Are vehicles useless?

[thecarlocarlone]

Vehicles seems to be able to act as a automatic ferry system, but why it should be usefull?

They eat a huge amount of fuel, they can't go over cliffs and need a "station" to load and unload.

Why would I ever use that feature when I could use belt? they don't consume energy or fuel, they can go over cliff and they don't need a "station"
Is there something I don't see, or is it just a feature because it's cool?

[The Big Brzezinski]

I'd like to rephrase the question; What are some common use cases for automated tractors?

[CrazyOdd]

The vehicles are quite usable, if you program there path in a good fashion.
Also, they teleport between markers, if they are more then 400 meters from you. So spread them out.

Not to mention, its usually faster to setup a vehicle, then to run a long conveyor belt.

[Verios44]

Trucks and tractors are great for long distance transport lines. And as said above can be programmed to follow a specific route. .

Their purpose is to help move material over longer distances, like connect one factory to another.

They can burn a wide range of fuel:

- wood
- leaves
- biomass
- solid biofuel
- packaged liquid biofuel
- packaged fuel
- packaged turbofuel
- coal
- compacted coal
- petroleum coke
- battery
- nuclear fuel rod (VERY NOT Recommended)

All of them have different burn rates with leaves the worst and batteries the absolute best.

A vehicle you do want to keep around lp tho is the explorer, but thats not a material transfer vehicle.

Trains require no fuel. They are electric.

[--T-a-u-r-u-s--]

i use one station with truck i didn't had resources to make t3 belts i need big delivery then t2 could handle

[JasonS]

This is honestly more of a problem of conveyor belts being overpowered than it is an issue with the trucks. Trains have the same problem.

Its even to the point that in some situations its better to pack oil into containers, ship it on conveyor belts and then unpack the containers at the other end rather than use pipes. Its kind of absurd.

[Doom]

Originally posted by thecarlocarlone:

Vehicles seems to be able to act as a automatic ferry system, but why it should be usefull?

Because when you have a choice between spending next haur dragging another 5-kilometer belt, likely running back for more resources to your base ... and spending 5 minutes to teach a truck where to go, the truck option is less time consuming.

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

I'd like to rephrase the question; What are some common use cases for automated tractors?

Hauling things over long distances and complex terrain when you don't want to bother with conveyer belts. On the last save I played I had a crystal hauling truck and coal hauling truck.
Belts take too long to setup, you'll need to waste a ton of resources on them, and then you'll need to upgrade them multiple times.

It is also much easier to reroute or repurpose trucks compared to belts.

[OBXandos]

Originally posted by JasonS:

This is honestly more of a problem of conveyor belts being overpowered than it is an issue with the trucks. Trains have the same problem.

Its even to the point that in some situations its better to pack oil into containers, ship it on conveyor belts and then unpack the containers at the other end rather than use pipes. Its kind of absurd.

Its pretty funny that Factorio ran into the same issues. It was better to use a freight car and oil barrels than the oil tanker car.

I have only gotten to Tier 3 and coal power, when do you get vehicles?

[esotericist]

Originally posted by OBXandos:

Originally posted by JasonS:

This is honestly more of a problem of conveyor belts being overpowered than it is an issue with the trucks. Trains have the same problem.

Its even to the point that in some situations its better to pack oil into containers, ship it on conveyor belts and then unpack the containers at the other end rather than use pipes. Its kind of absurd.

Its pretty funny that Factorio ran into the same issues. It was better to use a freight car and oil barrels than the oil tanker car.

I have only gotten to Tier 3 and coal power, when do you get vehicles?

last I checked, I think the basic transport vehicle was in tier 3. the bigger truck is tier..5? i think? trains are i believe tier 6

[aY227]

Originally posted by JasonS:

I have only gotten to Tier 3 and coal power, when do you get vehicles?

At T3 - Vehicular transport :)
But if you combine some exploring of crash sites (Hvy modular frames/motor) and MAM quartz research you can have Explorer really fast.

[Shahadem]

Originally posted by JasonS:

This is honestly more of a problem of conveyor belts being overpowered than it is an issue with the trucks. Trains have the same problem.

Its even to the point that in some situations its better to pack oil into containers, ship it on conveyor belts and then unpack the containers at the other end rather than use pipes. Its kind of absurd.

That's not conveyors being OPed but pipes being ♥♥♥♥ because they require electricity. While conveyors should also require electricity that would require the devs to rework the entire game for such a massive widesweeping change.

[OBXandos]

Originally posted by Shahadem:

Originally posted by JasonS:

This is honestly more of a problem of conveyor belts being overpowered than it is an issue with the trucks. Trains have the same problem.

Its even to the point that in some situations its better to pack oil into containers, ship it on conveyor belts and then unpack the containers at the other end rather than use pipes. Its kind of absurd.

That's not conveyors being OPed but pipes being ♥♥♥♥ because they require electricity. While conveyors should also require electricity that would require the devs to rework the entire game for such a massive widesweeping change.

Conveyors don't directly require electricity, but they do conceptually. Every structure they attach to requires power except the storage containers. You could assume that power flows from these machines into the conveyors/spliters/mergers.

[Mister Fabulous]

I was bugging out about running belts to move rubber and plastic when I started getting into oil production. Then I looked at the truck. I wasn't even using tractors before this. I kinda thought the same thing, "What am I gonna use that for?"

Now? No, I'd rather not spend thousands of items worth of resources to build a belt from east bumblef**k to wherever. Build roads with concrete as needed to navigate cliffs as that's much more abundant by the time you're using transports than the higher tier mateials for the belts.

Build 1 truck, station, container packed with fuel, program route, forget about it until I have to load more fuel. Or have them stop at a fuel depot somewhere and just blitz through since there is nothing to pick up.

It's whatever you want to do. Some people build "sky bridges" everywhere and run miles of belts over those and avoid the logistics of navigating the ground completely. I'd rather not have to produce 50,000 aluminum plates to upgrade my belts to mark 5, and then whatever comes after that to mark 6 and beyond.

[Lektronize]

Originally posted by Verios44:

All of them have different burn rates with leaves the worst and batteries the absolute best.

Do you know where I could look those burn rates up? Just the Satisfactory Wiki. Currently figuring out what the best fuel for my trucks are given my current situation

[umop-apisdn]

There's a chart at https://satisfactory.fandom.com/wiki/Vehicles#Fuel_consumption - I would assume lots of people miss it, because it's not expanded by default; you'll need to click the word "Expand" to see it.

[umop-apisdn]

Oh, and to answer the question about why one might use vehicles instead of belts, the vehicles impact performance much less than belts do, over longer distances. Whether or not the graphics are being rendered (ie, regardless of whether you can see them), each and every item on a belt is being tracked by the physics engine; assuming an average of 1 item per meter of belt, a 5km belt has 5,000 moving objects on it. According to the interactive map,[satisfactory-calculator.com] my current playthrough has about 42 km of belts, and I'm not even that far... I'm still setting up fuel generators at the moment.

Aside from that, vehicles carry a lot of items, and most of them (not counting the cyberwagon) move roughly as fast as the belts, if not faster. A Mk5 conveyor moves at 56.16 km/h; The tractor and factory cart move at 55 km/h, the truck moves at 75, and the explorer can hit 90. Trains can do 120, and drones can do 250. Factoring in that most vehicles can carry quite a large amount of material per load, and belts start to make less and less sense as a logistics tool, the longer they get.