buffers/train unloading

[Lothos]

I'm reworking the entrance to my factory at the moment and have been debating whether or not to buffer ore before input. For one, I want to accomodate train unloading which I have not setup yet. And I also want to allow my mines to finish deposits much faster without letting the ore backup on input.

This also plays into the question about how many input lanes do you guys run on your factories? I mean, I know trains people tend to go with 4 cars max and do a double unload for 16 lanes, but then I see alot of those bring it down to 8 or 4 lanes to process immediately after. I'm considering leaving it at 16 lanes though and go with 4 branches of 4 lanes for smelting. Copper and Iron. My main bus has 8 lanes of copper and 6 iron thru the factory.

[Lothos]

wow, nobody around this weekend with actual insight?

[Acarin]

Okay, I will tell you how I organise things (when not using a smart furnace layout):

Lay out your furnaces in 'arrays' so that each set fills one belt. Using electric furnaces with no modules, that is 24 furnaces for standard belt, 48 for fast belt or 72 for express belt. Obviously, set them up with half for each side of the belt, so one red belt of iron plates requires 24 furnaces on each side.

Furnaces produce 1 plate of iron or copper for each 1 ore input. Therefore, to get one fast (red) belt of output, you need one fast belt of input. So for your 6 belts of iron plates, set up as above and feed one red belt of ore into each furnace array, organising your train unloading accordingly. With 6 belts, this is easy as you can unload to 24 chests (6 per side per cargo wagon), moving to 4 belts (one belt per 6 chests), merging to one or two furnace lines.

It's a game of numbers when you ask questions like this - work out what throughput you require, and how much you need to supply to meet that need.

On my biggest base, for example, I am working towards 19200 plates per minute of both iron and copper (8 blue belts each), which needs 384 furnaces in total (using Speed Module 3 beacons to run at 300% speed) for each resource. Using 1-4-0 trains, I need to deliver and unload 8000 ore every 24 seconds. However, I take the 'easy' route of using logistics bots to move all ore from my unload chests over to my furnace belt feeder chests, as this saves on a lot of belt balancing and messing about...

Here's a screenshot of my bootstrap furnace layout (entire furnace array was bot-based rather than using belts). This was later all moved over to my bigger main bus build.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772073309

[Lothos]

yeah, I think in the end numbers are going to suck. I have to go back to a calculator and see what my input demands are or that I can meet. I think the bottleneck I am going to run into is simply how fast the blue belts can run. I may end up trying to figure out how many blue chips I want for example and making a sub factory to simply produce enough to feed a solid belt worth of blue chips.

as of right now I have 288 furnace smelting copper and 336 doing iron. I have enough coming in to keep the iron side steady now but any hiccup with copper ore supply causes my green chip production to stutter and it trickles on down the factory.

[RazPootis]

I recommend smelting the ores at the mining site and the have at least one row of steel chests to pick up the plates when the train is not at the station.

This will cut out the "middle man" of having a seperate facility for smelting ores, therefore saving time and resources. Although the downside is that without robots to automatically construct the setup from blueprints, It may take quite some time to set up the smelting system. Plus it takes up extra space meaning you have more area to defend from the aliens and unless you have electric furnaces, refueling them can be a pain.

[KatherineOfSky]

Originally posted by Grimlock:

I recommend smelting the ores at the mining site and the have at least one row of steel chests to pick up the plates when the train is not at the station.

There are a couple of problems with this...

1. it creates a ton of pollution at the oupost site -- not great if you don't have decent defenses.

2. You have to move the smelting every time your ore deposit runs out or runs low.

Much more efficient to have a centralized smelting facility to bring ores from different mining sites.

[Acarin]

And smelting centrally permits the use of smart furnaces, where your smelting switches according to factory need between iron and copper (and, if you're really clever with circuits, steel and/or stone) automatically, thus reducing the number of idle furnaces.

[RazPootis]

Originally posted by KatherineOfSky:

Originally posted by Grimlock:

I recommend smelting the ores at the mining site and the have at least one row of steel chests to pick up the plates when the train is not at the station.

There are a couple of problems with this...

1. it creates a ton of pollution at the oupost site -- not great if you don't have decent defenses.

2. You have to move the smelting every time your ore deposit runs out or runs low.

Much more efficient to have a centralized smelting facility to bring ores from different mining sites.

I already made note of these issues. I stated that my method is easier with the use of construction robots and blueprints, and I also mentioned the need for increased defences at these mine/smelter combo sites.

I have seen other people use this setup for massive scale production. I have used both setups and I personaly find that not having a centralized smelting complex makes it easier for me to increase production without needing to modify a foundry for handling larger ore intake.

[RazPootis]

Originally posted by Acarin:

And smelting centrally permits the use of smart furnaces, where your smelting switches according to factory need between iron and copper (and, if you're really clever with circuits, steel and/or stone) automatically, thus reducing the number of idle furnaces.

If you want to go for mass production, then your factories will always be in need of resupply and you will have no "idle" smelters.

Having your furnaces at the mining site allows you to accomodate for the needs of that individual source, this way you can get optimal efficiency.

[impetus_maximus]

only buffer i use for unloading ore is going from train to chest, chest to belt. balanced unload image[imgur.com] with that setup, inserters don't pick up again unless every inserter is emtpy. makes for faster train uloads since no chest is favored or ignored. no need for 900 splitters for even unloading. connect all arms that are unloading chests from the same car (wagon).

blue belts are not worth it IMO. if i need more speed/throughput i just use more red belts.