the signal writer art is very cool

i don't understand what i might want to use this mod for. please say what you use it for

Trains and spaceships, primarily. I play Space Exploration and use it in space, but here is a vanilla example:

Suppose you have a mall that needs all sorts of different resources to produce all factory buildings in the game. Suppose you want to supply it with not just iron and copper, but also electronic circuits, processors, low density structures and so on.

This mod allows to supply the mall with all complex resources using a single train.
1. A simple combinator logic calculates how much of each resource is required (really, what resources are missing in the mall and how much)
2. This information is written on a memory card and put into the first train wagon
3. The train departs on a jorney to visit every train stop that produces intermediate resources. For example, there is a circuit production factory with a train stop. When the train visits the stop, the memory card is pulled out of the wagon and inserted into a card reader. The inserters then insert only as much circuits as required and the memory card is return to the train. The train departs for the next provider stop.
4. At the end, the train arrives into the mall and contains only the items that are required by the mall and unloads everything into provider chests. The memory card is removed, and when there is a shortage of resources the cycle repeats.

There is no need for a big railway station with a unique train stop for each imported resource, and everything is done by a single train.

i also play SE

what makes this workflow more fun than a combinator setup with
AAI Signal Transmission?

I did not state anywhere that my mod is more fun than any other mod or vanilla. It is just another tool that can be used with combinators. There is no equivalent in Factorio or AAI Signal Transmissions, but that is not to say that you can't achieve the same goals without it. They've built a computer in vanilla, so clearly you don't even need AAI Signal Transmission for this.

I'm using this mod to set requests in buffer chests. blueprint reader reads a blueprint, writes to a bunch of memory cards, and load those cards on space ships that are heading to remote colonies.

I can think of plenty of uses for this!!

• Factory performance data logging.

• Circuit testing: Place a series of cards on a belt, feeding them into one reader at regular intervals, to drive the inputs of a combinator circuit you're trying to test in a repeatable way. That helps a lot when developing complex circuits. Recycle them back out onto the same belt, ready for the next test run.

• Use as an internal component in complex combinator circuits: cards on a belt form a natural FIFO queue data structure, with practically unlimited capacity (how long is your belt?). With some creativity I bet it could also be used for a LIFO stack (e.g. chests holding one card each). Cards on a belt also introduce a constant delay time, of any length you want.

• Store a complete configuration of an omni-factory or sushi factory, setting the recipes etc, to produce a specific product. Swap another card into the reader to reconfigure the factory immediately. Store the card along with its batch of ingredients. Queue those batches in train wagons etc. for serial production. This would help tremendously in small world or cramped land situations where you have to frequently repurpose your assemblers or land area.

• Cards on a belt form a natural queue of instructions to feed into any programmable machine, or machine requiring a lengthy operating sequence. CPU anyone??

• And the obvious: place it on a train as an "order form" naming all the parts to automatically load on the train, to use elsewhere, building your new factory or outpost.

• And more...

Necropost yeah, but I have to chime in, to help the community embrace this EXCELLENT mod!

I actually think this is a cool alternative to AAI Signal trasmission since it provides a logistical challenge in addition to just transmitting signals, which is what factorio is all about. Factorio doesn't give us loaders by default because the easiest solution doesn't always provide the most fun challenges to solve. I really like the middle ground this mod provides between instant signal transmission, and still allowing inter-surface signaling.