Why would there be need for electric inserters when burner inserters work fine , why would there need electric mining drills when burner mining drills can do the job ? why assembling machines MK2 and 3 when MK1 can assemble things just fine ? Well maybe because it's fun to get a sense of progressio...

If you do your signaling correctly at intersections you only get slowdowns / stoppages if the trains physically cross the same track. While this is true, it only works well with small nimble trains that can handle stopping multiple times. Larger trains suffer greatly at a crossing, and many crossin...

The biggest weak point of the train system are the intersections. Large numbers of trains have to stop at a crossway, which cripples their speed and is only really viable for small nimble trains. If a large train has to stop, you lose a ton of time and fuel as it has to pick up speed again, never mi...

Yep. Practice your trains, they're super amazing for moving a LOT of stuff quickly. Don't be intimidated, it doesn't take that much iron to get your first train line going. Some of your early research topics are more expensive than a rail line, seriously. Outpost: - Run a rail line outside the outpo...

Gates already open shouldn't close when a train is approching.

That'll get you INTO the crossing. If the exit gate is closed you're still toast.

Me thinks you'd be looking for one way locks, which keep things out but not in.

So you're minding your business and walk through one of these gates. They suddenly lock because of an approaching train, with you inside. What now?

You have a power source that can not be small scale, which can ONLY be run by experts, which KILLS its experts, which causes its construction materials to decay, in a way that's both difficult and dangerous to diagnose, the government's always breathing down your neck because they want it weaponized...

The problem with Vehicles is that they're not an early game thing, since setting up Engine production is non-trivial and resource-intensive. What? Making engines for the personal car isn't difficult. The highest tech is green science, and the manufacturing takes iron, steel, and a bit more iron. Ta...

Don't forget that a vehicle roboport can use the vehicle's inventory. This means hauling twice the goods or more, since the player's inventory gets loaded down with other stuff. And if you place it on a conveyor belt the whole thing can MOVE. Plus shields plus automatic turrets if it uses suit modul...

Steam power uses LOTS of water. 20 engines will completely saturate 2 pumps and the pipe, and the flow decays with distance. You simply won't be able to store the water or move it in any useful way. There is also the death trap of running out of power, which turns electric pumps off and kill your st...

Blueprints exist because the player already went through all the sweat and tears of building a previous base. Ultimately, blueprints should be something that the player carries with them BETWEEN games. The function of a blueprint catalogue should be the ability to save/load/use blueprints from disk,...

Wireless power transmission is neither efficient nor large scale.

It would be suitable for recharging a player's suit battery or adding more autonomy to drones. But you'd sooner boil a river than transmit enough energy to power a factory.

airplanes will need to clear runway before they can take off or land and airports would be limited by size to hold 1-4 planes too long wait? So just like build more runways? It's the same issue if a player runs too many trains through one station. Even then the whole point of cargo planes is to do ...

The personal roboport looks amazing, but running dozens of free energy drones from the player instead of a dedicated drone vehicle seems kinda cheaty. There's no way a suit can generate power of that magnitude! But then again we're talking about a player inventory that can hold enough rocket defense...

Well as it is right now the tubes are AUTO built when the needed tubes are in the supplying chest How does the tube network get built? If an AI can automatically place tube tiles, it can place train tiles just the same. If you don't need to construct a physical pathway, then it's just another flavo...

The alt overlay can also just place important icons where they're needed, so nothing is really hidden. Another option is to make elevated rail fatter, such that horizontal lengths don't allow hidden stuff behind them. Standard rail is already 2 tiles wide, a little wider isn't going to hurt anything...

So it's a train, except it flies? Build enough air strips and you won't need trains anymore. No, fuel use is not a limiting factor. Fuel is infinite and a depleted pump is still enough to supply half a dozen trains. A large structure also isn't a limiting factor. Train tracks and stations take up HU...

So? Power poles hide stuff behind them and they work just fine. Just make the sprites have enough transparent pixels to see stuff behind them. Elevated rail can't be interacted with so it has little use inside the base. It can also stretch for long distances, which is something underground rail can ...

There is no 100% clean nuclear power ever.

Yeah, so? Coal power makes more nuclear waste than nuclear power, and that stuff doesn't even have to be contained. Trace elements in bulk add up.

If you're playing on peaceful settings and ludicrous resources, by all means buffer away. There is no downside to building up piles of resources. If you have aggressive biters and limited resources, buffering is BAD. Why? - Every industrial action in factorio generates pollution. - Pollution spreads...