Connect train stops to circuit networks

[Twinsen]

wait... are you telling that stations will be able to accept a train, stuff it as you desire and send the train to a station, where the station can be picked with a custom logic? WANT!!

That's the plan at least.

[ssilk]

We had that discussion:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=5276 Thoughts about circuit network (while I'm just on it)

I think my stakes with this (to cut out the essence of the idea), is that I can add new generated signals to a bus. Also boolean signals are just a new signal.

The signal looks as follows:

Code: Select all

iron-plates: 100                                       >>>> this two signals is, what are in the
electronic circuits: 57                                >>>> chests, needs a sensor to measure
iron-plates > 200: false (or 0 depends on standpoint)  >>>> this is a generated signal (by the combinator?)
                                                            by combining some signals and returned back to the bus with a new name.

Therefore all the other stuff in that thread mentioned is a potential implementation.

[MF-]

It appears I started something here...

The current circuit network can do binary logic. Basically the existence of an item means 1, the lack of an item means 0.

Now I don't want to spoil Friday facts by telling you all the details, but the new "combinators" can be combined in many different ways to do alot of things. It will probably be a complex and hard to understand system but very flexible. More details Soon™(not this week).

Meanwhile this discussion is helpful so I know what people want to achieve and how they think it could be done.

I like what you say.
Doing complex things should not be as easy as some in-my-point-of-view-cheaters would say.

[Cordylus]

Ready to implementation.

https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-88

The circuit network

The combinators are new entities that connect to the Circuit Network. As a quick reminder, the circuit network is a network you create by connecting entities using red and green wires. The information on the network is just a list of items and their count.
Before, only the Smart Chests and Smart Inserter were connectible to the circuit network.

The plan is that many more entities will be connectible to the Circuit Network and with the help of the Combinators, you will be able to have more control over your factory.
Here are some entities that are planned to be connectible to the Circuit Network:

Lamp (can be turned on and off or show colors)
Power Switch
Accumulator/Substation
Storage Tank
Train Station(to control where your train is going)
Gate

The circuit network has been modified a bit. You can now connect wires directly between entities. Also every time you connect both red and green wires to an entity, their signals are summed inside the entity and this sum is considered the "input".

[hitzu]

If you have any detailed ideas about how the trains station should work, you can share it. But maybe you should wait for a Friday facts detailing how the new circuit network "combinators" work.

Usually I have one big unloading station that have a relatively small buffer storage: active provider chests combined with requester chests. And I don't want to overflow it because it is very important to have active provider chests empty, otherwise they couldn't take for example copper if they are full of iron ore. Now I manage it mostly manually, but I dream of some sort of a system that can dispatch one of the ready-to-go-trains waiting somewhere when the unloading station can take teir load. Overall it would be great if stations can act like requester and provider chests: if <condition> then request <specfic train/train full of specific stuff>

[ssilk]

I would love that.

In my eyes we need three things:
1. A router or converter, a device that can convert signals from one net to another.
2. A wireless network, similar to the circuit network, just with 26 channels.
3. Train routes in general.
4. Automatic train routes: The route is generated by a logic, that knows where is the most stuff and where the least of one item-type and calculates for this item-type the current best source-target-pairs.
5. Some logic that can assign such automatic train routes depending on some condition to a list of trains.


Long description:

- I would say, with the way how the circuit network is currently implemented, we need some converter. Formerly I called that device a "router" ( https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=5276 ) .

A device that can take any input from circuit network OR logistic network - OR any other upcomming network - and forward a signal or more signals or all signals to another network. And maybe change that signal to another signal-type. But that is not really needed.

- The second thing we need is a wireless network. Because it is too much afford to wire over long distances. Simply like the circuit network, but instead of cables we have channels. I think 26 channels, like the alphabet should be enough. The above device can be used to transmit the informations.

- The third is then, that we need to say: IF A IS EMPTY GO TO B, LOAD AND THEN GO TO C.

A is a simple scalar. B and C is a place, a coordinate or the name of a train station. A non-scalar.

It's not possible to transmit that information via circuit network and it also makes no sense.

So I think we need also a "train network". Something, which tells us: Item A can be loaded at B and unloaded at C. A simple list, that is automatically created and is reflecting the current situation. We can call that also a route. Or better: An auto-route.

The function is like so:
IF ITEM A IS LOWER THAN X THEN TRAINS WITH NAME "AUTO-ROUTE #1" ARE ASSIGNED TO ROUTE "ROUTE FOR TRANSPORT OF A" (Which is an auto-route, that generates this mentioned list and sends the trains to the places automatically).

[Jackalope_Gaming]

Knowing how much of each resource an outpost has should be pretty easy to implement since it's already possible to know with smart chests hooked up to the circuit network. Automatically telling a train to go to a certain stop based on a given condition (including conditions such as X stop has the most resources or Y stop has the fewest) would be the main thing to add in.

And yeah, some sort of wireless circuit/radio network would be nice. Have its transmission area be like roboport area and it'll be great. I don't see directional radio towers working out so well in the game so a centered area would be best if it gets added in.

[dapullia]

Would it be possible to have the cargo wagons send a signal through the train stop? Basically a Yes or No as to whether the cargo wagons were empty. This would make it possible to setup "Wait until Empty" type of train routing where the trains would stop, fully unload, then automatically go back for another load.

[ssilk]

Yes, cause basically there are already mods, that do that.

[daniel34]

It is obvious, that we need better tools to control the train behaviour. We decided to solve it by extending waiting conditions of the train. This is the list of the conditions prepared for 0.13:

• Time passed - The only available in 0.12
• Inventory full
• Inventory empty
• In-activity - No items were added or removed for specified amount of seconds.
• Item count - specific condition can be set, like train contains more than 30 iron plates etc.
• Circuit condition - The train stop will be connectable to the circuit network, so the condition can use it.

We also wanted to make it possible to combine these conditions, so it can be something like Wait for 30 seconds or until inventory isn't full..
This is how the window looks now:

• Tabs make the cargo/schedule context switching much more understandable. Yes the graphics of the tabs needs an upgrade, but we are talking mainly abut understandability now.
• The switch between automatic/manual mode was redesigned. It is clear now which is active, and what can you expect from switching it.
• The station list is only shown as popup window when adding new station.
• More understandable icon of removing station.
• The bottom list is now the list of conditions for the current station, these can be added, removed or modified.
• There is indicator of the train goal now, something I was missing a lot.

[Maremick]

Would it be possible to indicate a train to go through all the stops with the same name?

exemple
go to "refuel load" ; wait until fully load
go to all "outpost refuel" ; wait until 3 sec of no transferred item

without to run after the train

[ssilk]

I move this to implemented, cause it will come with v0.13 and so it makes no sense to continue the old thoughts.