Support separating of logistics networks

[Tertius]

I'd like to use adjacent, but separate logistics networks, for example for supplying and maintaining a perimeter defense wall. Separating is required to avoid robots flying over enemy territory and to keep distances within one network short enough.

So I designed a handover mechanism where one network will supply an adjacent one. The actual handover is easy (combinator H), but automatically supplying the roboports of the adjacent network with robots is tedious. It must be able to start with 0 (zero) robots.
I'd like to keep signals Y and T for robot statistics to be able to still read the logistics network content - not possible if I change Y and T to the actual robot signal. If I do change Y and T and read every tile of the belt for adding all robots on the belt, I'm getting down to 1 combinator, but that's a kind of "ugly" solution.

I'm looking for a solution with less than 4 combinators (A, B, C, D) and keeping signals Y+T for statistics and bootstrap with 0 robots.

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[robot256]

Have you tried a single arithmetic combinator per signal? Y * 1 -> Robot

[astroshak]

My solution would be trains.

If one train is supplying the “starter” defense port, that train can also be sent to other defense ports as needed, just by using rail (and its accompanying stuff, signals and stops etc).

[Tertius]

Yes, multiple supply train stations are required for a larger defensive wall structure. Otherwise it takes very long for all items to flow through all parts.

However, I don't want to just create one big wall rectangle around my base - if I embed water and cliffs into the wall, the amount of indestructible parts of the perimeter defense can significantly reduce building and maintaining costs, as well as power supply for laser turrets. So walls cannot always go straight, they need to go with curves or turns, so I need to connect separate networks to avoid bots flying over enemy territory or flying too deep within the inner territory where no roboports exist. Unfortunately, you cannot define no fly areas within logistic networks. And a train station for every one of these parts is simply too much - the material required for a supply train station is even more than this tiny roboport network connector.

It's only a, well, call it aesthetic aspect: a whopping 4 combinator logic just to housekeep the number of robots seems too much where other more important logic can go with simple 1-2 combinators.