Most excellent replies good people. New patch huh, what's new? Guess I'll go take a look. I don't even know the official release date but - I can't wait anyways! Yeah for my playstyle a building store is way better than a bus. I'm not fixing to get achievements, I'm fixing to have creative fun. If a...

I understand there is some (unwritten) call for efficiency, but really, the obsession with X amount of resources per minute is only justified if you are actually using said resources. Here's a week of my life I'll never get back :D 50 hours of pure creative fun. I have one way and two way train syst...

Good call Breith. I thought it was winding up just looking like a main bus too. It amused me to play along and watch my creativity blend into the homogeneous thought of people who 'do it right'. :D I do like mixing the ores and coal, makes a lot of sense. The wee splitter turning the lines double - ...

So, in the first post you say you're insulted. Then you post again to inform me I'm a hypocrite.

Check your approach, better still check it at someone else's door. This is a game, but you are not fun.

Now I think the system can support a store, I can automate a few things, upgrade and expand smelting, automate some more, by then the oil researches will be through. I do wonder if I shouldn't have automated belts right at the start and then replace where they're made later. I do like your smelting ...

OK. So I'm trying to take all this in and produce an environment that works in and out of the sandbox. The original post was aimed at a building store but it has become obvious that what occurs post building store (smelting, science) is important for longer-term game dynamics and shouldn't be scrimp...

Agreed Breith. This set-up is transitional, trying to enlarge it as the game goes doesn't work it dilutes my efforts. But in early game it's a great thing to have and I only find it starting to crawl once I have red circuits to be built. I tried a main bus with gears and circuit lines it was clunky....

Doh :D There the pictures are... That third picture shows my folly with copper lol. It looks really good in so far as the concept goes, and the things you automate are all useful. I made a really sweet set up to show you how the concept creates a really compact red/green sci depot as well but I forg...

Looking forward to images when you can post them. i was allowed to upload images on first post, just not url's. Yes the iron is definately an issue. The gears help condense it a bit, but if there's a shortfall early game, it is always iron. You did notice I ran a new smelting line in the original po...

Yes I've been mucking round with it a bit. The concept is sound my design has plenty of room for improvement though. I'm smelting split lines recently they work well but again there's a limit to throughput. The copper is interesting, I may have to rethink it. Gears and circuits are what really makes...

The throughput of ore is one mining drill to one smelter - this is double what it needs till I upgrade smelters then it works just fine. As for being insulted, you can be insulted if you want. This is the first attempt at the concept and it works great, I've since improved it a fair bit but I'm stil...

Yes you're right. But when I swing back by for another run at the area there is still some jobs for copper. On the return run (pictured) the circuits were feeling redundant for a long time.... I put the gears/circuits in a single line and then added a line with steel/stone ore. Some bricks are comin...

I've had a lot of early game practice cos I get to the middle and screw it up completely :D I've gone through a few iterations of automating 'the stuff on my toolbelt' to make the game flow easier. One problem I kept encountering was blackouts. They sneak up on you when you're busy creating, especia...

Thank you I'm glad my creativity is appreciated. I did consider mixing a gear/circuit belt it would further compact the design but.... When I swing by and pick up a bunch of gear heavy stuff (buildings and mass inserters) it takes too long for the gears (iron) to recover compared to the rest. This b...

I like the main bus concept but find that belts full of all manner of items, while relatively simple, are rather wasteful of both space and resources. For early game I've devised a system that puts (almost) all your building requirements in one easy to get at place. First get your red/green science ...