Multiple or Single Resources Per Train: Centralized Storage Solutions

[darkscaryforest]

I know this has been asked many times, but I ask again to highlight a goal I haven't found in these discussions:

I want a place in my train network that, eventually, has every resource for building stuff. Ex: If I need gas filters or iron rods or super computers to build something I don't want to think about where I need to go to get them- it's all available in one place.

I came up with a design on paper that utilizes something like 12 freight stations (divided into 4 stations but maybe that's irrelevant) each feeding into a sorter capable of handling 10 resources- excess of all resources are merged and shredded. The idea was 12 freight cars each having 10 resources.

I understand I'll need to balance throughput such that every resource has space on the train and believe I can calculate that fine. One big problem I can think of is that every factory hooked up to this setup must run all the time because excess must be consumed/shredded.
That seems ugly but the alternative is building a freight station for every resource which is also ugly and maybe even MORE power hungry?

I've concluded no matter how much I think about it, I really just need practical experience to know what's best. Has anyone done this? BONUS if you tried it both ways? I should mention I'm early tier 7

[The Big Brzezinski]

The railroad itself shouldn't really care what you're running or where. I tend to use it like a big section of the conveyor system, connecting machinery at different sites into the same production line. I tend to cap trains at about five cars, though, since I don't want them clogging up my intersections. I can always just run multiple trains on the same route if necessary.

Keep in mind that stations can be wide as well as long. You can split the approach among several platforms, each handing different combinations of outgoing items. Multiple receiving platforms can help increase throughput and ease sorting.

But if you've done the math and calculated all the throughputs, nothing left but to try it out.

[Grandaddypurple]

If you're thinking like this

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

use it like a big section of the conveyor system

you shouldn't have any problem whatsoever building that setup.
Shredding shouldn't be a problem either, I don't understand how ugly that would be? But you should do it at the very end of the setup (e.g after the unloading stations, and by setting an overflow system when the containers of a select item is full)

Couple of questions:
What would be your total throughput?
When you say you'll "balance throughput such that every resource has space on the train", what exactly do you mean? Will every items be spread evenly throughout all/some freight cars, or car1 will have iron rods and plates, car2 rotors stators and motors etc...? (there is no wrong answer, just to have your big picture).

Also, where do you want to build it? I know some people will be enticed to chose a central location with the argument of "it's the closest to everything" but I'd argue that once you know the map, everywhere is close. So pick a spot you like even if that's the abysall cliffs.

Either way, I built a single warehouse factory locally producing everything from iron rods to computers/heavy modular frame, and I intend to bring higher tier items through either trains or drones or turbofuelled or batteryfueled vehicles (they can go DISTANCE!!). So I can't really give you specific experience but I'd be glad to give you further input for the planning.

[Seedling]

Sounds like you are asking for a project train setup.
Basically, using storage containers, mergers/splitters and various tier belts, create a sushi belt of items that would perfectly fill 32 slots of a freight car. Keep in mind that not all items stack to the same size, the sushi belt must be balanced for that! Use different freight platforms if need be.
Fill the last 16 slots of the freight platform with fluff items, anything will do as long as it's not part of the normal cargo. These will never get loaded as long as the platform has time to saturate to max capacity.
Once the station is full, send in the project train. If you want to send it back for partial fills, make sure it first goes to another station to unload all cars so you start with empty cars again. You can recycle the unused parts into the flow by sorting them into seperate containers, and then rejoin those containers to the feeder containers with a merger.

[Doc✪Hollywood]

Originally posted by Seedling:

Hi Seedling. Could you tell me of the other machines how many you managed to put on 4x4?
Thank you very much.

[darkscaryforest]

Thank you guys for the responses. Maybe I should take a step back and say, what I'm really trying to do is build in a way that's scalable or is like utilizing a best practice. Building these setups are really time consuming and it often feels like I need to have a majority of it planned out before I can start, otherwise I could be in trouble expanding later

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

The railroad itself shouldn't really care what you're running or where. I tend to use it like a big section of the conveyor system

Yeah I see what you mean here and I guess if I'm mixing resources its just a sushi conveyor system.

Originally posted by Grandaddypurple:

Shredding shouldn't be a problem either, I don't understand how ugly that would be?

I guess it's just more power drain. I see no way for sushi conveyor belts (or trains) to ever "reach saturation" and stop producing on a per resource basis. If there isn't constant consumption (shredding in this case), one more plentiful resource could back up the belt and cause the other resources on the belt to not be produced. I guess I've been trying to come up with a general purpose solution to prevent that, that doesn't involve shredding. Does that make sense?

Originally posted by Grandaddypurple:

But you should do it at the very end of the setup (e.g after the unloading stations, and by setting an overflow system when the containers of a select item is full)

Yeah I understand what you mean here. The end of the line needs to infinitely consume the joined resources I suppose.

Originally posted by Grandaddypurple:

What would be your total throughput?
When you say you'll "balance throughput such that every resource has space on the train", what exactly do you mean?

So I didn't know the exact throughput...I just knew for *most* products I won't use more for manual building of structures than maybe 1-2 factories worth of production. So like 10-20 resources a minute, or heck just round up to a whole stack. I felt like a freight car could transport 10 stacks comprised of 10 different resources easily within the time it takes to pick them up and drop them off.

Originally posted by Grandaddypurple:

Also, where do you want to build it?

I built foundations for a large platform that could fit 4 train stations, each with 3 freight platforms, thinking each could handle up to 10 items. I don't good know if it could support ~100 or more freight platforms for the single resource case.

Originally posted by Grandaddypurple:

Either way, I built a single warehouse factory locally producing everything from iron rods to computers/heavy modular frame, and I intend to bring higher tier items through either trains or drones or turbofuelled or batteryfueled vehicles (they can go DISTANCE!!). So I can't really give you specific experience but I'd be glad to give you further input for the planning.

Well that's freaking awesome, I hope I can get to that point some day.

Originally posted by Seedling:

Sounds like you are asking for a project train setup.
Basically, using storage containers, mergers/splitters and various tier belts, create a sushi belt of items that would perfectly fill 32 slots of a freight car. Keep in mind that not all items stack to the same size, the sushi belt must be balanced for that! Use different freight platforms if need be.
Fill the last 16 slots of the freight platform with fluff items, anything will do as long as it's not part of the normal cargo. These will never get loaded as long as the platform has time to saturate to max capacity.
Once the station is full, send in the project train. If you want to send it back for partial fills, make sure it first goes to another station to unload all cars so you start with empty cars again. You can recycle the unused parts into the flow by sorting them into seperate containers, and then rejoin those containers to the feeder containers with a merger.

Yeah I suppose it is a project train in the sense that it will fulfill the goals of general construction/equipping the pioneer. I didn't consider the freight platform having more storage than the car, so that's a good tip to be aware of