TL;DR
An on-screen Event Log that can be fed by Logic CircuitWhat ?
The more the factory grows, the harder it is to know what's going on. Usually issues in end product fabrication are due to problems with upstream basic or intermediate items. But usually we only become aware of the issues when the end product fabrication stops, and then backtrack the problem.The introduction of programmable speakers is a step in the right direction already. For example, I build almost all refineries with storage tanks for each oil, monitored by programmable speakers. I set up the speakers to alert me if tanks are almost full so I know about the problem and can fix it before the Refinery stops production.
It would be great to expand this into a sort of Message Console or Event Log. It could sit somewhere on the screen, for example on lower right above the tool slots. By default it would show the last few (3 or so) events, but could be expanded to show history and maybe filter by date, source and severity.
Information would be fed to the Event Log initially by the existing game mechanisms (like the Attack Alert or the ones generated from Programmable Speakers). But most importantly, we would have a component in Circuit Network which could generate an event of our definition (We select a condition, same as on the Speakers) which then appears on the log:
If [Condition] then generate event:
- Severity (Information, Warning, Alert)
- Message (Free Text)
2018-01-06 15:00 Info Solar Farm capacitors are fully charged
2018-01-06 15:10 Warning Oil Storage Tanks at Refinery are almost empty
2018-01-06 15:20 Alarm Oil Storage Tanks are empty
