Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Interrupt condition to check whether a given train stop exists.

What?

Same as the "stop is full/not full" conditions we already have, except check for whether it exists instead.

Why?

It's not uncommon that I find myself building a provider station for some item before the item is needed elsewhere. When using generic interrupts, this means I have to turn the station off until there's a corresponding requester station that the interrupt would send the train to, or a train will come in, load up, and then no-path at me. I understand why this design decision was made, but there needs to be some deliberate action I can take to turn it off (such as adding a "stop exists" condition). Using a "stop is not full" condition instead breaks priority as interrupt firing is not ordered by stop priority, so it's not a good solution.

+1 more flexibility is always good

Can you think of a way to disable your provider stations until a requester station exists? or perhaps even until a requester station can actually use the train? (Circuit network)

Epb7304 wrote: Sun Nov 02, 2025 1:02 pmCan you think of a way to disable your provider stations until a requester station exists? or perhaps even until a requester station can actually use the train? (Circuit network)

Wire the Requester stations to a global Circuit network (or Radar) to send a "Demand signal" when they are actually low on resources (and exist). Only enable the Provider stations when there is a Demand for the items that they produce.

Why not have the requester stations trigger the train, in that case the train can do other things if your defences are all wel enough supplied.

My solution to the 'no path' issue is to just add a dummy station with the correct name and a train limit of 0. Note that the station has to be reachable, so it needs to be connected to the rail network, but no trains will ever actually go there, so you don't need an exit or anything.

That's what I eventually end up doing after there's too many trains to turn on and off all the time, but I'd much rather not have to do any of that. Still hoping this eventually makes it into 2.1.