Make it possible to communicate between platforms in orbit around the same planet

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TV4Fun
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Make it possible to communicate between platforms in orbit around the same planet

Post by TV4Fun »

TL;DR
It should be possible for platforms in orbit around the same planet to communicate with each other and only with each other.

What?
I am trying to implement inter-platform communication for platforms around the same planet. Possible ways this could be done:
  • Add an "orbit" or "planet" mode of operation for radars wherein they communicate with other dishes on or in orbit around that same planet
  • Give the ability for constant combinators to toggle on/off based on circuit network conditions
  • Give the ability for radars connected to the circuit network to toggle on/off based on circuit network conditions
  • Give the ability for selector combinators to toggle passing through signal on red wire based on green wire circuit network conditions (or vice versa)
  • Give the ability for radars set to universal to set their channel based on circuit network conditions, possibly have input on red wire and channel select on green wire
Why?
I am trying to implement an orbital supply depot using platform-to-platform logistics. This has proved difficult as a platform cannot both request and supply the same item to/from other platforms. One possible workaround I thought of for this was to have each platform supplying goods to the depot broadcast a signal via constant combinator and radar dish to the depot with what goods it is supplying, and use that to set requests on the depot. For this to work, I would need this signal to only be broadcast when the sending platform is actually orbiting the planet with the supply depot, otherwise the requests would just always be set and there would be no way to ever turn them off so it could supply the good. There is not as far as I can tell any way to do this unless I want to get really clever with bit masks.
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Re: Make it possible to communicate between platforms in orbit around the same planet

Post by TV4Fun »

I just realized you can in fact select input with a decider combinator and the everything wildcard.
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Re: Make it possible to communicate between platforms in orbit around the same planet

Post by TV4Fun »

Except that for reasons unclear to me, even though I now have two platforms with radars both set to universal on the same channel, the one does not seem to be picking up the other's signal.
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Re: Make it possible to communicate between platforms in orbit around the same planet

Post by TV4Fun »

Oh, I see, a radar can only output a signal on the same color wire it was broadcast on. How odd.
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Re: Make it possible to communicate between platforms in orbit around the same planet

Post by Mad Inventor »

I emphatically support this feature request. Especially these:
Add an "orbit" or "planet" mode of operation for radars wherein they communicate with other dishes on or in orbit around that same planet
Give the ability for radars set to universal to set their channel based on circuit network conditions.
Either or both of these will make trade between space platforms and coordinating logistics across planets much better.

I already use radars set to the channel of a planet's icon to broadcast their cargo when they are in orbit of that planet. This would require a separate radar for each planet that the platform would visit, since the channel can't be changed (except manually every time). Currently all my platforms just do their trading with a single orbital station over Nauvis with a lot of cargo bays.
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Re: Make it possible to communicate between platforms in orbit around the same planet

Post by Alfonse215 »

Mad Inventor wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2026 7:34 pm Add an "orbit" or "planet" mode of operation for radars wherein they communicate with other dishes on or in orbit around that same planet
Bikeshedding: I don't like the names "planet" or "orbit" because they imply that they wouldn't work in places where no planet exists (system's edge and the like). I think "local" or "surface + nearby" might be a better name for it.

That having been said, I don't think we've ever seen a scenario where an automatic process actually creates/breaks circuit network connections.
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