Read alerts with combinators

[its a me]

I have lots of turrets on my gleba base that consume a lot of power but i need them to protect my base, i want to know if you can read alerts with combinators to turn them on if anything gets damaged.

[eugenekay]

Directly? Nope.

You could create a Combinator Contraption which:
- Reads the amount of Repair Packs available
- If this number decreases (due to an attack, and Robots moving to Repair the damage), set a Signal
- Reads this Signal to activate the Turrets
- After a delay, enable an Assembling Machine to refill the Repair Packs (and disable the turrets)

This will probably end with your base being overrun at some point…. A better long-term solution would be to scale your Power output.

I like to use Nuclear power for backup, with a Power Switch separating the Turbines from the main power network, controlled by an Accumulator/Combinator so that it only turns on “when necessary”. This keeps Uranium Fuel Cell usage to a minimum; which is important when you have to ship them all the way from Nauvis…

Another strategy is to Disable your most power-hungry Machines (load-shedding) when Accumulator charge drops below 100; leaving more power available for the “necessary” defense.

Good Luck!

[nethus]

You can take a look into this topic for ideas and blueprints, but as stated above, I'd rather upgrade power production
All the zero drain laser walls

[GrumpyJoe]

Can you fit something else into your design, something like a normal turret?
Even if it's useless cos of resistances, you could read it's ammo (not sure) or read an inserter's hand contents. Just make sure the inserter draws from the main grid.

If you are so desperately looking for spare power, maybe a few cheap yellow ammo magazines are worth it?