Space Belts

[dxmc]

I don't understand how space belts work and can't find any explanation anywhere. When i try to place a space belt it places three belts. One belt has very small shapes, the belt beside it has really huge shapes. I have no idea why or where they could have come from. And when you place a miner it only uses one of the four slots. And I can't get a space belt to connect to any other platform.

In the in-game help it shows a space belt being placed, but it's just one belt, not three. There's no explanation for why it would be trying to create three belts side by side, or how these things are supposed to connect. And why the extremely different size shapes ?

If somebody could give me a few answers I'd appreciate it. There's really no way of knowing if it's just bugged or whether key info is just missing. Thanks in advance.

[Inspector Callahan]

Youtube would probably be most helpful here. Trying to explain this in text isn't easy.

The space belt can transport 3 levels worth of shapes, so to show this they broke the belt into thirds.

Each of the platforms have entry/exit points - you have to build the ramp piece on those entry/exit spots to get shapes from the platform belt and onto the space belt. Then it should appear on the appropriate third of the space belt itself.

The same process applies on the 2nd and 3rd levels within the platform. If it exits the platform on the 2nd level, it enters the space belt on the 2nd level and would enter the next platform on the 2nd level, and so on.

[dxmc]

Thanks for that. I figured out that there's only regular size shapes going on to the belt, but when you pull the camera back they show as much larger. But I can't figure out how to delete a space belt, the regular delete doesn't work. I think the other two belts are intended to connect on a different level, but it doesn't look like you can do that in space, maybe you can it's just very confusing. And nothing is really explained in-game.

I suppose I could check out some YouTube vids, I just get tired of the commercials. This game just doesn't feel very intuitive. It doesn't really make sense to me that it shows all three possible belts at once., with no explanation as to what the other two belts do or how or what they connect to.

OK i got the delete problem figured out, and I figured out how to connect the space belt, I think I have it more or less figured out but I still don't really get the thing with three belts.

[Fronto]

Originally posted by dxmc:

OK i got the delete problem figured out, and I figured out how to connect the space belt, I think I have it more or less figured out but I still don't really get the thing with three belts.

I'll try to help. So, do you see the 12 'slots' that you can fire shapes into at the beginning of the space belt? For each of the four leaving positions of a mining platform there are three slots, and they map to each of three belt heights you could connect to that one exit position.

So you could connect a ground height belt AND a middle height belt to a single leaving position of a mining platform (or foundation), right. If you did that thing (try it and see) then you would see that you had shapes in the dark grey lane of the space belt (from the ground height belt) AND you will see shapes in the lighter grey lane of the space belt (corresponding to the middle height belt). When you have bought the third height of normal belts, you'll be able to use all three lanes of the space belt.

So you can fire all sorts of things at a single space belt and direct what you want at the other end by using the height of the receiving belt.

[dxmc]

^^Thanks for that explanation, I appreciate it. I think I've basically got it, maybe in future they could expand their in-game help because the problem I've had here is that I've played a lot of building games, like Factorio and Satisfactory, and this is very different in the sense that most building games tend to have similar mechanics for producing and placing belts and other basic tasks. But this is different because the game introduces multiple levels of different mechanics. Normal belt on a platform, space belt off-platform, the connections between different mechanics are a little confusing.

I still think it's an improvement over the first one and a good game overall, It's just EA, it's going to get better over time.

[tripbillie]

Don't feel bad about not quite understanding space belts - I can remember discovering that I could route stuff from the second level onto a space belt and being like "oh, that makes things easier" (the space belt visuals used to be different, and there was no visual indication at all that 3 levels of shapes could be put onto a belt all at once).

At the core of it though, a space belt is equivalent to a platform with 12 belts (4 belts per level) going straight through it with no other buildings/processing done on that platform. I believe the speed of your space belts is the same as your normal belts.

[CaptainFlint]

No, space belt is much faster.

[tripbillie]

Originally posted by CaptainFlint:

No, space belt is much faster.

According to the in-game info windows, space belts are the same speed as belts. Both have a base speed of 60 shapes per minute before upgrades. The "x 12" on the space belt window means that it is the equivalent to 12 belts (when fully utilizing all 3 levels).

[CaptainFlint]

@tripbillie
You are talking about throughput. That is, indeed, the same. But the actual speed with which the shapes are moving on the belts, is much higher for the space belt.

In other words, you'll still be getting the same amount of shapes per minute, but the shapes you drop onto the space belt will arrive earlier than if you use a platform belt.