The ONLY reasons i wanted to try ECS and later FIRS was due to
COMPLEXITY
Removing supplies would make FIRS completely pointless as it then would just me an industry chain makeover... No challenge at all.
While i struggle with the monthly supply and especially delivering three types of cargo simultaneously (Steel Mill needing IORE, SCRP and COAL for example) to get the most out of these materials and i wish it was easier (even with daylength factor at 4) i would stop using FIRS the very moment this functionality is removed.
In a perfect world (is there such a thing?) a Steel Mill (example) would have a stockpile
AND a production booster.
Here is how i would solve it:
Small Steel Mill
Stockpile size: 900 tonnes of cargo (300 t of IORE, COAL and SCRP respectively and 100 units of ENSP or MSNP*)
Production: 2t of metal for every 8t IORE, 2t of metal for every 8t of COAL, 4t of metal for every 8t of scrap metal. (Same same)
Production bonus: Combining 2 resources gives a bonus. consuming 2t of coal and 2t of iron ore produces 2t of metal (2+2=4t per 8t consumed or 50%, same as now?)
Production cycle: every 15 days
Production (Base): 150 tonnes of raw material consumed per cycle from stockpile.
Production booster: For every 10 units of ENSP (or MNSP*) consumed from stockpile production is increased by 10 tonnes per cycle.
* - Depending on which cargo the developers of FIRS would think is suitable as a production booster.
Explaination: Say you have 1 IORE train, 1 COAL train and 1 SCRP train feeding this
Small Steel Mill. They deliver 270 t, 320 t and 210 t of produce respectively every 30 days. The Steel Mill will now produce to maximum capacity of 150 tonnes of metal every 15 days. (300 tonnes monthly)
That is 300 tonnes of raw material consumed every month, 100 tonnes of each of IORE, COAL and SCRP consumed each month. Since we deliver COAL the most, that stockpile will fill first. (after 2 months)
If/When a particular stockpile is filled the factory will stop stockpiling that resource and instead just pay for the delivery and magically make something with the waste. (Think other delivery destinations?)
At this point it would be a good idea for the transport company to deliver ENSP (or MNSP*) to boost production. If there is at least 10 units of ENSP (MNSP*) in storage every 15 days (every cycle) then production will increase by 10 tonnes each 15 days. That is 20 tonnes increase per month. (This means the industry is growing and maintained properly)
Finally, if production exceeds 400 tonnes of raw material consumed per cycle the factory is upgraded to a Medium Steel Mill.
As such, it's stockpile is also increased...
Medium Steel Mill
Stockpile size: 1.800 tonnes of cargo (400 t of IORE, COAL and SCRP respectively and 200 units of ENSP or MSNP*)
Production: 2t of metal for every 8t IORE, 2t of metal for every 8t of COAL, 4t of metal for every 8t of scrap metal. (Same same)
Production bonus: Combining 2 resources gives a bonus. consuming 2t of coal and 2t of iron ore produces 2t of metal (2+2=4t per 8t consumed or 50%, same as now?)
Production cycle: every 15 days
Production (Base): 400 tonnes of raw material consumed per cycle from stockpile.
Production booster: For every 20 units of ENSP (or MNSP*) consumed from stockpile production is increased by 20 tonnes per cycle.
This means a max output of 800 tonnes of metal (at base production) per month.
Large Steel Mill
Stockpile size: 2,700 tonnes of cargo (600 t of IORE, COAL and SCRP respectively and 300 units of ENSP or MSNP*)
Production: 2t of metal for every 8t IORE, 2t of metal for every 8t of COAL, 4t of metal for every 8t of scrap metal. (Same same)
Production bonus: Combining 2 resources gives a bonus. consuming 2t of coal and 2t of iron ore produces 2t of metal (2+2=4t per 8t consumed or 50%, same as now?)
Production cycle: every 10 days
Production (Base): 800 tonnes of raw material consumed per cycle from stockpile.
Production booster: For every 40 units of ENSP (or MNSP*) consumed from stockpile production is increased by 30 tonnes per cycle.
This means a max output of 2,400 tonnes of metal (at base production) per month.
Mega Steel Mill
Stockpile size: 5,400 tonnes of cargo (800 t of IORE, COAL and SCRP respectively and 400 units of ENSP or MSNP*)
Production: 2t of metal for every 8t IORE, 2t of metal for every 8t of COAL, 4t of metal for every 8t of scrap metal. (Same same)
Production bonus: Combining 2 resources gives a bonus. consuming 2t of coal and 2t of iron ore produces 2t of metal (2+2=4t per 8t consumed or 50%, same as now?)
Production cycle: every 10 days
Production (Base): 1,600 tonnes of raw material consumed per cycle from stockpile.
Production booster: For every 80 units of ENSP (or MNSP*) consumed from stockpile production is increased by 50 tonnes per cycle.
This means a max output of 4,800 tonnes of metal (at base production) per month.
Note:
You (reader) might have noticed these numbers are just made up on the spot. Adjustments may be necessary to fit the economy model of FIRS.
Also note that stockpile size does NOT grow in proportion with production levels. Initially you only need to provide 50 tonnes per cycle (100 tonnes per month) of each produce. There is three times as much storage space in the Small Steel Mill as the base production while in the MEGA Steel Mill there is just 200 tonnes extra space in the storage. This means the player has to deliver 1600 tonnes of each cycle (10 days) to get the optimum 1600 units of metal.
The idea behind this is that now is a good time to create a separate feeder network to ensure there is enough raw materials coming into the station. And that feeder network can't possibly be maintained by trucks. It has to have trains that deliver at least 534 tonnes of COAL, IORE and SCRP respectively every 10 days. (Or alternatively the industrial trams from HEQS)
The only problem here is that when you make the change over to a feeder system and you are running cargodist there will be a delay (how long depends on your linkgraph settings) before the produce is sent the correct way.
EDIT: Oh btw... What happens when MEGA has a production level that exceeds the stockpile size?
I would leave that up to the developers to decide but i am thinking of a few possible solutions...
1) Just leave it as it is, there is a cap on how much a single steel mill can produce (and there is a cap in game anyways right?)
2) Increase stockpile size to perfectly match production consumption.
3) Same as 2 but just convert the Steel Mill to what we have now, no stockpile. Just consumption...
The difference between 2 and 3 is that at least there is a stockpile that can be filled. (I don't know how long it takes for a secondary industry to eat resources now but it's less than a day at daylength 4)
So knowing that the stockpile will empty in exactly 10 days means we can send one of each resource to the industry within that 10 day timeframe and not have to resort to synchronizing three vehicles perfectly.
But i suppose the idea is to use a train with all three types of wagons (IORE, COAL and SCRP) but i personally prefer industrial trams
Now, for production decrease... If no ENSP or MNSP is delivered within 12 months of the last delivery then production decreases (by 2*boost amount) or is even halved. If production reaches 50 tonnes per cycle the industry is going to close. Unless of course you have set it to not close. In which case it will remain at the minimum 50 tonnes per cycle until fed by ENSP or MNSP.
The same would apply to ALL industries and resources in FIRS. There is a stockpile and when that stockpile is full... the cargo is "wasted" but paid for.
Obviously you can have a "chance" based growth. For every X units of supplies consumed there is a Y% chance that production will increase by Z amount. (which in this case would be 10 for a Small Steel Mill)
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Short of that small dream scenario of mine. The second best alternative is to just have a stockpile and leave everything as is.
And short of that just leave it as it is because it's better than nothing and FIRS is the BEST set out there and i wouldn't dream of going back to any other set.
EDIT 2:
One more thing, if a certain player (type) feels FIRS is too complicated then FIRS isn't for them. I myself think there is plenty more room in FIRS until it becomes TOO complex.
Can't wait for longer production chains and more complexity. I dislike goods and food for this very reason. They simply stop in a endless resource.
At least i have "Town growth based on goods" patch in Chills Patch pack so towns won't grow unless provided with goods. But then again, they grow if i deliver metal to an industry inside the towns local authority as well.