Production down indicator.

[Terukio]

I am looking to create a light that turns on when my consumption of base materials, iron, copper, etc. starts to become larger than my production. Is there a way that combinators or the like can turn on a light when this happens?

[XBBX]

I'm still new with combinators but maybe you can turn on light then you running low on materials in storage

[Terukio]

I was thinking about when it is running low but I have 1mil+ of copper and iron. The reason why I wanted to know when my consumption started to over power my production was so that I know I need to setup a new outpost before my materials start to drain too low.

[XBBX]

No problem keep in storage 1m and if it goes below something like 800k then it means you need more production because your mines ect can't keep your storage full

[Terukio]

True that would work, but I guess the questions still stands if this would be possible

[Miravlix]

Chest with random item, Green Inserter, Circuit Chest connected to a light.

Green Inserter moves the item if the logistic network has less than X of an item, the light turn on when the circuit chest isn't empty.


I use 28 inserter train unloading stations, so that's 28x2 (row of passive provider and requester chest) that could all be circuit linked to a light if the value drop below some value.

Pretty simple.

[Terukio]

Chest with random item, Green Inserter, Circuit Chest connected to a light.

Green Inserter moves the item if the logistic network has less than X of an item, the light turn on when the circuit chest isn't empty.


I use 28 inserter train unloading stations, so that's 28x2 (row of passive provider and requester chest) that could all be circuit linked to a light if the value drop below some value.

Pretty simple.

I think what you're trying to explain is when my resources drop below a certain value which would work and is quite easy to do. However this would have lag time between my consumption growing past my production. My question is if it would be possible to turn the light on instantly or within a minute when my consumption overcomes my production.

Your solution works and is what I was initially planning on implementing but say my network has 2mil iron plates and I had the light turn on when my network only has 1mil plates. That could be an hour of time before I realize that my consumption grew past my production.

[Wezz]

Somewhere between the furnaces and the factories, make a "bend" on the transport belt but don't cut it. In that bend place a smart chest, one (input) smart inserter and one (output) fast inserter.

-Belt should be able to flow past the smart chest bend
-Input smart inserter fills chest up until for example 50 of the material (so it doesn't fill the whole chest)
-Output fast inserter tries to empty the chest

If belt after the chest (towards the factories) is full, then the chest will have about 50 of the material.
If the the production uses more resources the chest will start to empty, and an alarm light can be connected if the material is under for example 10 pieces.

The important thing is to remember not to cut the belt. The inserters are there only for monitoring. It's not meant to have the material pass thru the chest.


I use this method for my science pack production but with the opposite effect. If the belt around the science labs are filled up, the chest will start to fill up and the smart inserters pulling out science packs from the factories will stop if the chest contains more than a certain amount.

[XBBX]

Interesting idea but I don't think it would work because it will kick in then your truput is getting low but your output can compress belt even if all chest have 100 items each but that depends on storage design

[Wezz]

Sorry! I don't really understand what you mean.

I have never tries this for the "production down" function but I can try to build it this evening and post some screens. Or report back if it doesn't work.

[Wezz]

Seems to be working.

It's a bit of a mess since I didn't really have room for this monitoring but I managed to squeeze it in.
As you can see the iron alarm is lit because the chest conatins less than 10. The smart and fast inserters have the same speed but the smart inserter has to wait for more until it can fill the chest but the fast inserter can work without interruptions to empty the chest.

Screenshot (29).png (2.79 MiB) Viewed 6863 times

[XBBX]

Problem it will show running low on resorses alarm to late because if you have something like 100 chests in 2 lines feeding 1 belt you will need to empty 90 chests before you see alarm

[Wezz]

Yeah but if you have those chests then you can just hook them up to a decider combinator and a light and you have a low level alarm

[Terukio]

I like the suggestions guys but I don't think this solution is very feasible for having 1mil+ resources with bots ferrying it around. I might just not be seeing the potential in my game too.

[wahming]

Have a combinator that reads the amount of your iron (or w/e) every 60 seconds and stores it. 60 seconds later, compare it with the current level of that resource. If it's more, do nothing, reset counter in the next step. If less, increment a counter. If that counter hits 5, flash a warning light, your resource has been dropping for 5 minutes straight. Adjust timing values to your liking.

It's pretty simple once you start thinking in programming-logic, as opposed to combinator-level.

Let me see if I can implement that in combinators. Should be interesting.

Edit: Just realised this would require you wiring all your resource chests together for counting. Might or might not be too much effort for you?

[wahming]

Managed to do it in 15 combinators. There's probably some possible optimizations, this is my first combinator attempt at solving anything complicated. How do you post pictures of what combinators are doing? Alt doesn't show combinator details.

Edit: Optimization got it down to 12 combinators.

[searker]

How do you post pictures of what combinators are doing?

You cant. Either edit the picture or share the blueprint-string. There is no ingame-overview for combinator logic.

[Terukio]

Would i have to wire all resource chests together or am I able to use the logic network as that is where everything is stored? And I can't wait to see the pictures!

[wahming]

You would need to wire all the chests together. At least till 0.13, when circuit networks will be able to access the logistic network information. If you're ok with that, I'll edit a screenshot with the details.

[Terukio]

You would need to wire all the chests together. At least till 0.13, when circuit networks will be able to access the logistic network information. If you're ok with that, I'll edit a screenshot with the details.

Sure, I'd be interested in seeing what you came up with and try it out myself.