how do you distribute resources equally?

[BurntFish]

im a newbie here and ive always had trouble with resource management, i end up making a lot of mistakes and weird designs just to keep iron from running too thin

[Fel]

Splitters are used to split the resources from a belt into two.

The main thing usually is less about how to split the resources and more about making more of it.
To achieve that, you place as many mining drills as you can on ore deposits and make a big smelting place for the ores that come from them.
You can get quite a lot of plates per second with the initial deposits that way.

When it is no longer enough to sustain your growing factory, you will need to start mining more deposits that are further out and bring those resources back to feed the machines.

Eventually you will use trains to bring resources from afar, especially since deposits get better as you go further from spawn.
As long as you can defend against the enemies (if you enabled them at all) of course.

[knighttemplar1960]

Usually you over produce and don't worry about it. You can also leave space between banks of machines and bring material to use in the gaps.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026741849

If you are using a bus, 2 strips are easy. You can take material off either side and use splitters and undergrounds to move the materials. With 4 belts you have to use priority splitters to move the materials from the inside belts to the outside belts. When the outside belts also start to run thin you bring in more material from the side and set up a belt merger to restock.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026746817

If you have more specific balance issues, let us know and we can give advice for the specific issue.

Edit: was adding images when Hurkyl posted.

[Hurkyl]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

With 4 belts you have to use priority splitters to move the materials from the inside belts to the outside belts. When the outside belts also start to run thin you bring in more material from the side and set up a belt merger.

To be explicit, this is the opposite of "distributing evenly" -- it is distributing the maximum to the first thing along the line and so on.

Which is a thing people do and might even be what the OP wants.

[BurntFish]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Usually you over produce and don't worry about it. You can also leave space between banks of machines and bring material to use in the gaps.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026741849

If you are using a bus, 2 strips are easy. You can take material off either side and use splitters and undergrounds to move the materials. With 4 belts you have to use priority splitters to move the materials from the inside belts to the outside belts. When the outside belts also start to run thin you bring in more material from the side and set up a belt merger to restock.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026746817

If you have more specific balance issues, let us know and we can give advice for the specific issue.

Edit: was adding images when Hurkyl posted.

thanks for the info, i didnt expect this much support :)