Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Add a wildcard to better help determine what planet your ship is currently travelling too to filter circuit networks based on what planet.

What?

I am trying to make an automated ship freighter that works similar to my trains that use the per-existing wildcards. I am trying to make a circuit network to identify what planet the ship is currently stationed at, then isolate and filter sent item request signals. this is being done so I can use one constant combinator to tell all of my freighters what they should be requesting. and per freighter I am using a second constant combinator to tell it what that ship can specifically focus on (Eg; science ship, vs one that only picks up materials from vulcanus)
This is my current combination to decide what planet is the next planet to filter shipment requests for.
This is a combinator I am using to assign IDs to the planet
This is a another combinator that assigns an ID to the items I want. from what planet (science from vulcanus.

Why?

The problem this solves, is as of right now, my ship cant request more than 'shipment' this is because it would arrive on vulcanus to pick up sciences, and expect a fulgora science which isnt there, and never leave with the "all requests satisfied" command. I am trying to seperate it by planet based numerical IDs assigned to signals. ie; Metallurgic science has an ID of 2, signifying only request it on vulcanus.

I have yet to fully finish the network, but by adding a wildcard to identify the planet i am currently stationed at would simplify my network, and thus saving space on my ship. Right now, I need to;


- Isolate the signals the ship is responsible for (not related to the wildcards)
- Identify what planet i am stationed at (by using the Read moving to command)
- Isolate the planet signal from everything in the ship (as im using read contents for something else)
- Filter the signal to match the ID of the requested items (vulcanus is 2. Fulgora is 3, Gleba is 4.)
(I have yet to build this part, but I am looking at one combinator PER planet, which takes alot of space, and something that isnt expandable for modded planets)
- Finally match it to the isolated signals the ship is responsible for.


WHY do you think it increases the value of Factorio as a game?

With planet wildcards, we can more easily control automated spacecraft for moving goods across the galaxy. it would make building a circuit network easier to do and understand for people less confident in circuit controlled automation. Without it, you would need to do slightly complex circuit network to have one space ship handle multiple deliveries. With planet wildcards, it also allows modded planets to be easier to program for, otherwise the combinators would expand.

I've learned after writing this, my entire circuit problem is solved by ignoring what I was doing, and using the built in "import from Planet" feature. but I for some reason forgot that existed all day. However, that said, I still think a planet wildcard would be usefull in super niche circuit networks, especially for mod support.

One way for circuits to know what planet the platform is at would be this suggestion to make an "orbit" radar circuit channel. Each planet could transmit it's planet signal on the "orbit" channel. The platform would have a radar receiving the "orbit" channel, and it would connect to the "orbit" channel of whichever planet it is currently at, so it works get that planet's unique signal. viewtopic.php?p=696802