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Idea — Network, IoT & Factory Automation Logic

Document Type: Idea Status: 💡 Idea only. NOT in scope. NOT scheduled. Last Updated: 2026-08-29 Vault destination: 00_Ideas Raised: 2026-08-25 Filed per: 02_Risk Register D1 (Scope Creep, Critical) — "Every new feature idea goes to 00_Ideas first. Nothing gets built until it is formally added to the scope document."

The Idea

A player-buildable network layer that allows conditional automation logic across the factory.

Components as discussed:

  • IoT module — a roof module that exposes a building's attributes (item counts, power state, throughput, running/stopped) to the network
  • Network module — a roof module that connects a building to "the net", the global network
  • Server building — must be built and specced with GB and CPU. Capacity presumably limits how many connected buildings or how much logic it can run.
  • Satellite connection — required infrastructure for the server to reach the network
  • Automation box / logic module — where the player authors conditional rules

Example rules the player would write: - If all mines are down, notify me - If item count > X, stop this building - Connect one building's exposed attribute to another building's behaviour

The intent is automation, not just monitoring. IoT exposes attributes; the automation layer acts on them.

Why It Is Not Phase 1

1. This is circuit-network territory. Player-authored conditional logic is among the most complex systems in the automation genre. Factorio's circuit network took a full team years to build, tune, and teach. Current position is solo, mid-M2.7, with the roadmap five months stale.

2. It would gate information the player already gets free. FactoryStats is already the single source of truth. ToastManager already handles alerts. The right flap already has Analytics, Production, Contributions and Log tabs. The player can already see when mines go down and is already notified.

So a network system would not add this information. It would take it away and sell it back as infrastructure.

The Interesting Question Underneath

Should knowing the state of your own factory be free, or should it be earned infrastructure?

Almost no factory game gates self-knowledge. Building a scanner and server network to see your own base is genuinely distinctive, and it would give the mid-game a goal that isn't "more throughput".

But it means deliberately removing HUD conveniences already built and shipped. That has to be a decision made on purpose, not a side effect of adding a network system.

If It Ever Gets Built

Sequencing that would keep it tractable:

  1. Monitoring first, logic later. IoT exposure and remote readout are a fraction of the cost of a logic authoring system and deliver most of the fantasy.
  2. Logic as presets before free authoring. A short list of parameterised rules ("notify when X stops", "stop when buffer exceeds N") avoids building a visual programming language.
  3. Free authoring last, if ever. Only if presets prove players want more.

Server GB/CPU specs are a good constraint mechanism, since they make the network a real factory-fed system rather than a free menu.

Decision

Deferred. Discuss in detail in a later session. Do not schedule, do not build, do not let it influence Phase 1 module design beyond reserving the concept of a network module slot.

Phase 1 modules remain: Power Pole, Efficiency, Productivity, Status.