Trains first impression

[Hexacosichoron]

I picked this game up about a week ago, having heard how much people are loving it, and also that trains were unlockable at some point. I enjoyed the challenge of working my way to unlocking trains.

After nearly 100 hours of play including a couple of restarts, I finally unlocked the trains. I had this "great idea" of making a central train station as an elevated one in the middle of my complex near my Hub on some foundations.

Station Size:
When I tried to place the station, I discovered that it was not just 2 or 3 sections wide, but slightly more than 4 sections wide, and once I finally placed it it dominated the complex, competing even with the base of the space elevator with it's presence. Considering the train itself is only about the width of one section, this is far too big to fit into an efficient factory layout. I'm thinking ideally it could be 2 foundation sections wide, but no larger than three sections.

Train: The train itself is rather cool. The way it accelerates and brakes has a great feel to it. If anything the trains could stand to be larger, with the track staying the same size

Track: The track looks pretty cool. It could use some pillars for bridges, and some thickness underneath for elevated sections. and switches appear not to have been figured out. I can make a branching track from an existing one, but the tracks just clip into one another and there's no clear way to navigate the train onto the branch track.

This is a great game with a lot of depth so far, and I look forward to seeing how the trains are fleshed out going forward.

[Cigarette]

Never unlocked the train, since i never had anyone to lend me a hand. Heard they worked well though.

[Liobuster]

trains arent meant to be a core part of a factory they are meant to be an appendix to any given factory on the map
more like being a core part of the map

they replace long range power pole chains
they can replace any other means of traversal around the map
and they can replace these long ass belts you have probably been building

[DrNewcenstein]

Trains aren't meant to run through your factory. They move large quantities of materials over long distances and offload into containers that supply your factories, or into truck stations for remote distribution.
They do not replace trucks, they enhance them.

[DrNewcenstein]

Originally posted by Sir. Vapenation:

Never unlocked the train, since i never had anyone to lend me a hand. Heard they worked well though.

You don't need multiplayer to unlock trains.

[Captain Crispy Bacon]

Originally posted by Liobuster:

and they can replace these long ass belts you have probably been building

If they were at earlier stage, then ok. But why rebuild something that already working? I already have my belts in place, why i want trains? They useless.

[Mojo]

Originally posted by Liobuster:

they can replace these long ass belts you have probably been building

I like more long ass belts! lol.
Seriously though, sometimes belts are better suited in some situations over a train.

[Liobuster]

mostly because i dont wanna bother with upgrading 20+km of belt just to increase throughput especially once oyu reach stages in which a single plant can produce more than a mk4 belt full of resources
which means stacking which is also quite tedious to do
so simply laying tracks does all that while also giving you an energy source at every destination and a method to actually get to that factory fast(er than tubes)

[Ext.]

Originally posted by Munchkin Peyote Dorito:

Originally posted by Liobuster:

and they can replace these long ass belts you have probably been building

If they were at earlier stage, then ok. But why rebuild something that already working? I already have my belts in place, why i want trains? They useless.

you'll find that some resources are not extremely abundant. Uranium for example can be found in like 3 or 4 places. very likely your base is no where near one of the uranium patches.

[EntreNous]

I basically build one large train station in each biome. All items within a biome are belted or trucked around. Trains are used to move mass quantities long distance between biomes.

[Hexacosichoron]

Originally posted by Liobuster:

trains arent meant to be a core part of a factory
and they can replace these long ass belts you have probably been building

I've been using automated tractors where belts seem impractically long. I do really like the truck stations and tractors

[FreeMan | Black Tiger]

Originally posted by Liobuster:

trains arent meant to be a core part of a factory

Wrong, because you can make trains a core part of a factory based on the design.

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

Trains aren't meant to run through your factory. They move large quantities of materials over long distances and offload into containers that supply your factories, or into truck stations for remote distribution.
They do not replace trucks, they enhance them.

Wrong, I run trains through my factories, inside factories and through factories from factory to factory.

I have one factory producing all the base components for the three base space elevator parts and it offloads at a train station directly connected to the factory that produces those space elevator parts.

They do replace trucks if you use them to replace your truck routes, so no idea what you're on about there.

Seems like I quoted all the "there is only one way" or "my way or the highway" people.

[Kraft51]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

Trains aren't meant to run through your factory. They move large quantities of materials over long distances and offload into containers that supply your factories, or into truck stations for remote distribution.
They do not replace trucks, they enhance them.

says you, the project i'm working on has to main transfer rings at the bottom. they are part of the highways that lead to and from resource repositories, the second pair of rings transfers components to and from factories at that production phase. have you ever attempted using tractors or trucks for short range factory transit? with your general attitude towards trucks i would assume not.

Trucks, Tractors and Trains have ONE purpose ... resource transportation, how is that NOT a core part of any factory?

[Cigarette]

Originally posted by Liobuster:

trains arent meant to be a core part of a factory they are meant to be an appendix to any given factory on the map
more like being a core part of the map

they replace long range power pole chains
they can replace any other means of traversal around the map
and they can replace these long ass belts you have probably been building

Meh. It depends on a person.

Personaly i use trains to transport cargo from a distance via my highway network.
I have the train deliver all items to the Hub, where everything is located.

On another world (My modernized looking builds) i have the train go through the town.

[🍋 Lemonfed 🍋]

I use train mostly to expand and start new bases because it's fun to ride with them around the map.

for me they're more about transporting manifactured product rather then raw materials.

if something is going to be used to go to another machine it's usually near enough for a belt to do the job.

[Shahadem]

It would be nice if we had more prebuilt train pieces that operated like the links for pipes/belts. Trying to maintain raised train tracks is a pita.