"Use colors" circuit network option for train stops

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Do you like the idea of changing train stop colors with the circuit network?

Yes
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No
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Total votes: 3

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Tesse11ation
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"Use colors" circuit network option for train stops

Post by Tesse11ation »

TL;DR:
Train stops should have an option under their circuit network menu to "use colors" in the same way that lamps do to set a color using the circuit network.
What?
There's a saying that goes, "if all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail". Well, if you've played Factorio for a long time and used the circuit network enough, chances are, the hammer is your circuit network logic that you use to shape every "nail" (read: machine) in your factory!

One such example of a nail is the Train Stop. If you've ever connected one to the circuit network, well then you've seen this menu, where you often feel spoiled for choice on how you can fine tune its behavior:
fig. A: The circuit network logic menu for train stops.
fig. A: The circuit network logic menu for train stops.
12-16-2024, 14-57-24.png (42.01 KiB) Viewed 378 times
The 2.0 update, among other things, introduced another functionality for trains to color them based on their current destination stop. This of course was only a single small cherry on top of the myriad of improvements that have occurred to trains, not the least of which being things like interrupts and elevated rails, but I digress. There is however one small problem: you still have to manually set the train station color if you want to color code your trains, which in a game where automating EVERYTHING is an endgame goal, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The other thing that happened in the update is we got more options for how to "use colors" on our humble lamp units:
fig. B: The circuit network logic menu for lamps.
fig. B: The circuit network logic menu for lamps.
12-16-2024, 15-08-00.png (32.98 KiB) Viewed 378 times
The more astute among you can already see where I'm going with this. It is my belief that the logical conclusion to "use colors" being a circuit network option for lamps means that it should be an option for anything that you can connect to the circuit network, which can also have a color component RGB or packed RGB value. In my humble opinion, this functionality should be extended to train stops.
Why?
Because who doesn't love pimping their factory? :D

In all seriousness, this is something I really, REALLY want to have the option to do. The main practical application would of course be train stop colors being determined by some circuit network variable, like an item being picked up. Since the powerful interrupt and wildcard functions exist on trains now, having a universal station also be a chameleon that changes colors based on what items are in the loading bay would be nice for seeing what trains are going for at a glance. You could further mess with this in your blueprint parameters, like stamping down a train station that colors itself based on the resource to be picked up.

In case any of you are in doubt of how useful any of this would be, I will be the first to admit that I spend way too much time designing my precious train station blueprints. I primarily use 2-4-0 trains pre-megabase, and have been slowly implementing all the new features trains have in my blueprint repertoire. I have universal pickup stations that use the circuit network to calculate the number of train loads of material available to be picked up, then set the train limit of the station to that number. Those blueprints are parameterized so that when I stamp them down, it prompts to pick what resource the trains will be picking up. Then, things like stack size are calculated and fed into the circuit network logic, which also balances each wagon loading bay with the inputs... anyway, I could go on.

Point is, having to set the train station color manually only after it's placed despite parameterized blueprints existing just isn't good enough. We can do better here.
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