Factorio Forums

TL;DR

I'd like a checkbox on combinators that sends the connected structures as a signal of the structure type.

What ?

All I suggest is a tick box on combinators to toggle the sending of connected structures as their corresponding signal at the amount of connected structures.
Eg: Say I have ten storage tanks built and I want something to happen when they're full. Connect them all together on the circuit network, attach a multiplication combinator, toggle the "Count Connected Structures" (or whatever you'd call it) tickbox and now there should be a signal of the Storage Tank type with a value of 10. I can then just select Storage Tank as the input, multiplied by 25000 and no matter how many tanks I connect, that combinator will always output the maximum capacity.

Why ?

I believe this will add expandability to automated systems. I could use multiplication combinators to easily find the maximum capacity of a variable amount of storage tanks or I could use the same method in refineries using coal liquefaction to store a certain amount of heavy oil in a loop depending on the amount of refineries etc. Instead of using fixed numbers that need updating whenever you add more of the structure in question.

Good idea, but that use-case is in my opinion too limited. For example, what should happen, if I connect steel chests? Your suggestion says: Return the number of connected chest. But that number is useless, cause depending on what you fill then the chest has different content.