Technology · Item
Signal cable
A thin twisted pair: one number from 0 to 255 over up to 256 m, and the power of the logic boxes on it.
In the game
How to get it
At the metal mill: 2 copper wires and an insulation (leather, fur, wool, fabric, plastic or tar) give 8 signal cables. Lay it from an output to an input like a power cable.
What it is for
Wire buttons, sensors, gates, memories, chips, displays, valves, doors and lamps' command plugs.
Why it exists
Signals are the nervous system of a factory: cheap, short, colourful.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
How to get it
Metal mill, Signal cable: 2 copper wires + 1 insulation → 8 cables, 3 s.
How it works
- A signal is a number from 0 to 255, "on" from 128; every component adds one turn of 50 ms; an unplugged input reads 0. Logic boxes need no power cable: the signal cable feeds them.
- Up to 256 m between two nodes; beyond, a Repeater or an Optical fibre.
- A signal Junction copies the signal to every way.
- A dye vat colours it, to keep complex circuits readable.
- A chip can also send whole bytes on it, one per turn (a serial link).
On the progress path
EL3Simple electronicsMain path
A sub-action of the step Sensors and buttons: not needed to go on, but counted in your progress.
- BeforeEL2 · Circuit board
- This stepEL3 · Sensors and buttons
- NextEL4 · Antenna and dish