Crossing roads with conveyors -- a headache

[foxpyt]

I have now about 200h in this game. I like it very much. But one thing bothers me and it is really a headache. It is the logistics of crossing roads and rails with conveyors. Also crossing with heating or electricity is a headache but it is less due to underground solutions.

In my save I have a little town of about 8'000 people and now I want to expand to the middle of the map and make everything a bit bigger. I am expanding with rails and roads and construction office and electricity. The intermediate construction office needs materials and gravel. I am transporting it with cargo train.

And it is difficult/impossible to arrange cargo station, construction office, the others infrastructure building to avoid the need of crossing with conveyors.

I have downloaded different conveyor mods. They help a bit, but often new problems arise: the construction office does not have access to build the conveyors of the modded converyor towers.

After having destroyed a tird time all my slowely built constructions I quit the save/game and I am playing other games at the moment until my motivation returns.

Maybe there are tricks to avoid this problem. Or am I the only one who struggles with this topic?

[Bastardo]

Most modded coveyor towers have either road or pedestrian access. Have you tried using the pedestrian paths?

[MrKrabs]

If you have a mod conveyer engine with a footpath you need to consider the following :

Two conveyer engines with footpath next to each other you need helicopters to build the conveyer belt between, for road vehicles won't have access to it.
One side of the belt need to be an engine with a road.

The same goes for pumps and electric substations.

[bballjo]

Conveyors are more difficult, yes, but there are simple solutions.

Understand that they need a height, the vanilla conveyors always start on the ground and end up high, so they run at an angle, you will often only be able to place anything under them near the high end.
I find it easier to build the road first, and then place conveyor buildings so that they connect, sometimes you just need multiple engines to get things connected. Sometimes you have to terraform and add a dip below the conveyor to allow enough clearance for infrastructure below. Most of this requires appropriate spacing, or planning.

I do agree that the vanilla engines are suboptimal. If you connect at a 90 degree angle, the road connection often argues, and even if you don't, the connections are not what you expect. I wouldn't play without the mid conveyors from offtherails.

[oldschool]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1913737282
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1985971143
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2114329588

You should be able to come up with a solution to any reasonable setup with this combination of conveyors, as stated already dont use footpath conveyors until you have heli construction setup

there are similar mods for dry bulk allowing for similar solutions

[melkij]

Originally posted by foxpyt:

Also crossing with heating or electricity is a headache but it is less due to underground solutions.

Just in case: you know that the height/depth of the pipes can be changed with the Q and E buttons, right?
I understand the difficulties of conveyors you write about, but I am surprised by the difficulties with pipes.

Roads can be made under the conveyors: between the conveyor supports and if the height is sufficient.
You can dig a little under the conveyor with an excavator. Or raise the ground level to put the conveyor tower itself a little higher

[Silent_Shadow]

Try building your stuff on a hill. Conveyors going uphill tend to make plenty of room for a road below if you cut the ground back towards the uphill facility.

[foxpyt]

ok, thank you - a lot of good tips. I forgot to say that I have to roads side by side and none of the mods has a solution for that and the the conveyor support does not span over two roads.

Originally posted by MrKrabs:

If you have a mod conveyer engine with a footpath you need to consider the following :

Two conveyer engines with footpath next to each other you need helicopters to build the conveyer belt between, for road vehicles won't have access to it.
One side of the belt need to be an engine with a road.

The same goes for pumps and electric substations.

Ok, I forgot that. Helicopters can be a solution...

Originally posted by oldschool:

You should be able to come up with a solution to any reasonable setup with this combination of conveyors, as stated already dont use footpath conveyors until you have heli construction setup

there are similar mods for dry bulk allowing for similar solutions

Non of this solutions span over two roads or I have to rearrange the roads...

Originally posted by melkij:

Just in case: you know that the height/depth of the pipes can be changed with the Q and E buttons, right?
I understand the difficulties of conveyors you write about, but I am surprised by the difficulties with pipes.

Roads can be made under the conveyors: between the conveyor supports and if the height is sufficient.
You can dig a little under the conveyor with an excavator. Or raise the ground level to put the conveyor tower itself a little higher

Originally posted by Silent_Shadow:

Try building your stuff on a hill. Conveyors going uphill tend to make plenty of room for a road below if you cut the ground back towards the uphill facility.

No I have not difficulties with pipes (until now). Hmm, little bit of terraforming could help...

ok, could give a litte bit motivation again...

[SimoGlass]

Some screenshots of your setup would help us to give more specific suggestions (don't feel embarrassed, we've all gone full spaghetti at some point or another).

As somebody who obsessively and inadvertently builds in the tightest spaces possible it usually comes down to finding the one or two pixels where the game will squeeze in a conveyor for whatever reason.
If you're planning on crossing conveyors over large areas of infrastructure I'd probably recommend using cableways instead. Providing you can find sufficient space for the stations and towers cable-car networks can span much larger gaps than conveyors, albeit achieving a lower throughput.

If you insist on using conveyors over large spans then the "Conveyor towers" mod is a must-have. Since conveyors are (arguably) the most fickle infrastructure to deal with you'll probably have an easier time laying out the conveyors out first and then trying to wiggle everything else underneath where you can.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2775725874
This chemical plant setup would otherwise be impossible without the tower mod. Even then it still took a lot of fiddling to get the towers in just the right places.

[foxpyt]

Originally posted by simoglass:

If you're planning on crossing conveyors over large areas of infrastructure I'd probably recommend using cableways instead. Providing you can find sufficient space for the stations and towers cable-car networks can span much larger gaps than conveyors, albeit achieving a lower throughput.

Interesting Idea..

Originally posted by simoglass:

....you'll probably have an easier time laying out the conveyors out first and then trying to wiggle everything else underneath where you can.

Yes, I now think this is probably the best way to do...

[pieterjan]

When you sculpt the terrain of your republic, you can make much neater crossings.
If you put roads lower than the surrounding area, bridges and conveyors are much more easy to place.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2775744257
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2775741628

[B4rberblacksheep]

Honestly I don't think I could play this game without the modded conveyors. I'd go absolutely mental.

[huj.]

mods mods and again mods, and dont regret a space for the industrial area cos you will want to use trains, make more roads, more fabrics etc.

[oldschool]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2775915694
proof of concept, conveyor crossing my blvd. Its the modded conveyor with 1 in 3 out, you just have to fiddle with both conveyors and get them the right distance away from roads

[dragonflyer]

I actually found it better to build conveyors before the roads, with the road considerations in mind (try to line up spaces between support on the high side), and then figure the road network out. It probably helped that I generally prefer trains for bringing the workers in, and roads are basically an afterthought, there for construction crews and the occasional fire truck. It's much better with mods, though. I love the conveyor towers, especially.