Single train unloading station for all raw materials.

[Vincefeld]

Is it really worth it to setup circuit network connected to all train stations, make complicated splitter-sorter system with buffers connected to network to control overflow?
Will it even safe cost, ups or space? anyone tried and happy with results?
Currently thinking if its even worth it instead of regular train stacker with its own unloading station on each fork.

Edit: Another concern would be needing lots of blue belts, inserter upgrades and complicated throughput setup for at least 8-12 lanes. so its impossible early and even midgame.

[brian_va]

do you mean like 1 central station where it using circuits and whatever to request and sort and deliver all the products; plates, circuits, and all that?

[Vincefeld]

Originally posted by brian_va:

do you mean like 1 central station where it using circuits and whatever to request and sort and deliver all the products; plates, circuits, and all that?

its just for raw materials. and on top of that having single unloader for everything.

[brian_va]

ive done a few "bulk transfer hubs" as i called them, raw ore came in from the mines (on massive trains, 2-30s i believe) and put on smaller trains (2-8s probably but it was a while back) to go to the smelters as the longer trains would plug up the rail network. and each ore type had its own station, if you only had 1 for everything i think you would be throughput limited, if that matters.

it worked well enough, i believe i circuit controlled it so they sat in a stacker if ore wasn't needed. using circuits to set a train limit based off storage would work as well.

[Shurenai]

No, It's not really worth it. Throughput alone would be a limiting factor- You'd be spending a lot of space making it all sort out and in best case scenario you're still only getting a single train worth of throughput at a time of whatever material is currently unloading while getting 0 of anything that isn't unloading.

With stackers and dedicated stations, though, you get a full train unloading worth of throughput for every station you dedicate to the task.


It might save ups, maybe (doubtful imo), and it would save space Overall to have a single somewhat larger unloading station than to have a dozen small ones.. But in the end, the throughput issue is imo the killer. If you're using more than one train to move material, throughput is essential.

[Chindraba]

Probably not, unless it is.

Nothing you can do in the game is "worth it" unless it's something you wish to do AND solves a problem you've created for yourself.

If the 'purpose' is to answer the question "can I do this?", then it's probably worth doing. If the purpose is to solve some problem, maybe it's worth it, and maybe there's a better way.

There's a bit problem with finding a "better way" however. Each way to do something requires some choices and rules out others. Which is 'better' depends on how you measure 'better'. If it's time to build, the answer can be different than if the measure is space to build, itself different from raw resources to build or electricity to run.

If it's a challenge you think sounds interesting, start a new map - copy an old one, and give it a try. Either you learn that it can't be done (no likely most of the time in this game), or you decide you don't like how it works and choose a different solution. Or, you could learn a new thing which hasn't been done yet and surprise all your friends. Sounds odd in a game this well played, but the possibilities are nearly unlimited and they cannot have all been done yet.

Just have fun, or switch methods.

[Khaylain]

Generally I think the best solution is to smelt at the ore patch if you've got electric furnaces, since that doubles the amount of resources you can fit into a single train. Of course, there are some things that require ore itself to make, which makes it a little bit more complex.

I don't think I would make a single station to take in all ore and sort it. Now, you can make a station blueprint that you kinda just have to change the name of the station to the "ore type" for loading and unloading ( you're going to need one for each). I think I remember "Madzuri station" being a term that was used.

I don't think you'll save anything by trying to have one station to unload. It's more complex mentally compared to keeping loading and unloading stations for specific items, not to mention that I believe it will probably be more computationally complex to make a system for it to work flawlessly instead of keeping things separated and avoiding the trains mixing.

[Khaylain]

BTW, you can name several train stations the same, and a train will go to the closest one it can. You can set train limits on the stations so only x trains will try to go there at the same time, which means that you can have 3 trains going to 3 different stations named the same instead of all 3 trying to go to the same station.

[brian_va]

a central station can work, but you'll likely want to use multiple stops there to allow multiple trains to come and go. i watched a base tour video years ago where someone made a several thousand science per minute base where all the products filtered through a well configured central station. trains came and unloaded when product was needed and came and loaded up when other stations needed stuff. seemed to work well enough but it was more than a 5 minute job to set it up.

[Vincefeld]

Originally posted by brian_va:

a central station can work, but you'll likely want to use multiple stops there to allow multiple trains to come and go. i watched a base tour video years ago where someone made a several thousand science per minute base where all the products filtered through a well configured central station. trains came and unloaded when product was needed and came and loaded up when other stations needed stuff. seemed to work well enough but it was more than a 5 minute job to set it up.

i just use some signals to make trains wait in a stacker next to station.

[knighttemplar1960]

If all you are doing is a single rocket launch, then maybe and even then only if you set it up long before and blue printed the set up to save the time of designing it again. If you are building a larger base then, no. A single station won't give you enough through put even if you unload the materials into active provider chests and empty them with upgraded logistic bots.

The time it takes for a train to pull into a station, empty each cargo wagon with 12 stack inserters per wagon, and then pull out to make room for the next train will be the limit for your throughput for a single station.

[kevinshow]

well you're mentioning "single train unloading" so now, you don't need fancy logic rail network for this.

you can make a huge base, bringing in lots of resources, expanding the base and not even need to have more than 1 or 2 train systems. a literal north-south and east-west train system can keep you going for several hundreds of hours with simple train systems.

but that's the beauty of this game. you can achieve things with basic setups or fancy setups.

[Нагризолич]

The biggest setback would be routing trains through all the mining outposts and is frankly unnecessary, unless you have a situation where it is unavoidable (e.g. a mod where every ore patch is a mix of literally every type of ore), therefore it is possible, but I wouldn't go for it without a mod for filtered loaders and warehouses of different sizes.
But as an intentional challenge it is possible and wouldn't be that much more complicated than dedicated resource trains, however unnecessary that would be compared to meta. You don't even need any circuits for that other than enabling-disabling for stations to avoid overflow on one resource to prevent deadlocking the entire thing.

[Vincefeld]

Originally posted by Нагризолич:

The biggest setback would be routing trains through all the mining outposts and is frankly unnecessary, unless you have a situation where it is unavoidable (e.g. a mod where every ore patch is a mix of literally every type of ore), therefore it is possible, but I wouldn't go for it without a mod for filtered loaders and warehouses of different sizes.
But as an intentional challenge it is possible and wouldn't be that much more complicated than dedicated resource trains, however unnecessary that would be compared to meta. You don't even need any circuits for that other than enabling-disabling for stations to avoid overflow on one resource to prevent deadlocking the entire thing.

so what your saying proposed method is not meta at all? what is factorio meta way then? preferably i wanna play efficiently. Didn't come up with this idea to be gimmicky challenge.

[Нагризолич]

There's no universal meta in Factorio, there are metas for specific tasks that may be vastly different, sometimes mutually exclusive. The classic semi-spaghetti base meta is just stations scattered throughout your mini-bases that need certain resources, preferrably with smelting iron and copper via electric miners immediately adjacent to ore patches, so that trains would carry plates right away. You name all source stations the same and turn them on only when you can load at least one train, and set train limit to one, and make different destination stations with one or more trains dedicated to them, i.e. you have 4 iron patches all named "Iron Load" and 3 factories with stations named "Iron R&G Science", "Circuits" and "Ammo Factory".
The "main bus way" being a strange waste of time, revolves around centralised production, therefore you will have one big resouce hub with stackers and a single station that would unload stuff on both sides of a train, one for each resource.
The city block meta is to have hundred trains with one or two wagon go around the place with a depot that would store your trains where they would refuel and wait for both source and demand stations to go active when their reserves go high or low enough to accept a train without it having to stand there waiting. You do need lots of trains though, several for each type of resources you might have to carry. Not as bad for vanilla, mental for overhaul mods.
What you proposed is a method of delivering building supplies and defence materials like ammo and extra walls to automatically maintain inevitable losses on remote walls, but it's usually done through filtered wagon slots and require filter inserters to route materials to their dedicated storage chests. Not because it's terribly efficient, but because of sheer amount of different stuff that you don't need a lot of individually, and getting a specific train for each is utterly unnecessary. And, as I mentioned before, it works for mods like this https://mods.factorio.com/mod/bb-mixed-ores , although I'd separate resources per wagon instead of mixing everything together like a sushi train.

[brian_va]

Originally posted by Vincefeld:

Originally posted by Нагризолич:

The biggest setback would be routing trains through all the mining outposts and is frankly unnecessary, unless you have a situation where it is unavoidable (e.g. a mod where every ore patch is a mix of literally every type of ore), therefore it is possible, but I wouldn't go for it without a mod for filtered loaders and warehouses of different sizes.
But as an intentional challenge it is possible and wouldn't be that much more complicated than dedicated resource trains, however unnecessary that would be compared to meta. You don't even need any circuits for that other than enabling-disabling for stations to avoid overflow on one resource to prevent deadlocking the entire thing.

so what your saying proposed method is not meta at all? what is factorio meta way then? preferably i wanna play efficiently. Didn't come up with this idea to be gimmicky challenge.

Efficient is kind of relative. A large centralized sorting station isn't really efficient or necessary if you're out to launch a rocket or two and call it done. If you're going to go beyond that, and many responding here do myself included, then maybe it can be.

I think most are going to do specialized stations, where it makes one thing and ships them to where they are needed. This feels the most efficient to me, as you can have these stops really focus on massive quantities of a single item, iron plates or green circuits for example. But at the end of the day, efficient doesn't mean anything if you aren't having fun with the game. Sometimes doing something silly because it's fun is the point.