3 ms·

The right way to do that is trains. A fully compressed, stacked belt is 960/s, but a train can easily hit that throughput as well (and even exceed it). And they

by bigstrat2003 4mo ago

The right way to do that is trains. A fully compressed, stacked belt is 960/s, but a train can easily hit that throughput as well (and even exceed it). And they are much easier to set up across long distances than belts are.

LorenPechtel 4mo ago
A train can easily move more than 960/s, but the train isn't always moving. To actually exceed 960/s over time with trains gets some massive stations. And a track is two spaces, thus two belts can fit. Even just blue belts gives 1440/s for the same space. Your first item delivers a lot faster with trains, and when you're dealing with stuff that spoils the faster transit is a big benefit, but for the most part I find trains underwhelming other than on Fulgora where you don't really have a choice.
- rcxdude 4mo ago
  You can also fit multiple trains in that 2-wide space, though. The flexibility of a train network is pretty powerful.
jswelker 4mo ago
The throughput of the rail is nearly infinity, but you will still be bottlenecked by the speed of inserters and belts on loading and unloading. I think of trains in best case as a highway that temporarily merges many belts together across a long distance before splitting off again at the end. Ultimately they are about saving space and keeping the infra tidy.
- computably 4mo ago
  Inserters have a max throughput of 120/s each chest-to-chest, 12 inserters can (un)load a single cargo wagon so 1440/s per-wagon. So 6:1 belts:wagons, a massive speed advantage over long distances, and much more flexible M:N distribution.
  - reitzensteinm 4mo ago
    M:N distribution itself has been massively devalued in Space Age - it’s so cheap and easy to build everything from scratch in situ with the new production buildings. Eg you don’t need city blocks making circuits, just pipe in molten metal and make them with foundries and EM plants. And then you also get steel, copper wire, gears, whatever else you might need. There are a few exceptions of course, like lubricant for electric engines, but it’s not nearly as complicated as it was pre Space Age.
computably 4mo ago
Huh? I thought a stacked belt holds 4x60=240/s edit: It does seem to be 240/s: https://wiki.factorio.com/Transport_belt_capacity_(research) https://wiki.factorio.com/Transport_belt_capacity_(research)

LorenPechtel 4mo ago

A train can easily move more than 960/s, but the train isn't always moving. To actually exceed 960/s over time with trains gets some massive stations. And a track is two spaces, thus two belts can fit. Even just blue belts gives 1440/s for the same space. Your first item delivers a lot faster with trains, and when you're dealing with stuff that spoils the faster transit is a big benefit, but for the most part I find trains underwhelming other than on Fulgora where you don't really have a choice.

rcxdude 4mo ago
You can also fit multiple trains in that 2-wide space, though. The flexibility of a train network is pretty powerful.

jswelker 4mo ago

The throughput of the rail is nearly infinity, but you will still be bottlenecked by the speed of inserters and belts on loading and unloading. I think of trains in best case as a highway that temporarily merges many belts together across a long distance before splitting off again at the end. Ultimately they are about saving space and keeping the infra tidy.

computably 4mo ago
Inserters have a max throughput of 120/s each chest-to-chest, 12 inserters can (un)load a single cargo wagon so 1440/s per-wagon. So 6:1 belts:wagons, a massive speed advantage over long distances, and much more flexible M:N distribution.
- reitzensteinm 4mo ago
  M:N distribution itself has been massively devalued in Space Age - it’s so cheap and easy to build everything from scratch in situ with the new production buildings. Eg you don’t need city blocks making circuits, just pipe in molten metal and make them with foundries and EM plants. And then you also get steel, copper wire, gears, whatever else you might need. There are a few exceptions of course, like lubricant for electric engines, but it’s not nearly as complicated as it was pre Space Age.

computably 4mo ago

Huh? I thought a stacked belt holds 4x60=240/s edit: It does seem to be 240/s: https://wiki.factorio.com/Transport_belt_capacity_(research) https://wiki.factorio.com/Transport_belt_capacity_(research)