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[IDEA] Monitor min flow of resources on belts or in pipes

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:20 pm
by Torquai
Ok, not sure how this is possible, but some of you modders might know how

Imagine a few scenarios:

Scenario #1: The flow of coal into the main steam engines stopped while you were building outpost #8, a solid 3 minute drive from the main base, resulting in a burntdown base.
Scenario #2: One or more of the train-unloading boxes are full resulting in the trains leaving with cargo still in them.
Scenario #3: We are not longer producing surfur because we are out of petroleum because the gaspipe was attacked and you didnt notice because you were at the toilet.

I guess this has happened to everyone, it's hard to balance, resupply and monitor... Often because there is a lot of distance between the different processing sites.
So I thought if would be nice to be able to have an alarm directly on the screen, instead of using all different forms of lights and whatnots.
Therefore I am proud to present... the GlobalWarner(TM). Not to be mistaken for GlobalWarmer(TM), another great product of mankind.
This little building is researchable immediately after the circuit network and gives access the printing warnings straight to the upper corner of the ui.
So now you can monitor all sorts of flows in the bottom left of your screen.

Setting up the GlobalWarner is easy.
* Research GlobalWarning after you research the Circuit Network
* Build a GlobalWarner, somewhere close to where you need to monitor anything.
* Left-click it to set the following properties:
- Alarm name
- Light color for acceptable levels
- Min value and light color for Warning level
- Min value and light color for Alarm level
* Connect a combinator to it...
* Voila
* The alarm will now show on the screen, with a colored icon next to it showing the correct color
To create this, and I would love to try... I need tips and ideas of there to start. So far I have determined that I need to;

1. Create and maintain a list of lines on the screen, each line with a different colored light.
2. Sort and order the list according to alarm states
3. Create a new collidable building
4. Said building should only be craftable after the circuit network has been researched
5. Allow the building to be connected to a combinator and read the values from the combinator
6. Monitor the values from the combinator per frame and decide when to rebuild the list


So what do you guys think? Could it be done?