Smart Splitters

[sabriath]

No, I do not mean the mod....though if someone wants to make this idea into a mod, that would be great because I can't understand the gibberish to make it myself.

The idea is simple....allow splitters to accept red/green wire circuit with a test-for GUI. If the test succeeds, splitter works as normal....if the test fails, materials pass through from input to output without crossing.

Usage: a full belt of Iron ore is heading straight for the smelting stack when suddenly there is a drop in concrete in the network...signal is sent to draw some of the ore off the smelting path and into the craft area until the concrete is replenished. (Replace "Iron Ore" and "Concrete" with whatever materials that make this anecdote relevant for you)
Current Work Around: Have a huge area on the side of the belt dedicated to a crap ton of smart inserters in order to pull the material required....wasting resources and space (or dedicate a cargo wagon area for splitting).
Otherwise: You end up with a packed belt of material sitting around doing nothing, then possibly get hit by a biter attack to lose all the resources....frustrating. But in some cases, this couldn't be done because I use the same smelt stack to do all of my material smelting at the same time, I "order" the raw materials up the chain so that none of the furnaces are idle...it would make this process much smoother.

[ssilk]

Hehe, I can use this type of suggestion as month-clock.

See here what I mean:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 837#p33770
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/sea ... mit=Search

Also here mentioned:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... ter#p36645

TL;DR: The devs said there will be currently no new belt type.

Edit: See also
viewtopic.php?f=80&t=21106 Smart conveyor belts

[sabriath]

You've misunderstood me...I'm not saying filter the items on the splitter or make a new splitter type at all. I was suggesting allow red and green circuit wires to be allowed to connect to the current splitters and have an "on/off" usage based on input. For a long time that I can remember, liquids were once not part of the circuit network....but after someone suggested it, now you can put wires on storage tanks and pumps...and even allow pumps to turn on/off based on input.....I only suggest the same thing with a splitter.

[ssilk]

Hm. Indeed misunderstood. Sorry.

And in general I find the idea to control the outputs of the splitters by circuits very sexy. But I did not really understand the usage example, cause in general you are working so, that all belts should be full and some part of it is always taken away by concrete. There is no need to turn the input on/off if you can turn the output on/off.

So what is the usage case for turning on/off both sides of production?

And how can this suggestion compared top this mod: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 91&t=14007

[sabriath]

So what is the usage case for turning on/off both sides of production?

And how can this suggestion compared top this mod: viewtopic.php?f=91&t=14007

In all purposes, they would do the same thing....so I withdraw the request in this sense, though having it in the vanilla game would still be a brilliant idea, imo. Feel free to merge or delete as you wish...and thank you for the link to that mod, I'm definitely going to try it out.

[Gurrzz]

Hi!

I have also been thinking that some kind of smart splitter would be a nice addition to the game. I'm writing on this thread because I think this was close to my own thought (I also don't want it to have any kind of sorting, just splitting).

My thought is that the splitter, when hooked up to the circuit system, allows all the output go on one of the outgoing belts if the logic condition evaluates true, while letting the output go on the other outgoing belt if it evaluates false. This way it would be possible to regulate flow of materials on belts better.

Two examples as to how this could be used would be:

1. You could set up a logic system that sends signals to the splitter intermittently, allowing a certain percent of the flow go to one of the belt, while the rest go on the other. If you set the cycle of signal pulses to have a fixed time, the percentage of the flow going to either belt could be regulated by controlling how long time the signal to the splitter is active during each cycle.


2. You could set up a system where all of the flow go through to one of the outgoing belts when a certain condition i met, and then switch to go to the other outgoing belt when the condition is no longer met. This would allow for making systems where stretches of belts can be used by different materials at different times dependent on what material currently has the higher demand.


As I already said, this is a feature that I think would add to the game. I also think that being able to control a splitter in this way works well with how you would intuitively think a splitter would work, which to me is important because I like things to work in a realistic way.


Lastly, if any of you devs read this I would like to say: Great work with everything! This is a really good game and I enjoy it a lot!

[ssilk]

I recommend to read
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=23616 Smart Splitter (The Real One)
which does exactly, what you want.

And this
viewtopic.php?f=80&t=24061 New Types of Belts (NOT!)
which is more a general information under which circumstances changes to the belts makes sense and when not.