[2.0] Add ability to read pipeline contents via circuits

[Hares]

TL;DR

Add ability to read pipeline contents via circuit network from either pipe or fluid tank.

What?

I want to read this number without using tons of wires.

10-25-2024, 15-21-38.png (1.7 MiB) Viewed 1319 times

Why?

1. Useful for train stops
2. Currently, cannot be read in any means

Edit 2025-04-08

Changed topic name & TLDR to explicitly use cicruit network (SEO).

[yetenol]

I love the whole belt reader introduced in FFF #405. Please also consider adding an option to fluid tanks to read the whole fluid segment and not just the current tank. It's a very fitting addition in analogy to the whole belt reader.

- Less visual clutter: On Space Platforms, tanks are often spread around to conserve space. Running circuit wires to all the tanks is similarly cluttered to how the old sushi belts with circuit connections on every straight belt looked.
- More accurate: Include the fluid count of (underground) pipes just like the whole belt reader includes curved and underground belts.
- Computational inexpensive: Since the fluid overhaul FFF #416, pipes, underground pipes, and storage tanks are already merged into fluid "segments". So unlike belts, the individual containers don't have to be iterated through. Having only one storage tank connected to circuits might increase performance ever so slightly as well.
- Less manual extrapolation: Since a fluid segment balances all its individual containers, we could manually (argh) add up the maximum capacity of a all its (underground) pipes and tanks, and than multiply that by the fullness of one tank. But place or change any pipe and you have to change the calculation as well, which makes it extremely inflexible and hard to maintain. And it's even more janky that connecting all tanks with circuits.

See thread on how to extrapolate the contents of a fluid segment using the fullness of one tank: Reading fluid levels of pipes, liquids shouldn't behave according to the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics
See alternative suggestions to add circuit connection to pipes Circuit-readable pipes.

[IsaacOscar]

Yes please!
I'd also like a read contents option on pumps and splitters.

[Hares]

Duplicate of 117402

[Koub]

Duplicate of 117402

Indeed
[Koub] Merged into an older thread with the same suggestion.

[Mur]

+1 this, was shocked when I noticed this could not be done.