Steel mill is shipping, but not fast enough

[Saber Kitsune]

So I have a steel mill sending out steel for both a machine factory and a goods factory. It's shipping steel out to both of them just fine. However, the line for closer machine factory receives significantly more steel waiting to be sent out than the distant goods line. ~1/4 of a train load is already waiting by the time a train clears the station, but the other line barely manages to fill a single wagon.

Frequency is the same for both lines, inputs and outputs of the steel mill are full, the steel mill isn't running at its production limit yet, and the machine factory is both having its needs met and producing enough end products to ship out. Given that the goods factory is starved for steel, it should be able to increase production to meet demand. And yes, the goods factory is being fed with planks; in fact, it's requested so much, that it actually has more planks stored than there's ore at the steel mill. It's also connected up to cities to complete the chain.

Thinking that the machines factory is stealing some of the steel by being closer, I ripped out the lines for the machine factory, leaving only the goods line. I thought all the production that was for the machine factory would then be routed for the goods factory. I mean, it was working at a high rate earlier, so it should work fine right? Nope, it just disappeared, slowing to the same trickle rate of steel that was being sent out beforehand.

I know there's a cost limit of sorts that determines how far something will go. In fact, I had to swap in a slower train so the ticket price is low enough that steel can even be shipped on that line in the first place. Does the distance affect how much will be shipped, even if it's within budget? I've even waited like 20 in game years, thinking that it'll need time to ramp up due to the long distances involved.

So yeah, any ideas why the goods factory isn't ordering more steel?

[canophone]

The goods factory is further away. Cargo prefers cheap. Price is set by distance and mode. Generally, cargo will prefer ships to trucks to trains to planes.

[Saber Kitsune]

Originally posted by canophone:

The goods factory is further away. Cargo prefers cheap. Price is set by distance and mode. Generally, cargo will prefer ships to trucks to trains to planes.

I mean, I kinda get that, but where exactly is the cutoff in cost, when there's a drop in the quantity of items shipped? I forgot to mention I have a planks line running in the opposite direction to the machines factory. This line isn't as long as the steel line, maybe about 75-80% of the distance but it's still capable of sending out full trains bound for the machines factory. And this is with my original engine; didn't have to swap a slower engine to lower the ticket price. It should also be noted the slower train for the lower price is parked in a siding, and the workhorses that actually move the items are the same across both lines.

I've tried shipping via boat, but it seemed to just stop producing steel for that line altogether. Game did recognize it as a path, as it shifted some of the steel that was waiting at the rail station to the harbor. Would the travel time of the original route have something to do with it? Even if it's the cheapest and the only option, if it takes too long to traverse, can that affect it?

[Randy Lahey]

I have the same issue all the time...never able to produce enough steel for some reason. Iron, Coal, Planks I can produce like crazy. You pretty much have to use trains too as the game does not properly allow trucks to use different lanes on a 4 or 6 lane road, so you just get them stacked up waiting behind each other. Makes me wonder what the point of a 4 or 6 lane road is anyways?

[canophone]

Originally posted by George Costanza:

I have the same issue all the time...never able to produce enough steel for some reason. Iron, Coal, Planks I can produce like crazy. You pretty much have to use trains too as the game does not properly allow trucks to use different lanes on a 4 or 6 lane road, so you just get them stacked up waiting behind each other. Makes me wonder what the point of a 4 or 6 lane road is anyways?

They have different speed limits in this game. Yes, I'll avoid using bus lanes, because there are ways to manipulate the lanes the different lines use, but they'll only use the bus lanes if you add them.

Also, there's the line rate per year that has to be approximate across the chain (a little more in later parts of the chain).

[SBGaming]

Originally posted by George Costanza:

I have the same issue all the time...never able to produce enough steel for some reason. Iron, Coal, Planks I can produce like crazy. You pretty much have to use trains too as the game does not properly allow trucks to use different lanes on a 4 or 6 lane road, so you just get them stacked up waiting behind each other. Makes me wonder what the point of a 4 or 6 lane road is anyways?

The game does allow all lanes on a road to be used, you just have to understand how the game utilizes lanes.

Vehicles tend to prioritize taking the shortest path. If a road is curved in one particular direction, it will prefer the 'inside lane', inside being inside the curve. If the road curves to the right, the preferred path is the right lane. Coming back the other direction the preferred path is the left lane because it is on the inside of the curve. It would be nice if Waypoints could be selected to have a line use a particular lane on the road to force lane usage, but unfortunately we don't have that option.

Intersections create a place where a vehicle can change lanes, and a vehicle will generally be in the left lane if it will be turning left off the road coming up, or in the right lane if it'll be turning right. Her's an example where different lines utilize different lanes:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1810500394

If you want different lanes to be utilized you need to be thinking about how those lines enter and exit a road, and whether the game will treat a particular lane as the preferred.

In my Truck Fever series, I even managed to get all six lanes of an XL Street to be utilized by Bus as well as Truck traffic on the Main Route through Wichita Falls.

[Randy Lahey]

I think you're all misunderstanding the issue. If you are trying to deliver planks or steel to a goods/tools factory with trucks (from one station to a single goods/tools truck station) the trucks don't have the capacity (even with the mods I use) to keep up with the demand as they stack up behind one another on the road (they will all be turning the same direction into the station). Even creating separate lines won't work as they still tend to use the same lane and/or wait for the other trucks to turn into the station.

Another issue is balancing the raw materials supply properly. If I need more coal and increase the number of cars, then the iron ore needs also increase as there is pent up demand for steel. I will then increase the number or cars on the iron ore trains (which were full before) and all of a sudden the ore mines just stop producing for several months which throws the whole production chain out of whack. It's annoying to say the least.

[canophone]

FYI: The road truck station mod does use 3 input and output lanes, even from the street. But your question was "what's the point in 4/6 lane roads" with the assumption that trucks will only use a single lane. And hence my answer. In late game, 6 lane country roads have a 100km/h speed limit, 4 lanes 80km/h speed limit. And with multiple truck stations/terminal routing they do use multiple lanes.

PS (9 truck lines with multi-lane usage on needed max speed roads that don't crisscross, between the same two road truck stations; it's free-flowing when without any intersections): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1435889310

[SBGaming]

We're not misunderstanding the issue. We're trying to explain how the lanes work, and what you can do to minimize conflicts. My simple example showed two separate lines using different lanes where there'd be minimal conflicts. It's all about understanding why a line uses a particular lane.

With the vanilla truck stations I would only ever use the smaller of the truck stations and a maximum of two lines per truck station. The entrance is very narrow, creating a bottleneck. I will often use the high capacity truck station in Canophone's example when I have multiple lines converging, or use a series of single terminal mini truck stations and place them so that they are all within range of each other, creating a larger overall freight yard, and utilize different routes in and out of the area to minimize conflicts. If you get past the idea that you need a single truck station 'to rule them all' at a hub or factory and you're creative you can find ways to get them to efficiently flow.

[Randy Lahey]

Ok, good tips, thanks. How would you get anything to use the middle lane of a six lane road?

I am using the high capacity truck station mod...unfortunately that one doesn't show up until later in the game. I have the industry mod on and plop down a tools and goods factory at one large train station with a truck station in between the two for (what I assumed was) maximum efficiency. I also have a food and bricks factory on the other side of the station.

So I bring in raw materials with trains to the large station and deliver goods with trucks/trains out of that station. The biggest thing I always forget is that things won't move across stations automatically, so steel/planks need to be on the same side as the goods/tools factories, or you have to use trucks to deliver the short distance to the other side. This is where the massive bottleneck happens.

I do hope that TPF 2 has solved this issue either automatically, or with the use of waypoints to assign individual lanes, which would be far more realistic.

[SBGaming]

Catchment area should be able to pass through a train station (even a passenger station), so the issue is most likely a matter that the truck station on the one side of the train station is too far away from the destination on the other side, requiring the shunter line to get things across. When placing stations, buildings will highlight white if they are in range, but sometimes even if it appears it's within range, you have to double check by clicking on the station.

Based on what I've seen so far from the development videos of Transport Fever 2, we should have better line/road tools to give us better control over where vehicles can go. One of the videos in particular shows a bus in a bus lane to the furthest right make a left-turn on an advance green for the bus itself.

I tried looking for one of my Truck Fever saves with the example of 6-lane usage in Wichita Falls, but I must have moved the saves elsewhere.

Here though is a convoluted example from that same save with a series of truck stations operating as a larger cargo hub, and routing of lines as best I could to minimize line conflicts. Sometimes it's the creative usage of waypoints and truck stations that enables lines to use the inside most lane of a 6-lane road, with the understanding that it'll use that lane if it'll be eventually turning left.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1819176704

[canophone]

Middle lane sample:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1820470465