Is there a good use for the train?

[Pahbi]

Its a cool mechanic.

But I can't really think of anything I would do with the train that I can't do faster with the large vehicle.

[BaneBlackGuard]

it's WAAAAYYYY easier to establish rail service to cave locations than to try to make a path for ground vehicles

[Random™?]

a train is automated, you can send it on its own, or call it to any post and it will be there no matter where it is on the track...

ground vehicles require you to pave a path to be able to drive there, this is solved with a drill and paver. but overall, you can just slap rail posts down and have a trail of power and o2 while being able to call the train to you at any point in time

easiest way to show this off is when traveling though caves like BaneBlackGaurd said... just take a few bundles of rail posts, since theyre so cheap. and walk your way through the caves dropping posts, any time you find something you wanna send to the surface... just call the train down load it up, and hop on. youll be able to return to the EXACT SPOT you left off

side note: using the tracks as tethers makes deaths no inconvenience, as long as youre somewhat near the track when you die. you can just take the train back to where to died, collect your stuff and continue on, there isnt a need to re-equip yourself to go back (this is more impactful on planets like Aatrox where plantlife and fall damage can kill you pretty easy if youre not careful)

[Pahbi]

I don't really see the improvement in efficiency.

The only efficiency I can think of for the train is your playing multiplayer. One player can mine and fill up the train, then send it back to base for other players to empty and return.

A couple large rovers with drills, pavers, crane and storage is still vastly more efficient at mining, and a rover can make its own roads.

[Random™?]

Originally posted by Pahbi:

I don't really see the improvement in efficiency.

The only efficiency I can think of for the train is your playing multiplayer. One player can mine and fill up the train, then send it back to base for other players to empty and return.

A couple large rovers with drills, pavers, crane and storage is still vastly more efficient at mining, and a rover can make its own roads.

look at the cost of everything you just mentioned, and trains are actually more useful in single player than they are multiplayer. since youre able to setup a system that will not only MINE the resources, but also transport them.... (i have a full 400 canister of astronium that is automated. once i set it up, it mined and transported 400 from the core to the surface AUTOMATICALLY)

train setup: rail engine (1resin/1 aluminum/1cooper) 3 u/s power, 5 cars: totaling... 10 resin/5 aluminum 1 u/s power (per)....

that is a total of 8 u/s power, and 1 resin/1 aluminum per 10x railposts

large rover setup (singular):2x exo chips, aluminum alloy, rubber.. takes 1u/s power, but can only drive 16 seconds without sustained power.... now to add the other things you need to make it work...

paver

drill

soil canisters

qt-rtg (i'll give that one to you free)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
instead of having to dig up soil in order to be able to pave a road, you just plop down railposts... and if youre clever... you can use railposts to actually dig FOR YOU...

but i feel the part that youre missing 100% of.... YOU DONT HAVE TO DRIVE THE TRAIN... its something that you can fully automate, its something that can be called to any point in the track... you dont have to dig a bit.. get back in the rover.. .drive it up.. dig a bit more

the issue is how good it is compared to the cost. and in late game, it makes auto extractors GODLIKE, since you never have to check on them. just run a track out to where you want to set one up... you have a power supply FROM THE BASE, no more rtg tables.... and you always have instant access right back to it... and if you wanna go a step ahead, you can set it up where it automatically fills the train, sends it back to base... unloads it at base... and sends it back to the extractor to be loaded again

if youre unable to see how that improves efficiency, then youre either trolling or blind


PS:... if youre saying that trains are "improving efficiency" because it doesnt mine as well as a large rover.... youre the same type of person to say that a fish is bad at swimming because it cant climb a mountain.... it does literally everything else better, and like i said. if you know what youre doing... you can dig so much more effectively with the RAIL POSTS... you dont even need a train, just the posts

[Le'Stranger Wuv'Bottom]

Originally posted by Random™?:

Originally posted by Pahbi:

I don't really see the improvement in efficiency.

The only efficiency I can think of for the train is your playing multiplayer. One player can mine and fill up the train, then send it back to base for other players to empty and return.

A couple large rovers with drills, pavers, crane and storage is still vastly more efficient at mining, and a rover can make its own roads.

look at the cost of everything you just mentioned, and trains are actually more useful in single player than they are multiplayer. since youre able to setup a system that will not only MINE the resources, but also transport them.... (i have a full 400 canister of astronium that is automated. once i set it up, it mined and transported 400 from the core to the surface AUTOMATICALLY)

train setup: rail engine (1resin/1 aluminum/1cooper) 3 u/s power, 5 cars: totaling... 10 resin/5 aluminum 1 u/s power (per)....

that is a total of 8 u/s power, and 1 resin/1 aluminum per 10x railposts

large rover setup (singular):2x exo chips, aluminum alloy, rubber.. takes 1u/s power, but can only drive 16 seconds without sustained power.... now to add the other things you need to make it work...

paver

drill

soil canisters

qt-rtg (i'll give that one to you free)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
instead of having to dig up soil in order to be able to pave a road, you just plop down railposts... and if youre clever... you can use railposts to actually dig FOR YOU...

but i feel the part that youre missing 100% of.... YOU DONT HAVE TO DRIVE THE TRAIN... its something that you can fully automate, its something that can be called to any point in the track... you dont have to dig a bit.. get back in the rover.. .drive it up.. dig a bit more

the issue is how good it is compared to the cost. and in late game, it makes auto extractors GODLIKE, since you never have to check on them. just run a track out to where you want to set one up... you have a power supply FROM THE BASE, no more rtg tables.... and you always have instant access right back to it... and if you wanna go a step ahead, you can set it up where it automatically fills the train, sends it back to base... unloads it at base... and sends it back to the extractor to be loaded again

if youre unable to see how that improves efficiency, then youre either trolling or blind


PS:... if youre saying that trains are "improving efficiency" because it doesnt mine as well as a large rover.... youre the same type of person to say that a fish is bad at swimming because it cant climb a mountain.... it does literally everything else better, and like i said. if you know what youre doing... you can dig so much more effectively with the RAIL POSTS... you dont even need a train, just the posts

This.

[Lystent]

I guess extenders are almost obsolete now, with the exception of tight spaces and one-way currents. The rails alone serve as very cheap power lines.

[Pesky]

It takes a lot of careful effort to carefully drive a vehicle down to an Astronium mine. On a train you press the 'w' button and wait a minute, watching all the spooky caverns go by. Or you can set up automation and just have the train do the journey without you.

Apart from Random's excellent answer, setting up automation, then standing back and watching it working, is satisfying and fun. Want to ride past your friend while he's working, honking a truck horn at him as you go past ? You can ! Make a rollercoaster, using short and tall track and sculpting supports wherever you want them. On Desolo ! Got a suspicious-looking plant seed from Atrox that you died three times trying to bring back to base ? Send it on a perpetual ride to hell where it gets swapped from one train to another at the end of each piece of track.

[Yinan]

Frankly, digging down to the center of a planet is SO much more convenient now thanks to the rails. Just place down rail posts instead tethers and you can call the train any time and have much more storage space because you can put stuff on the train and drive back up again with ease.

That alone makes it so much more convenient to me.
Also it unlocks much earlier than the big vehicles and the drill/paver, so this method will be available much earlier.

It's also very fun to drive around with it.

You can also automate transportation from Auto Extractors with it, so that is an additional bonus.

So more than enough reasons to use a train.

[Ryuukaze]

I just set up a couple rails with autoextractors and some auto arms and used aluminum alone to complete the current event. If you need a lot of 1 resource, they're very nice.

[Pahbi]

Naaah, I'm still not seeing it as more efficient than the large rover.

But I think the problem is I loaded an advanced save that had everything under the sun, so the train really wasn't that useful.

If I was starting a new game, I would get the train long before I get the rover, and it would be useful then. Looking at the resources for the station, rails and cars, I'd put the train at early/mid game.

Automation and auto extractors are mid/late game, but I could see using the train to mine and deliver resources for some in game event. Auto extractors take forever and a day to mine, you do get a lot of bang for your buck.

Setting up something new and interesting just for fun is a part of the game, so all in all I'm glad to see the trains.

[Material Defender]

Thing is, with automation, it works even while off planet, so you could simply visit just to replace full containers with empty ones that filled while you were off working on automating the very next planet.

With trains, you don't even have to visit the sites of automation, just the station(s) at the planetary base.

[Pahbi]

Originally posted by Material Defender:

Thing is, with automation, it works even while off planet, so you could simply visit just to replace full containers with empty ones that filled while working on automating the very next planet.

With trains, you don't even have to visit the sites of automation, just the station(s) at the planetary base.

I guess.... maybe....

I'm not knocking the trains, I just think I'd have to start a new game before I find any real use for them.

Just for fun, I could setup auto extractor stations on all the planets I guess.

[Random™?]

Originally posted by Pahbi:

Naaah, I'm still not seeing it as more efficient than the large rover.

But I think the problem is I loaded an advanced save that had everything under the sun, so the train really wasn't that useful.

If I was starting a new game, I would get the train long before I get the rover, and it would be useful then. Looking at the resources for the station, rails and cars, I'd put the train at early/mid game.

Automation and auto extractors are mid/late game, but I could see using the train to mine and deliver resources for some in game event. Auto extractors take forever and a day to mine, you do get a lot of bang for your buck.

Setting up something new and interesting just for fun is a part of the game, so all in all I'm glad to see the trains.

how do you see a large rover to be more effective? what perks does a large rover give that a train does not give?

edit: if youre using a save that already has everything, nothing new is going to be of use for you, because you already have everything you need, but as stated prior... you can setup a fully automated system that will have all your resources ready for you at the landing site, no matter where the node for that resource is...

astronium is the most valuable resource due to it being able to be traded and scrapped for 1:3... so a container of 400 astronium is worth 1200 scrap... that 1200 scrap can be traded for whatever you may possibly need... now, imagine having multiple mines for it set up... that you never have to go down to check on other than to maybe move your auto extractor

trains are early game.. and they TRIVIALIZE the mid game..

[Lystent]

Large rovers have a XL slot, which could be used for the xl shredder. large rover trains also can have more slots than a railroad train, thanks to the railroad train's car limit. Finally, rovers are not confined to preplaced rails, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The effectiveness of either vehicle varies based on the task at hand.

[Random™?]

Originally posted by Lystent:

Large rovers have a XL slot, which could be used for the xl shredder. large rover trains also can have more slots than a railroad train, thanks to the railroad train's car limit. Finally, rovers are not confined to preplaced rails, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The effectiveness of either vehicle varies based on the task at hand.

true that the train doesnt have an XL slot, but a rover train is limited by its size, you can have multiple trains setup on the same track for infinite storage transport if you choose to

trains are also MUCH faster, so unless youre setting up a mobile scrap, which is pointless since you can setup an automated astronium>scrap (and the astronium is in plenty of supply since your TRAIN automates getting it to the surface)

so the large rover has.... digging.. so if youre still using a soil>material system in late game, and like turning your planet into swiss cheese, then use the large rover.... but there isnt something that you can convince me that the train cant do better/offer an alternative solution