechanical gas filters at the point of input (to a network or building) are strictly preferable to filtering inside a pipe loop.
Gas Cargo Canisters return 1000 kg of gases per mission and must be connected to a Gas Pipe to unload. Different mission destinations yield different compositions (e.g., Organic Mass returns Polluted Oxygen/CO2, Terrestrial Planet returns Oxygen, Gas Giant returns Natural Gas/Hydrogen).
Gas Output Fittings on rockets require a Gas Cargo Canister included in the rocket to function.

Rocket logistics: bringing resources and payload planning

Cargo modules (Solid, Liquid, Gas, Biological) all weigh 2 t and hold 1 t of material, except Biological Cargo Bays have special capacity for critters/seeds. Research and Sight-Seeing modules are smaller at 200 kg each.
Rocket range and payload tradeoffs: adding cargo modules increases return material but reduces range; fuel configuration (Steam engine vs Petroleum engine, number of tanks, solid boosters) changes how many small modules you can take to various distances. Extra Liquid Fuel Tanks increase range for petroleum engines.
Loading/unloading rules:
- Cargo Bays need to be present to bring back solids; Liquid/Gas Cargo Tanks are required for their fluid counterparts.
- Rocket fittings must be placed on the rocket floor to draw supplies from the corresponding cargo module inside the rocket (Liquid Output Fitting needs Liquid Cargo Tank; Gas Output Fitting needs Gas Cargo Canister; Conveyor Loader Fitting needs Cargo Bay).
- Fittings will not draw from dedicated fuel tanks (e.g., Liquid Oxidizer Tanks or Liquid Fuel Tanks) even if contents match the resource type the fitting normally handles.
Use preprocessed, dense cargos for shipping (food is heavy per mass): converting raw materials into food or compact items before shipping increases transport efficiency (example: prepared food can feed more cycles per payload mass than raw ingredients).
Some mission destinations have favorable return ratios for fuel usage (e.g., configured rockets can return 1.66 kg or 1.852 kg cargo per 1 kg Petroleum depending on destination and loadout).

Automation, dupes, and manual supply interactions

Duplicants supply items within a specific range (they cannot supply diagonally). Supply/construct range affects how you place Storage Tiles, Auto-Dispensers and building inputs.
Auto-Dispensers create supply tasks (not store tasks) even when unpowered; they can be left unpowered to drop items. Be careful: Auto-Dispensers can create infinite delivery loops if incorrectly wired with storage and sweepers.
Auto-Sweepers can reach diagonally in some angles and can be combined with storage placement or Auto-Dispensers to create highly efficient delivery loops; a properly designed sweeper + dispenser system can exceed conveyor throughput for certain uses.
Place supply/stockpiles, dispensers and loaders with dupe reach and automation in mind to minimize duplicate travel and avoid long supply chains inside the base.

Common bottlenecks and mitigation

Mixing different goods in a single line reduces throughput—use filters, dedicated lanes, or early splitting to prevent cross-contamination.
Passing a pipe/conveyor through a consumer is undesirable because internal buffers create first-come-first-serve behavior that can starve later consumers; instead supply consumers from a manifold or reservoir.
Multiple outputs feeding one pipe often create last-serve blocking; use reservoirs, loop patterns or separate outputs to avoid this.
Keep rocket loading areas organized with the correct fittings on the rocket and matching cargo modules inside; improper configuration will prevent loading/unloading.

Practical tips and patterns

Use reservoirs/loops with disable switches to hold excess resources without clogging inputs; disable them when you want resources kept inside the reservoir.
Convert low-density, high-volume items into compact cargo (food or processed goods) before shipping to maximize usefulness per payload mass.
When designing conveyor intersections, use Bridges and Loaders strategically to create priority flow and prevent blocking.
For gas networks, install mechanical filters at source points to segregate undesired gases before they enter shared networks.
For rockets, balance the number of cargo modules vs fuel and engines to match intended distance; small modules are light but many are needed for cargo-heavy missions.

This reference collects the practical rules, building interactions, and design patterns that determine how resources move through your colony and between asteroids. Properly applied, they keep production flowing, consumers fed, rockets loaded, and duplicants spending less time hauling and more time building.