One practical use for switches is to allow selectively shutting off parts of the factory to reduce pollution. In one of my Deathworlds, I used switches for each of my mining patches, as well as switches for smelting, science pack production, oil processing, research and more. Each one was enabled based on the presence of a corresponding signal on the circuit network, for example an iron ore signal would enable the power switch to the iron mine. Then I used a centralized “control panel” of constant combinators to set each signal to 1 or 0, enabling or disabling each part of the factory remotely. This gave a nice way to control my pollution cloud without running around removing power poles (which was my pre-circuit solution to the problem!)
On remote mining fields, I use the power switch to turn on below, say 8000 copper ore, being loaded into storage containers at the remote train station, and set the train station to turn on when that stored about is >2000 or 4000. So when they mine enough, the electricity to the miners is shut off, until the train comes and picks up the contents and reduces the storage amount below the 8000 level. This reduces running time of the miners and thus the pollution generation.
I have used switches for laser turrets in death world, which use a lot of power when idle. They turn on when flame throwers are used and oil is at 99%.
Two you missed are all the funky things you can do with train stops, and setting filters on filter inserters (of course since 2.0 all inserters can filter). Stops fall into all three categories: they can - read the train's contents - read a train's unique ID - read the number of trains currently trying to go to the stop - send signals to the train, for "circuit condition" departure conditions - set the train limit - disable the stop I like to disable an outpost's supply station when the outpost doesn't need anything. The setup is: a constant combinator defines what the outpost wants (ammo, walls, turrets, construction bots, repair packs etc). A roboport set to read the logistic network contents has its signals negated by an arithmetic combinator ("each * -1" - "each" is a special signal that makes it do the same operation on every signal) and added to the constant combinator (i.e., subtracted from it) to determine what it's missing. This sum sets the filters for the inserter that takes supplies from the train into a storage chest. (Negative and zero values, as well as signals that don't correspond to solid items, are ignored as filters.) The same "what are we missing" signals go to the train stop, set to enable on the condition "anything > 0" ("anything" is a special signal that performs a logic operation on all signals and is true if it's true for at least one signal). The advantage to setting filters on the circuit network is that you can use a single wagon to carry all sorts of things and you only need a single requester chest to fill it. The snag is that the filter doesn't affect the stack size, so you have to make sure it doesn't get stuck inserting more than the wagon has space for, so you have a similar setup on the depot to set the inserter's hand size to the amount required of the item it's currently requesting (greater than max is treated as max). This time you get the actual items from the train stop set to read train contents.
Use case for the gate as a sensor: You can sense that your dude is on the rail crossing, and use that signal to turn lights red, and close gates on the rail tracks, so that if your dude is standing on the crossing, the trains will never enter the crossing. Other use cases for circuit networks: Speedrunners use a lot of blueprints with circuit networks all over the base that manage how many of each item is produced, and try to always shuffle resources to the things that are the most needed to progress quickly at each tech stage in the game.
Mmm, I really like that idea about the train junction. Would turn my base into something that felt like it reacted to me rather than one where I had to be conscious of it. I'm going to explore this definitely. And that explains why the pulse option is there on the inserters and conveyor belts. I hadn't ever thought of that use case before. Speedrunners. It also explains why it is so alien to me. I'm super slow
@@theotherbigfoot one place the pulse could be used would be for your satellite silo circuit- you can use an arithmetic combinator feedback loop with pulsed inserters as input. Then you can know what has been inserted in the rocket! Then add a reset circuit when a satellite is added
Great video! Thank you -- one thing that you can do to clean things up a bit is that you can hop from item to item directly without needing a power pole in between. That might clean up some of your light displays.
Being on youtube is a humbling experience!! That is a subtle reframing of something I was already aware of but the way you say it has blown wide open my current circuit methodology. It has solved a problem I was literally just about ready to abandon. Amazing.
@@theotherbigfoot I'm really new to factorio but am a software engineer by trade. So naturally I want to learn as much of the signals stuff as possible. Glad I could help. Your video is still one of the best tutorials on this topic I've watched so far though! Keep up the great work. (I'm also on youtube for a different topic entirely, so I understand its humbling effects)
@@jhines0042 It is incredible how many engineers play this game (I'm of the structural variety). That is very kind, thank you. There is more to come on the circuit network topic. I'm just finishing a factorio racetrack. There are some really cool use cases for circuit networks in a racetrack situation.
@@jhines0042 No, literally a race track for driving around in the car. Circuit networks wise we have a timer, a start sequence, multiple track layouts controlled from a central panel. I posted the video a few hours ago. th-cam.com/video/xwAwnt8AASk/w-d-xo.html
You can do the light within a range setup with only two combinators- first has the output as the color, then that feeds into the second, which outputs the input count of that color. That way, both conditions have to be met for the signal to pass
This is where things start veering off into the void for me. I think I understand but I also definitely don't. I've watched youtube videos about this kind of thing (I wanted to save my lap times in my racetrack base) but I just couldn't get to grips with it.
9:30 Power switch can be used when you have a legacy boiler area for electricity. It's usually better to connect it to a water pump but you may use a water pump that is not connectable (like the water well mod) and so, linking the switch to an alternator allow you to connect the backup boiler to the electricity network if the value of the accumulator is too low. Since all accumulator (unless just builded) have the same value, you can read the whole network this way. Which remind me you actually forgot a few interesting item in imput: robotport (for robort stat and logistic network content) and accumulator (for the reason display up there). You can even read miners if you want to set up an alert when a patch is empty. And for output, the speaker, that can put an alert if condition is meet. Really usefull since the alert is display near the other alert (attack, missing fuel and so on). I Probably still forgot some but..
I did not know about the roboport and the accumulator. In fact, I am certain that at some point in the past I tried to connect a roboport to the circuit network and it wouldn't let me. I guess that's what happens when you start playing a game in early access, things change and you might not necessarily notice that something that didn't work in the past now does work. I'm gonna investigate
A simple use for the colors is analog and logical output. Red for analog (i.e. values, quantities) and green for logical (i.e. flags, letters, symbolic items emitted from logic combinators)
Nice video - one comment that you don't mention. You do not need a power-pole between detection and action. You can directly connect an inserter to a chest or a tank to a pump, etc. I use this for my 'mall' extensively to control the quantity of items placed in the output chests, and of course in my oil setups to control the pumps for cracking.
You are right, and I did consider this, but I figured if you were just starting out with circuit networks then it is useful to use an electric pole to be able to see what stuff is being communicated to the network. I didn't want to make the video any more complicated than it needed to be. Nothing is lost by using an electric pole.
My first Circuit Network goal was to shut of the steam engine if I have charged accumulators and turn them on if their charge < 10% and off at 90%. -> Power Switch and R/S latch. - The trick is to have a feedback loop on the last. R/S latch makes things smoother than checking for a fixed value - I use them on said accumulator / fossil fuel energy and excess fuel cracking (tank > 24.000 / tank < 19.000). I also tend to build science beaker caches - I check the belt Beaker Color > 7 to take beakers off - and
Here's a circuit you might like; a different way to reduce coal usage: Since boilers have no concern for the power demands of the grid, if you connect the boilers to a series of tanks, and connect (with circuit wire) those tanks to the inserters that fuel the boilers, then you can set the steam amount which activates the inserter feeding. This will cause the power plant to regulate its own intake since turbines(of either type) increase steam consumption linearly with power output. This works for nuclear fuel too, which was the only way I found to *not* run the reactor plant at 100% when my factory was using 20%. The circuit basically caused the reactor to flicker on and off 1/5th of the time and the steam tanks buffer out the cycle. Solar and other sources of power generation also make fuel last longer, which would otherwise not be true.
Explaining after basic example. It is like explaining how bacteria look like, and after You let students look into the microscope. But if You do the opposite then imagination is in play and even more stubborn students maybe would engage :) .... Regardless .. Cool Video :) Thank You :)
I couldn't find one either. I expected someone to have made one by now. Seems like a simple mod to make. Like you say, I think that shows just how much need there is for more circuit colours.
@Teneombre So I was cruising through the factorio mods website and someone has added a mod with extra circuit wire colours. In the last month. Is this your handy work?
I’m first? Really? But thank you for this video. Good job on being able to translate the insanity that is the network into something shorter than an hour.
There's way too many things you mention that "You haven't found an use for" to convince me that you know that much of the circuit network; Especially with the power switch thing or the enable / disable belt function (another user in the comment already pointed an example for the power switch). If you know how it works, you can also image a possible use, not to mention, practical examples are often the best way to convey / teach information, so it was in your best interest to come up with usage examples if you really wanted your video to be informative.
That's a fair comment. I disagree but its fair. I have over 5000 hours in the game, I have built dozens of factories and tried dozens of separate mods, if I haven't found a use for these bits by now then I never will. Others will play the game differently, come across different problems and solve them differently and these bits will be useful. I could have just not included these things in the tutorial at all, just acted like they didn't exist. But that isn't my style. If I don't use an item or know how to use an item then I just say so. No one is under any illusions of what I am and am not capable of. I don't claim to know everything about the game. If there are gaps in my knowledge then point me in the direction of something that will teach me and I will watch it. Otherwise I can only learn from my own mistakes and problems. I did my best with the tutorial, I spent a month or so crafting the script and then a couple of solid days making and editing it. If you don't think it is good enough then that is fair. But this is the limit of what I am capable of.
This is the tutorial I wanted a couple of years ago but couldn't find on youtube. Something that gave the basics, a few interesting ways to use them and a few things for me to investigate on my own.
One practical use for switches is to allow selectively shutting off parts of the factory to reduce pollution. In one of my Deathworlds, I used switches for each of my mining patches, as well as switches for smelting, science pack production, oil processing, research and more. Each one was enabled based on the presence of a corresponding signal on the circuit network, for example an iron ore signal would enable the power switch to the iron mine. Then I used a centralized “control panel” of constant combinators to set each signal to 1 or 0, enabling or disabling each part of the factory remotely. This gave a nice way to control my pollution cloud without running around removing power poles (which was my pre-circuit solution to the problem!)
On remote mining fields, I use the power switch to turn on below, say 8000 copper ore, being loaded into storage containers at the remote train station, and set the train station to turn on when that stored about is >2000 or 4000. So when they mine enough, the electricity to the miners is shut off, until the train comes and picks up the contents and reduces the storage amount below the 8000 level. This reduces running time of the miners and thus the pollution generation.
I use circuit networks to clock my inserters. That way they swing all at once in beautiful harmony.
I have used switches for laser turrets in death world, which use a lot of power when idle.
They turn on when flame throwers are used and oil is at 99%.
Two you missed are all the funky things you can do with train stops, and setting filters on filter inserters (of course since 2.0 all inserters can filter). Stops fall into all three categories: they can
- read the train's contents
- read a train's unique ID
- read the number of trains currently trying to go to the stop
- send signals to the train, for "circuit condition" departure conditions
- set the train limit
- disable the stop
I like to disable an outpost's supply station when the outpost doesn't need anything. The setup is: a constant combinator defines what the outpost wants (ammo, walls, turrets, construction bots, repair packs etc). A roboport set to read the logistic network contents has its signals negated by an arithmetic combinator ("each * -1" - "each" is a special signal that makes it do the same operation on every signal) and added to the constant combinator (i.e., subtracted from it) to determine what it's missing. This sum sets the filters for the inserter that takes supplies from the train into a storage chest. (Negative and zero values, as well as signals that don't correspond to solid items, are ignored as filters.) The same "what are we missing" signals go to the train stop, set to enable on the condition "anything > 0" ("anything" is a special signal that performs a logic operation on all signals and is true if it's true for at least one signal).
The advantage to setting filters on the circuit network is that you can use a single wagon to carry all sorts of things and you only need a single requester chest to fill it. The snag is that the filter doesn't affect the stack size, so you have to make sure it doesn't get stuck inserting more than the wagon has space for, so you have a similar setup on the depot to set the inserter's hand size to the amount required of the item it's currently requesting (greater than max is treated as max). This time you get the actual items from the train stop set to read train contents.
Use case for the gate as a sensor:
You can sense that your dude is on the rail crossing, and use that signal to turn lights red, and close gates on the rail tracks, so that if your dude is standing on the crossing, the trains will never enter the crossing.
Other use cases for circuit networks: Speedrunners use a lot of blueprints with circuit networks all over the base that manage how many of each item is produced, and try to always shuffle resources to the things that are the most needed to progress quickly at each tech stage in the game.
Mmm, I really like that idea about the train junction. Would turn my base into something that felt like it reacted to me rather than one where I had to be conscious of it. I'm going to explore this definitely.
And that explains why the pulse option is there on the inserters and conveyor belts. I hadn't ever thought of that use case before. Speedrunners. It also explains why it is so alien to me. I'm super slow
@@theotherbigfoot one place the pulse could be used would be for your satellite silo circuit- you can use an arithmetic combinator feedback loop with pulsed inserters as input. Then you can know what has been inserted in the rocket! Then add a reset circuit when a satellite is added
@@collinpearce310 Yup, I'm clueless again, maybe you should be making a circuit network tutorial!! I'll be sticking with the inventory sensor
Great video! Thank you -- one thing that you can do to clean things up a bit is that you can hop from item to item directly without needing a power pole in between. That might clean up some of your light displays.
Being on youtube is a humbling experience!! That is a subtle reframing of something I was already aware of but the way you say it has blown wide open my current circuit methodology. It has solved a problem I was literally just about ready to abandon. Amazing.
@@theotherbigfoot I'm really new to factorio but am a software engineer by trade. So naturally I want to learn as much of the signals stuff as possible. Glad I could help. Your video is still one of the best tutorials on this topic I've watched so far though! Keep up the great work. (I'm also on youtube for a different topic entirely, so I understand its humbling effects)
@@jhines0042 It is incredible how many engineers play this game (I'm of the structural variety).
That is very kind, thank you.
There is more to come on the circuit network topic. I'm just finishing a factorio racetrack. There are some really cool use cases for circuit networks in a racetrack situation.
@@theotherbigfoot what is a racetrack in this context? Is it like a sushi belt but maybe not mixed materials on one belt?
@@jhines0042 No, literally a race track for driving around in the car. Circuit networks wise we have a timer, a start sequence, multiple track layouts controlled from a central panel.
I posted the video a few hours ago. th-cam.com/video/xwAwnt8AASk/w-d-xo.html
You can do the light within a range setup with only two combinators- first has the output as the color, then that feeds into the second, which outputs the input count of that color. That way, both conditions have to be met for the signal to pass
This is where things start veering off into the void for me. I think I understand but I also definitely don't. I've watched youtube videos about this kind of thing (I wanted to save my lap times in my racetrack base) but I just couldn't get to grips with it.
9:30 Power switch can be used when you have a legacy boiler area for electricity. It's usually better to connect it to a water pump but you may use a water pump that is not connectable (like the water well mod) and so, linking the switch to an alternator allow you to connect the backup boiler to the electricity network if the value of the accumulator is too low. Since all accumulator (unless just builded) have the same value, you can read the whole network this way.
Which remind me you actually forgot a few interesting item in imput: robotport (for robort stat and logistic network content) and accumulator (for the reason display up there). You can even read miners if you want to set up an alert when a patch is empty. And for output, the speaker, that can put an alert if condition is meet. Really usefull since the alert is display near the other alert (attack, missing fuel and so on). I Probably still forgot some but..
I did not know about the roboport and the accumulator. In fact, I am certain that at some point in the past I tried to connect a roboport to the circuit network and it wouldn't let me. I guess that's what happens when you start playing a game in early access, things change and you might not necessarily notice that something that didn't work in the past now does work. I'm gonna investigate
A simple use for the colors is analog and logical output. Red for analog (i.e. values, quantities) and green for logical (i.e. flags, letters, symbolic items emitted from logic combinators)
You can use green for input and red for output.
Nice video - one comment that you don't mention. You do not need a power-pole between detection and action. You can directly connect an inserter to a chest or a tank to a pump, etc. I use this for my 'mall' extensively to control the quantity of items placed in the output chests, and of course in my oil setups to control the pumps for cracking.
You are right, and I did consider this, but I figured if you were just starting out with circuit networks then it is useful to use an electric pole to be able to see what stuff is being communicated to the network. I didn't want to make the video any more complicated than it needed to be. Nothing is lost by using an electric pole.
@@theotherbigfoot True, the direct connection doesn't have the ability to mouse hover and see the network.
Your videos are amazing and so well done
My first Circuit Network goal was to shut of the steam engine if I have charged accumulators and turn them on if their charge < 10% and off at 90%.
-> Power Switch and R/S latch. - The trick is to have a feedback loop on the last.
R/S latch makes things smoother than checking for a fixed value - I use them on said accumulator / fossil fuel energy and excess fuel cracking (tank > 24.000 / tank < 19.000).
I also tend to build science beaker caches - I check the belt Beaker Color > 7 to take beakers off - and
Thank you for this video
Here's a circuit you might like; a different way to reduce coal usage:
Since boilers have no concern for the power demands of the grid, if you connect the boilers to a series of tanks, and connect (with circuit wire) those tanks to the inserters that fuel the boilers, then you can set the steam amount which activates the inserter feeding. This will cause the power plant to regulate its own intake since turbines(of either type) increase steam consumption linearly with power output. This works for nuclear fuel too, which was the only way I found to *not* run the reactor plant at 100% when my factory was using 20%. The circuit basically caused the reactor to flicker on and off 1/5th of the time and the steam tanks buffer out the cycle.
Solar and other sources of power generation also make fuel last longer, which would otherwise not be true.
Explaining after basic example. It is like explaining how bacteria look like, and after You let students look into the microscope. But if You do the opposite then imagination is in play and even more stubborn students maybe would engage :) .... Regardless .. Cool Video :) Thank You :)
I haven't seen any new circuit mods but i have seen different colors.
I didn't found a third color network mod actually. I may have fail my search but it's surprising enough to be said.
I couldn't find one either. I expected someone to have made one by now. Seems like a simple mod to make. Like you say, I think that shows just how much need there is for more circuit colours.
It makes me wonder if it's hardcoded since there is a lot of mod to change the colour of the network.
@@Teneombre It could be anything. I guess all we really know is that there is a red wire and there is a green wire and there is nothing after that!!
@Teneombre So I was cruising through the factorio mods website and someone has added a mod with extra circuit wire colours. In the last month. Is this your handy work?
@@theotherbigfoot It is not. I'm not a good enough modder for that kind of work. I will give a look to the website. Thanks for the tips!
I’m first? Really?
But thank you for this video.
Good job on being able to translate the insanity that is the network into something shorter than an hour.
You are in a very exclusive club!!
No probs and thanks
4:35 Wait, you can actually write the whole thing in one go instead of putting letter after letter???! TIL
That is quite a time and pain saving lesson right there!! You poor bugger
Agreed
If you’ve ever played modded Minecraft, circuit networks are basically Applied energistics or AE2 is what I gather.
Not in the slightest..
There's way too many things you mention that "You haven't found an use for" to convince me that you know that much of the circuit network; Especially with the power switch thing or the enable / disable belt function (another user in the comment already pointed an example for the power switch).
If you know how it works, you can also image a possible use, not to mention, practical examples are often the best way to convey / teach information, so it was in your best interest to come up with usage examples if you really wanted your video to be informative.
That's a fair comment. I disagree but its fair. I have over 5000 hours in the game, I have built dozens of factories and tried dozens of separate mods, if I haven't found a use for these bits by now then I never will. Others will play the game differently, come across different problems and solve them differently and these bits will be useful.
I could have just not included these things in the tutorial at all, just acted like they didn't exist. But that isn't my style. If I don't use an item or know how to use an item then I just say so. No one is under any illusions of what I am and am not capable of. I don't claim to know everything about the game. If there are gaps in my knowledge then point me in the direction of something that will teach me and I will watch it. Otherwise I can only learn from my own mistakes and problems.
I did my best with the tutorial, I spent a month or so crafting the script and then a couple of solid days making and editing it. If you don't think it is good enough then that is fair. But this is the limit of what I am capable of.
This is the tutorial I wanted a couple of years ago but couldn't find on youtube. Something that gave the basics, a few interesting ways to use them and a few things for me to investigate on my own.