BUFFER Gate

The BUFFER Gate is an Automation building that passes a green signal only after its input has remained green for the selected delay time. It is one of the time-based automation gates, so it is used when a system should wait for a condition to stay true before triggering something else. Like other Automation gates, it can be placed behind buildings and tiles, and it can share space with pipes or wires.

When connected to an Automation Ribbon, the BUFFER Gate does not read the ribbon bit-by-bit in the same way most gates do. Instead, it merges all bits on the ribbon into a single signal using OR-like behavior, then applies its normal logic to that combined result. For example, a 4-bit input such as RRGR is treated as a single green signal. Because the gate works on a single signal internally, its animation follows the actual effective input and output rather than a bit-priority display, although the automation port color still follows standard priority rules.

As a time-based sensor, the BUFFER Gate becomes less precise for very large durations, especially at high cycle counts. For normal use this is rarely a problem, but very long delays can drift enough to matter in carefully timed automation. The state of a green BUFFER Gate now persists through save/load, which makes it safer to use in designs that rely on longer waits or intermittent world loading.

The BUFFER Gate is especially useful when paired with systems that must avoid flicker or short pulses. Common uses include:

• delaying a pump, door, or shutdown signal until a condition has stayed active long enough
• smoothing unstable inputs from sensors that briefly toggle on and off
• preventing a machine from reacting to a momentary green pulse
• combining with other gates to build more reliable automation chains

Because it only responds after sustained input, it is a good choice when a brief signal should not cause an immediate action. At the same time, if the delay is set too high, its precision limitations make it less suitable for extremely long timing windows.