Question with Connecting 3 Oil Wells to 1 Oil Refinery

[Airbus Flyer]

I am kind of new to these types of games. I created a world and started by connecting an Oil Well (Canvey Island Oil Well) to a Refinery to a Fuel Refinery with a train because it was right next to a city (Sedbergh) needing Fuel. I also found another Oil Well (Sedbergh Oil Well) close by which I started trucking oil from to the Fuel Refinery so the train would run empty for as little as possible. (More profit) (This is the red line in the screenshot, Stop 1: Oil Well in bottom left where it loads crude oil, 2: Oil Refinery where it drops off crude oil and loads oil, 3: Fuel Refinery where it drops off oil and loads more crude oil from second Oil Well in top middle, 4: Oil Refinery (again) where it drops off the crude oil.) I later made another line to take some of this fuel with a train to two other cities wanting it (to the left, off screen). There was also conveniently another Oil Well (Kendal Oil Well #2) along the way, so I decided to pick up some oil on the way back to make more profit. (This is the purple line.) Side note, currently the Oil Refinery has a max production of 400 oil/year (needs 800 crude oil/year) and the Fuel Refinery has a max production of 300 fuel/year. Now, the Kendal Oil Well #2 has a shipment of 258/year but a transport of only 31% while it would be really nice if the other two oil wells would increase shipment/produce more oil as my two trains on that line are currently running only around half full on average. I would find it better if the Kendal Oil Well had a shipment of only say 100 while the other two each have a shipment of 350 (100 + 350 + 350 = 800) as this would make more profit and utilize the trains better. Not that I need the money, I have $284M and am making $12 - 15M/year but for the sake of efficiency. So my question is, is this possible or have I completely missed the point and the solution is a completely different one? Thank you in advance for your help and sorry for the lengthy explanation.

Screenshot:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2157156975

Seed is Npo6 by the way with 1 tick of hilliness, max water, middle on forest, large map, 1:1, with high cities, and very high industry (temperate).

[Huperspace]

3 oil wells are to much for 1 refinery. 2 wells for 1 oil refinery (full upgraded) are the ratio.
if you haven't enought demand for lvlup the refinery. go for 1 well to 1 refinery until you have a demand of 200 or more then you can go for 2 wells to 1 refinery.

[Airbus Flyer]

I know the ratio is not right, but I tried to prevent my trains running empty. Also, as I said the refinery is already max level and is producing 300-400 oil/year on average (400 = max). I am delivering fuel to three cities, all of which have a total demand of 201 fuel/year currently. (71 + 58 + 72 = 201) I am currently delivering them all as much fuel as I can.

[Vimpster]

There is no guarantee the game will do what you want, but if you were to limit the rate on the line that you want to only supply 100 of the oil than that may potentially force the other 2 to be closer to where you want them to be. When I do a line such as oil or wood planks for example I will, in the beginning, when the factory has still yet to fully upgrade, limit the rates on the 2 supplying raw resources to ensure each is supplying half of the total being demanded by restricting the rates on each line. This has always worked well for me.

[Huperspace]

the well near the refinery is to near for train, but will be the first one that want to transport 400 due to game mechanics. Use trucks they should be able to get 400rate while it's to short for train to get 400rate at this date.
you not looking like you play hard so you don't need the full and not empty back methode to get money. and if, you do it not right as the distances are to short. and if you have a fuel fab east of kendal than use this one.

[Airbus Flyer]

Originally posted by Vimpster:

There is no guarantee the game will do what you want, but if you were to limit the rate on the line that you want to only supply 100 of the oil than that may potentially force the other 2 to be closer to where you want them to be. When I do a line such as oil or wood planks for example I will, in the beginning, when the factory has still yet to fully upgrade, limit the rates on the 2 supplying raw resources to ensure each is supplying half of the total being demanded by restricting the rates on each line. This has always worked well for me.

What do you mean by "limiting the rate" and how would I do this? I currently have only one train on the purple line capable of going 50 km/h with a capacity of 125. I do have access to a train capable going 100 km/h, with more than twice the power and traction effort, as well as cars capable of going 80 km/h with almost twice the capacity. I thought this was overkill for a simple fuel delivery line though as is also costs around triple my current train.

[Airbus Flyer]

Originally posted by Huperspace:

the well near the refinery is to near for train, but will be the first one that want to transport 400 due to game mechanics. Use trucks they should be able to get 400rate while it's to short for train to get 400rate at this date.
you not looking like you play hard so you don't need the full and not empty back methode to get money. and if, you do it not right as the distances are to short. and if you have a fuel fab east of kendal than use this one.

I know the distance from Oil Well in the bottom left to the refinery is very short, but I chose a train because I would have to have around 90-100 horse draw carriages (go 20 km/h with 5 capacity) on that line in order to transport 400 crude oil/year. I chose a train because I made my stations 240m long and because they are faster and can carry so much more crude oil. Might I add it worked out quite well, I was making around $1M every year the first few years (This is profit from both the red line and the Oil Well to Fuel Refinery truck route). Also I do know you can make money with running the trains empty half the time, but I tend to like to make things as efficient as possible. Lastly, yes there is a Fuel Refinery east (from the orientation of the picture) of Kendal by the two cities needing fuel, but it is at the very edge of the map.

[Vimpster]

Open up the line window in question and it will tell you the rate of your line. The line list window will also show the rate of all your lines. How quickly your vehicles make a round trip, and how many vehicles you have on a line, and how much capacity the vehicles have, all determine the rate of the line. The rate is the same as production numbers and demand numbers. It is a measure of yearly throughput potential. If you limit the throughput on a line it will cause goods to pile up at the station and then the producing industries will detect that and start to limit their use of that line in favor of lines that have more throughput.

[Airbus Flyer]

Ok, I found the rate of the purple line in the Line stats window, how do I limit the rate from here?

Screeshot:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2158317911

It is the Ashford/Fordingbridge Fuel D Line. Ashford and Fordingbridge are the names of the two other cities needing fuel.

[Vimpster]

Well it is already lower than you wanted it to be anyways. If there is an 800 demand that you are trying to satisfy than most of it should be coming from the other two sources as it is. If not already than eventually. You reduce the rate by either shrinking the capacity of the train or replacing it with a slower train, or if you have more trains on the line, by taking a train away. And you raise the rate by doing the opposite of those things.

[Airbus Flyer]

The thing is that, that line has been running for 27 years. I started out with 17 cars (5 capacity each, total 85) and a locomotive that could go 50 km/h. I later increased the number of cars to 25 to deliver more fuel (I can't remember when this was, don't know how to find out), and never changed the locomotive. Yet, it is still wanting to send over 250 crude oil/year through this one train when it could be sending it to the others. Also as we found out, this line has an average yearly throughput of 50 while the other line has 548. Does it take longer?

[Vimpster]

Is the line with a rate of 548 servicing two oil wells or just one? If it is just one than it is well over the rate it needs to be. If it is two oil wells than it has an insufficient rate. I thought there was 3 lines involved and you wanted one to be 100 and the other two to be 350 each? Is that still the case?

[Airbus Flyer]

The one with a rate of 548 is the red line in both pictures (Sedbergh Fuel Line), so it would be servicing two wells. They are currently only running around half full on average though. If it is two much I could remove some of the cars from each train, or I could add some as well. And yes, I still want to redistribute the amount being shipped from the three Oil Well to something along those lines.

[Vimpster]

Ok, after looking at the last picture a little more closely I gather that you have a truck line sending oil to the fuel refinery to be picked up by the red train line to be sent to the oil refinery and you also have oil coming the fuel refinery via the purple train line and is also being picked up by the red train line to go to the oil refinery. If all that is true, and if the oil refinery is at max level, meaning there is demand for 800 oil, then that means your red train line ought to have a rate of 800.

But, the oil being demanded is favoring the purple train line over the truck line. Well I knew that trains get favored over trucks but I figured if the train station was overloaded enough it would defer the demand by way of the trucks. I guess I was wrong about that. You could change the truck line into a train line and see if it would correct the issue that way. But really my suggestion would be to do away with the truck line altogether and just use the purple train line to supply the other 400 oil. It would likely be a lot more profitable than using those trucks.

[Airbus Flyer]

So you are suggesting to remove the truck route from the Oil Well in the top of the first picture, and just have the Canvey Island (bottom left) and Kendal (right side) Oil Wells supply the oil to the Oil Refinery? This way removing the need for a third Oil Well?

[Vimpster]

That is my recommendation yes. Trains are favored over trucks so that truck line just doesn't really stand a chance and it doesn't really make sense to have the truck line as far as I can tell when you have a train line that can bring in all the oil you need with just the two train lines you have. I would get rid of the truck line and up the rate of the purple line to 400 and the rate of the red line to 800.