manifold vs load balancer 1.0

[Lywelyn]

pros and cons ?

i always use manifold for aesthetic and space optimisation, what's pros of load balancer ?

[NocheLuz]

A very fast comparison

Load Balancer

- Pro: Reach 100% efficiency immediately.
- Con: Take too much space for the balancer. Especially with large Factories. Hard to expand because of the balancer.

Manifold

- Pro: Very easy to build. Easy to expand and improve.
- Con: Will take time before all Factories reach 100% efficiency.

[GAMING_Alligator]

load balancer

Is that a mod?

[dj8472]

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

load balancer

Is that a mod?

Load balancing is splitting the belts equally, say you have 9 machines, you use a splitter to make 1 belt into 3 belts that go into 3 splitters for 9 belts that each go to a separate machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbNdBT3zPo

[kLuns]

load balancer is handy if you want to reduce radiation.

[HuMaNgUtAn]

A perfect, simple load balancer with convenient numbers can look really nice (like 240 iron ore into 30 per minute smelters) and I sometimes build them purely for aesthetics.

I use manifolds most of the time but load balancers do make sense sometimes for example with biomass burners. If the fuel ever runs out you can add some in and not have to wait for the manifold before re-starting it.

[GAMING_Alligator]

Originally posted by dj8472:

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Is that a mod?

Load balancing is splitting the belts equally, say you have 9 machines, you use a splitter to make 1 belt into 3 belts that go into 3 splitters for 9 belts that each go to a separate machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbNdBT3zPo

Oh I see. Yeah I did that a few times when I was too impatient to wait for manifolds to self-balance. They always sorted themselves out eventually though.

[TH3R4BB!T]

Somehow I load the resources from the middle, so with 5 splitters using the third to load them from. It fills the machines a bit faster than manifold

[Torgonius]

As miners and belts increase capacity, it's incredibly easy to just re-belt a manifold, and add smelters to the end of the line to match the increased capacity. Build with the end in mind and leave space for those machines.

Same for constructors and assemblers.

The only time I balance is for water.

[Ydyp]

Originally posted by kLuns:

load balancer is handy if you want to reduce radiation.

Radiation and for delivering solid fuels to your power generators to make sure they all start working at the same time. You can get away with a manifold if you prime the belts and generators with the solid fuel. Though this is extra manual work.

Everything else I do with manifold as it is being said a manifold is easier to scale and a more compact setup with less resources needed.

[Ray Garraty]

It's simple. Will you need to expand the specific production line in the future?
Yes? => Manifold
No? => Load balancer

[kLuns]

Originally posted by Ray Garraty:

It's simple. Will you need to expand the specific production line in the future?
Yes? => Manifold
No? => Load balancer

It's really not that difficult to upgrade a load balanced factory.
It's a small conveyor puzzle that's very solvable.
Most of the time you got an easy multiple of a slow belt being processed so you can belt squeeze an output and done.

[Ray Garraty]

Originally posted by kLuns:

It's really not that difficult to upgrade a load balanced factory.

Sure.
But it's much easier to expand a row of manifolded machines

[Kackstift]

manifold need less space and is the best way for fast extension at the start.

load balancer is better for planed factorys where you know in advance how much input and output you need/get

[Lywelyn]

guess i'l lstick with manifold then, ty for your advises everyone.

[Kackstift]

Originally posted by dj8472:

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Is that a mod?

Load balancing is splitting the belts equally, say you have 9 machines, you use a splitter to make 1 belt into 3 belts that go into 3 splitters for 9 belts that each go to a separate machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbNdBT3zPo

splitting equal is the simples way.. and most the time load balancing is used to split uneven