How to balance the FARM properly?

[Snowwie]

This is driving me mad. I have a farm. Plenty of farms there, also silo randomly spread around because otherwise if you stick too many of them too close together it will be a mess of in and outgoing trucks that will block up traffic. But I don't get it. I have for example a silo, set the balanced, still it's like 99% full, and right next to it, is a flower mill screaming, "not enough resources", same goes for the Animal pastures. So I feel like going into a deadlock:
- If I build more silo's then traffic completely jams
- If I don't build enough silo's then the stuff is exported
- I already try to put both the silo's and the crop farms and fields NOT on the main road in the hope traffic will continue, but at some place trucks are doing very weird things, like making complete U-turns.
- Should you make a farm with only one way roads?
- Is there a way to create a collection area filled with silo's without creating a traffic jam?
- Is there a way to FORCE the crops to the factories/buildings, in this case the Milking Parlor, the Flower Mill and the Animal Pastures?

But, not only with Farm this is happening, also with oil the same troubles. What kind of balance do you need? What roads are best? One way roads? Keeping the buildings as much as possible on the right side of the road (already tried btw), or do I need more Commercial in the area so the stuff can go straight there?

Any insight would help.

[Mr. Monday]

Have you tried shutting off the extractors to see if the processors start getting fed by your storage?

[MortimerCat]

I am finding the best way is start with a minimal production. One crop field, one silo Let it run for a few games days, then check the stats. You will probably the silo has plenty of trucks in reserve and is coping, so then add another crop field. Wait a few more game days, see if your silo is coping with the increased supply. Add a cattle field and animal product warehouse, see how they cope. Take things gently. Finding the supply/demand balance for your city is the key.

Someone has created a spreadsheet that lets you calculate the industry needs. https://www.reddit.com/r/CitiesSkylines/comments/cfttql/industries_dlc_optimal_ratio_of_extraction_to/ It is tempting to keep planting, or extracting, but this creates problems as the industry struggles to export it. The spreadsheet gives you an idea of the quantities you need to keep the factories supplied.

The other problem you will face is that the buyers at the flour mill will shop around for their goods. You will find that sometimes they have imported goods although the warehouse next door had stock available. I do not have an answer for this, apart from to say it happens in real life too, so you cannot say it is not realistic!

Once you accept that deliveries will come from elsewhere, you can alleviate the problem by having good transport links, i.e. a goods train next to the industry. You may still run out of stock but only for a short period of time.

You can exacerbate the problem if you have the equivalent industrial zone elsewhere on the map. You will find that your industry is importing from the industrial zone, along with increased delivery times. Either dezone, or at least make sure there is a good transport link available - i.e, a goods train at both sites. I have even run an underground express highway to reduce delivery times after I accepted that "Daves Farm" will be the main supplier to my flour mill.

So to summarise, start small and slowly build up the business. Remember "no stock" is not always solved by planting more, it can also indicate delivery problems.

[MarkJohnson]

It sounds like you have excess exports. Either lower them or add more cargo trains to get them off the streets.

A cargo ship is great if you are close to a shipping lane.

Also, cargo airports will help.

[Zenstrive]

You're right, don't put silos together because they will cause jam
Also the entrances of industrial buildings would fare better if put on one way road, with four lanes minimum
The roads connecting them should be two ways six lane roads.
Also if you have train stations, put the entrances on one way roads too.
One or two silos are enough for each farming area.

[Snowwie]

I already finagled my way in trying to get better results in regards to mining, and yes, most of you are correct. In general if you want a successful Industries these are the keywords:
- Start small, just one silo is fine. One of each building is fine too.
- Don't make one massive extraction field at one spot
- Simple don't build too much silo's, they generate a whole bunch of traffic.
- And because of this traffic, your silo's remain FULL and your factories are screaming for products. (this always eluded me how this was possible, now I know better).
- Make sure a cargo station, harbor or airport is close by for export, but also sure you make the access road to it pretty long, create a sponge like road that can soak up the oncoming traffic.
- Ban cars from your Industrial area, let your workers come by metro or regular train (I prefer metro, which is much easier to put and does not sit in the way).
- Put your buildings on the right side of the road, and if possible, make your production 'line' in such a way, that traffic always has to take a RIGHT turn, and use one way lane roads so traffic won't go back. Only create like a sneak road around the area for SOS and Trash services only. Otherwise these guys cannot go back.
- When you want to produce your own unique products make all 4 of these items come together by cargo train on one spot and build your stuff there. From there make sure it can go back to the commercial area's of your city and export.

I highly recommend the unlimited outside connection mod, so you can make more than one connection to the outside world.

[rdngmikey]

I started a city for the sole purpose of figuring out Industries and here are some current screenshots.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1942048534

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1942048877

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1942049196

So a few things that i have learned.

* Make sure Extractor output Equals Processor output. Otherwise trucks will get tied up exporting.

* Trucks make deliveries and Exports, they do not pick up or Import. Your Processor will not send trucks to the storage facility to pick up supplies, so if your storage trucks are all exporting, the processor will Import. This uses an outside truck, your processor will not send one out.

* A single storage facility is sufficient for a basic level 5 area.

* Once a Unique Facility is built that requires raw materials, ensure that the Extractor output is increased only enough to meet demand.

[rdngmikey]

Since the last post I've gone in and added every Unique Factory.
Here are the current screenshots.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1942144895

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1942144108

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1942144454

[FlameWar]

Besides the other good stuff that has been said here, I foudn 2 mroe things that can be very helpfull:

1) If you have multipel silos, keep 1 on FILL setting. It will act as backup for the other silos to keep oyur processor supplied. it'll cost a bti at first as it imports, but that quickly goes away, and it won't export at all, btu still fill delivery requests when over 75% or so of it's inventory.

2) I found a good way to set up silos to maximise traffic efficiency (and make traffic at individual silos more obvious) is to set up a straight 1-way road(I ofudn highways to be good for that), then set up small strips of normal 1-way roads with 2 lanes parralel to it. Connect them to the 'main' 1 way road (I found it works well with highway off-ramps) and set 1 silo on each side of that small stretch of 1-way road.
That way traffic will flow freely through your main 'silo acess road' and branch of for the small strips where the silos are. On those silo strips they wil lthen right away branch otu to the left and right lanes depending on what silo they want, so the usual holdup at a bsuy silo with al lthe in-and-out traffic of a building only slows down it's own delivery, nothing else.

Takes a bti of space, btu runs seemlesly, is easily expandable by adding mroe silo strips, and for easy import/export traffic you can make bridges or udnerground streets go directly from each end of the silo acess lane to the street your cargo terminals sit at, be they train or ship.