Factorio Forums

Idea is to isolate signals into "channels" running on the same wire so they don't get sum'ed up. Vanilla is basically 2 channels (red+green) and it's not enough.

Trivial use case would be to transmit current storage values, desired storage values, subtract them and thus get a "demand" signal that can be fed into logistic chest. It's possible to do this with 2 channels (red and greed), as I am doing now, but it's messy. Wire color in vanilla is the only mechanism to isolate signals and prevent automatic summation (why is it automatic anyway?) of the same signal type, so basically you need 2 channels just to hack around vanilla mechanics already.

There are several implementations, but only "Wireless_Circuit_Network" is in usable state. However it's also wireless (duh) thus different use-case and cheaty.

Examples:
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Wireless_Circuit_Network (wireless channels)
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/TriCircuits (multiplexer)
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/UsefulCombinators (emitter/receiver)

I don't think I understand your request, because I think you can already do what you are asking in vanilla. Just assign a value to variable, and then send as many variables as there are icons to select through any one wire. There are mods that give you more variable options if that's what you need.