Any point to conveyor junctions?

[Toastie Buns]

If they act like cargo containers, should I just replace all junctions with small cargos?

Is there any performance boost to using a conveyor over a container?

[casualsailor]

I believe junctions cost less materials as junctions. They mass less but use more power.

Early on it was required to have at least one in each loop but that requirement was removed.

I'm not sure about the performance cost difference but it can't be much. Most performance costs are related to triangles required to render the block or the activity of the block such as a gun or refinery.

So, to answer your questions, you can confortably use whichever you want without concern for a performance cost.

[Toastie Buns]

Sweet.

I know of the dark times of the past, I was just weighing up my options when I learnt that containers (like junctions) check all sides regardless, so I'm on a plumbing mission, sir.

Thank you for your input. Now back to spaghetti piping!

Edit: To clarify for any newer users that might be confused why this is even a question; it seems pipes just check both ends of the connection and can be as long as you like, wheras junctions check all sides for a connection...constantly. Just like cargo containers.

[ShadedMJ]

I somewhat disagree although I might be misinterpreting either/both of you.

Conveyor junctions do not hold cargo themselves but require less resources than small cargo containers. Conveyor junctions also require slightly more resources than the conveyor tubes or curved conveyor tubes. Their main point is to provide branching or intersection points between conveyor tubes. Having a lot of conveyor junctions should affect game performance, but I haven't seen it much myself.

[casualsailor]

Originally posted by ShadedMJ:

I somewhat disagree although I might be misinterpreting either/both of you.

Conveyor junctions do not hold cargo themselves but require less resources than small cargo containers. Conveyor junctions also require slightly more resources than the conveyor tubes or curved conveyor tubes. Their main point is to provide branching or intersection points between conveyor tubes. Having a lot of conveyor junctions should affect game performance, but I haven't seen it much myself.

Yeah, I don't think there would be much of a performance difference. There will be a hit when the grid is scanned to verify if there is a queued instruction to remove something from or place something in that storage container which will not happen with the junction.

But that's a pretty small operation.

@Toastie Buns You may be right that during the grid scan all six sides of the junction as well as all six sides of the small cargo container are checked to see if a change in connection occurs. So, I suspect the performance cost for that is the same for both.

Tubes obviously will have 4 less sides to check. But again this is a pretty small operation so unless you are talking about 100s or 1000s of conveyor tubes vs conveyor junctions I can't imagine it being a performance hit that one would notice.