Fistly this mod is what I was always looking for! Thanks for that so much!
But there is another final idea that tears my mind about combinators, that "slow combinators".
"Compact circuits" already solves all the problems with minituarizing fast schemes.
But the problem comes with the complex designs that doesn't requeire speed.
While they are still perfectly possible, they are not simplified.
If they are, than Compact circuits would be ultimate mod for circuits and no other mod will compare to it.
The problem:
There is no "sane" way to do min/max and other complex computations with vanilla combinators. So there is bunch of custom made combinators exist out there (Examples: stack combinator, a mod with min/max combinator, and some others too).
The idea:
- Add special mode to the combinator "Slow computations"
- In that mode the combinator won't have a surface, but instead it would be programmed with semi visual programming that allow custom-made functions made with other plugin-mods.
- It can't be used often but can be useful for building central computer in factorio for global automation. Or for handling tasks that just don't need much speed and can be updated say once a minute instead of per tick.
- The update speed can be tuned by global setting and will depend on number of slow combinators on surface or globally
- The update speed for specific compact circuit be set to less often than global setting
- When in gui it should display it's update speed
- In that mode the combinator will be interpreted (not made by vanilla combinators) and thus - slow.
- The program should retain all other properties of compact circuit: it can be imported and exported, can be used inside normal combinators
Example program:
X = input(1).red * 10
Y = max(X, 7)
out(5).red = X + Y
