Smart Conveyer Gate

[JasonC]

I think it would be cool, fun, and useful (all three!) if there was a gate that could be placed on a conveyer that could open and close with circuit / logistic network conditions. This would be three new objects:

• Gate
• Fast Gate
• Express Gate

It'd just be a 1x1 belt section that let object pass if its conditions were met and blocked objects if not.

I'm not sure where they should be in the tech tree though... everything I think of is weird:

• The three different speed gates could be part of Logistics 1/2/3, but then they'd be available before Circuit Network.
• All three could be unlocked together with Circuit Network, but that doesn't seem right, plus you'd have Fast/Express available without needing Logistics 2/3.
• There could be a separate tech that requires Circuit Network and Logistics 3, but that kind of moves them later than I think they should be.
• Each one could have its own tech, requiring Circuit Network and Logistics 1/2/3 (depending on the speed), but that seems like clutter, even though it probably makes the most sense. They could all use Science Pack 3's maybe.
• Any better ideas?

Graphically, I guess they could look like a flood/sluice gate with some machinery.

Right now you can sort of accomplish this with Smart Inserters acting as the gate, but they're a big bottleneck. To maintain the throughput of a belt using Smart Inserters as gates takes a ton of space. Realistically (fsv "realistic") I'd expect that an actual factory would be able to start / stop movement of objects along a belt without using robotic arms to act as the gate. Gates would provide a way to control material flow while maintaining throughput and not requiring an excessive footprint.

[ssilk]

It's really difficult to find this threads. So I added it to viewtopic.php?f=80&t=21106 Smart conveyor belts