Train station name via circuit network

[Thulium-Drake]

Hi folks

TL;DR

Allow to set the name of the station via circuit signals (either via interrupt wildcards or otherwise)

What?

In FFF-392 kovarex mentioned that it was not possible at the time to set the name of a train station with circuits.

This functionality has been implemented in some mods, but it seems to be a bit difficult to get right (as some of them have bugs that make the game crash)

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/programmable-train-stop
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/dynamic-train-stop-naming
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/programma ... top-naming

From what I've seen most of these mods set the whole station name via the circuits, or take the first signal and add some stuff of their own. Either or, 9/10 times it works all the time

Why?

I really hope you'll consider for 2.1 as it will make parametrised blueprints whole _and_ allow for doing silly stuff such as dynamic stations for the space port

[Fatsack]

This is potentially useful but I can't think of how. Maybe having both a pick-up and depot station be the same station depending on conditions? Do you have an example of how you would use this?

[sben]

I want this change too, but wasn't sure how to phrase it.
After the recent 2.1 unreveals, this is my the number one wish.

This would allow for a large range of optimization possibilities - that's the fun for me in the game.

Trains can be dynamically assigned to transport different materials, but the requesters are restricted to static configuration.

This change could make trains to support advanced logistic and so a bit more worth again, after their relevance got reduced in 2.0 as we got more powerful belts and smaller factory options by high productivity buildings.

Some simple examples for new possibilities:

Collapsing rarely requesting stations

• eg. simplifying malls - you could have simplified mall blocks like on the picture below:
  • all material input is handled by a single train station
  • this would be a both space and UPS efficient
  • integrates well with dynamic train systems
  • is easy to place anywhere.
  One could use the same logic to supply outposts with defense and construction materials.
  
  (the provider chests in the picture could have mixed content for faster unloading)

  

  dynamic-station-based-mall.png (749.91 KiB) Viewed 187 times

  .
• there are plenty of other materials usually only needed in small amounts. Eg. look at purple science: in most early and mid-game setups, the efficiency module and smelter material inputs could be collapsed into a single requester station, without having throughput issues. Merging these materials onto mixed belts would be much easier this way, too.

Dynamic production lines

• one could have a smelter that usually smelts uncommon iron plates, but sometime switches to rare, epic or legendary input while staying compatible with interrupt-based generic train schedule.
• the same thing with circuit-network controlled recipes on assemblers, so production lines could dynamically change not only the recipes but also the materials requests over the train network (as possible with logistic bots).

And much more.

Eg. some people like building spaghetti designs in spaces small as possible. They would get new mechanics allowing even more cursed designs.

I think the real gain is more room for creativity.

Issues with already possible approaches

Currently there are three ways to achieve similar things:

- installing mods that work more or less but not really well (this was also noted in the original feature request)

- circuit-based train routing (see eg. this on Reddit):

• indeterministic destination: trains might arrive to wrong destinations, requiring corrections by rerouting
• is incompatible with interrupt-based generic trains
• only 1x requester station might be open at the same time, requiring inefficient circuit-based synchronisation
• all in all, does not scale well for large networks

- train station stacking (I prefer this method):

• only up to 6x different materials can be requested with single-headed trains (12x with double-headed trains)
• tick-perfect implementation is impossible due to circuit network delay, possibly causing traffic jams.

Conclusion

Overall, this would allow for new horizons of creative solutions.
It would be also a native and deterministic solution to a problem that many players try to solve, but currently cannot be achieved neatly.

[M1k3y]

I requested something similar almost two years ago over here viewtopic.php?t=122510

It seems that I am not the only one wanting something like this.

[Thulium-Drake]

Exactly what you write, @sben !

You could even use circuits to check the 'supply' for a specific factory and change the station's name to the resource which is needed most (with the Selector to sort the different requests)

And that's just one thing, there can be so many others. And, not to mention, it would also fix parametrised blueprints, as it's specifically mentioned as a "short-coming" in the FFF explaining how these work and should make your life better.