Would it be possible to add a new depot, the circuit depot, which would output the sum total of all the supply in the network?

I've got a proof of concept of this working:

https://i.imgur.com/nFpnxdh.png

I will try to make it a separate mod but I've not done any modding before so bear with me.

From factorissmo2 I have read that updating constant combinators from scripts is expensive, so instead I have a hidden chest inside the circuit depot, that gets connected to the connection point on the depot when the depot is placed down.

On update_contents I write the sum of all the items into the hidden chest, which then outputs to the circuit network as normal.

Is there a way to hide the chest -> depot wire? I am going to change the chest so its connection point is directly on top of the depot's but I don't know if there is a better way?

Absolutely any tips/criticism/advice is more than welcome, please.

https://i.imgur.com/oGLqmI1.png

I fixed up some of the wire hiding and output on red and green now.

I would not do it as a request depot feature, I would make a new item just for reading the road network.

Firstly there is potential use for writing to depots to enable disable, in the future. I don't want to complicate that by adding features now

Secondly, I don't want people wiring all depots up just because they can.

Third, the implementation would be cleaner if its a standalone entity that only does reading from the road network.

It is a totally separate entity, I've just reused the sprite for the moment.

Right.

I don't think the chest solution is better. Using a constant combinator seems it would be fine, I don't see why it would be significantly slower than inserting items into a chest.

https://github.com/MagmaMcFry/Factorissimo2/blob/9de4b15835c1967aed5b96542f0b11aa0fdae439/connections/circuit.lua#L89

I'm going based of this. I'll test with a constant combinator and see!