More Sensors!

[alficles]

The Automation upgrade is fantastic. Lots of cool tools to do neat things. But automation can only be as smart as it's data. With that in mind, here are some specific sensors I'd like, along with some ways I might use them:

Fluid/Gas Pressure in Pipe: This could probably be just added as a sensor output on the fluid/gas shutoff. Some applications would simply attach the input to the output. Some would deactivate machines until there was enough input built up to warrant turning it on. It would also be useful for building priority splits and overflow valves, which are great for bathrooms (more output than input) and prioritizing (feed my thimble reeds always, but anything extra goes to fertilizer).

Batteries: Batteries should be configurable to output a signal if above/below a certain percent. Alternately, an advanced sensor could sit above a battery or connect a wire or something. But want to have priority power output, which is manageable if I can measure battery charge. Also, if batteries are low, I might want to disable lights or air-conditioning, while still leaving my sanitation system online.

Power meter: A simple sensor on a wire should activate if "net watts" is above/below a certain number. A clever duplicant might even combine this with a battery sensor to figure out how much time is left in the power. A less clever one might just turn off the plastic machine when there's no excess of power.

Machine running: Most machines should send a sensor to indicate when they are running. Machines that run repeatedly should toggle "off" briefly between tasks. This would allow things like locking doors when machines are in operation (either to keep dupes out or in), or making two or more heavily-used machines mutually exclusive. Perhaps there's enough power to run either the refinery or the plastic-maker, but not both. This one is easy, since there's plenty of room for an extra output on the machines and nothing to configure. If you want an inverted signal... use a not gate.

Fluid/Gas Sensor: It would be nice to have a way to measure which gas/fluid was in the room/pipe/conduit. This could be its own sensor or just another spot in the config of the existing sensors. I can imagine something like "If <any gas/specific gas> is <above/below> <pressure> kg". This would allow simple "stop-valves" that take little power, but prevent expensive breakages if something gets into the pipe incorrectly. It would also allow things like "basement evac handlers" to activate only if there's a relevant amount of CO2 or Chlorine in the air, but not run in O2.

And lastly... this isn't a sensor, but it goes here:

Alarm: This should have customizable text that displays in red (or not) in the top left with other messages while activated by an automation circuit. This lets me design my own warnings: "Refrigerator circuit has no power!", "Water backup in sanitation!", "Insufficient O2 in Sleeping Quarters", "Out of oil!".

 

What we have is great stuff though, and I look forward to whatever is next.

[suicide commando]

I'd love to see more sensors as well, especially when making more complex systems, having sensors to monitor it and have the automation make decisions based on the data would be awesome.

[Michi01]

2 hours ago, alficles said:

Alarm: This should have customizable text that displays in red (or not) in the top left with other messages while activated by an automation circuit. This lets me design my own warnings: "Refrigerator circuit has no power!", "Water backup in sanitation!", "Insufficient O2 in Sleeping Quarters", "Out of oil!".

It would also be interesting to have a building that can toggle the red alarm based on a signal.

[QRDL_rus]

need

1.  inside pipe  temperature sensor ( Fluid/Gas )

2. gas analyzer

[Xarian]

Agree with everything the OP says. These things would be amazing.

 

Klei, if you're watching, can you please put them in a beta update with some placeholder art?

 

 

[alficles]

Actually, I think that for most of these, there's no art needed. For the most part, it's just extra wire slots on existing devices. For pipe/conduit pressure, it should be fine to use the shutoff valve. It's got 2 squares on it, and one is taken by the input. Add an output (in the same square as the power) and you're good. For batteries, just add an output slot. (Batteries don't need an input slot, though, since you can cut them off with a switch already.)

The gas/fluid sensor is the idea I'm the iffiest about. It would be quite fiddly to use in practice, since gas floats around and it would only capture one tile. But I think it's fine, and you can combine it with the existing sensor without adding anything.

The only art they'd need is the power meter and the alarm, both of which are solid additions, I think.

And I totally meant to have conduit/pipe thermo-sensor on the list! That's another nearly must-have. It would be perfect for managing air-handlers and preventing overheated or overcooled fluids from going into a metal refinery or a regulator. It would probably be a new item, though, unless they wanted to change the regular thermosensor to apply to a pipe or a conduit behind it, which would be unintuitive.

[Fury1SOG]

Great suggestions!

In addition to your suggestions, I'd like to have a germ sensor in order to operate a boiler if germs are detected in water, or send germy gas to a cleaning process.

[HitrPr]

Agree with Gas/fluid sensor.

Alarm will be useful too.

For batteries it can be just output signals like «Lower than X» and «Higher than Y»

For heaters there can be their`s temperature.

 

For machines I suggest complex system. Color channels, code system, not a one-bit system. Like [Orange channel:

0000=off 0001=no energy 0010=no resources 0011=running etc. And reciever with ability to write expressions/conditions. Like [if Orange <3 then alarm «Something wrong»] or «If Orange==2 then Blue=True» where Blue connected to timer and pump, that will send oil.

The colored cable can have 16 channels, One channel can transmit ~4 bits info that can be interpreted like decimal or like bits.

The highest value for machine means ALL OK, the lowest (0000) — OFF.

 

Or, at least 1-bit-slots like on/off, resource1/no, resource2/no, exit1/blocked etc.

May be it can combined: machine can be connected with advenced sensor. Advanced sensor can be programmed like [if energy<50% then Green=true]. So color cables become 1-bit-per-color in this case and it is preferable to have 1/8/16/32 bit cables.

You know, guys, the game is awesome, so WE WILL build BIG MUTHAF* machines. And these mashines will rip youtube into small pieces.

[HitrPr]

Also, advanced sensor can be tuned: how often it can change it`s state and check the machine. Every tick or every 600 seconds (cycle) or may be once in a few cycles. Just to make it less agressive for CPU

[Pumbo]

Its really necessary some new sensors, mass flow and batteries sensor would be nice.