Along the same lines as this "Loader" I've had an idea. A device that would pull from an underground belt beneath it and then output to the arrow. There are a lot of ways the underground layer of Factorio could be better used. This is actually a good way to tie in with my earlier suggesti...

(see viewtopic.php?f=8&t=20663&p=131435#p131435 for some screenshots of a more "compartmentalized" factory with lots of trains )

Progress: Blue science The basics are done. We now have the following factories / companies: - Codelco: copper smelting - Corus: iron/steel smelting - Rail Works - Stone works (stone, brick, concrete) - Silicon valley, including Intel (red circuits) and research - DHL Logistics (belts, inserters) -...

As a 2x1 item i don't think the loader isn't overpowered as it usually won't be used over a 1x1 inserter. It will also make belts more viable when compared to robots. Because it's expensive it won't be used in early game and it's really needed in late game when you are working with belts. Loader DO...

Perfect. Generating a link to the original source would be nice, but people can always right-click + open as. I think "most" forums work with scroll bars, e.g. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=14164227&postcount=15, but I think this solution (especially if you would add a l...

Thanks (didn't have the game here, so couldn't check) Well speed modules apparently help quite a bit by themselves, a beacon might be too much unless it can affect multiple (3+?) jacks, but it is quite a high threshold. If you have "extra" wells, why not simply add more boilers+engines to ...

What is wanted to be achieved with this? What kind of gameplay wants to be targeted? My answer is a bit late, but what this would do for me is increase immersion. I agree that the real challenge is fighting off the worms and behemoths guarding the nests, but even so the nests (spawners) simply feel...

re beacons: what is the real electricity use of a beacon? The wiki reports 480W (i.e. half a kW), but that doesn't sound right, or is the main cost in the extra use of the pumpjack? re efficiency: yeah, especially since the only downside is refinery/chemplant speed, and your depleted field will not ...

Excellent, thanks. I guess speed (and efficiency?) modules are really needed to make oil power worth it, rk84 (as cited by daniel34) reports running ~8 engines on 2 wells with sp3 modules, of which ~1 is needed for production power. Since the 2-4 depleted wells you often get are quite useless for re...

Large images seem to be capped at a maximum width without a scrollbar, leaving only the left-hand side visible. For example: https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=20663 links to http://i.amcat.nl/battery%20plant.png, but on screen I only see the left half: http://i.imgur.com/WyGXwig.jp...

FTI: it does indeed seem to work fine. I build 10 steam engines on 14 boilers, the first connected to the inserters, the other 9 to a dummy load of radars. They were able to get 100%, and adding an eleventh even allowed for the full 5.1MW (presumably minus the trivial inserter load). This seems to b...

Inspired by the how do you build your factory thread I decided to try something new, with specialized sub-factories on separate islands linked with an extensive rail network. Setting : (very?) high water, (very?) high fragmentation, RSO, all else normal (I think). This yields a sort of archipelago w...

Suppose I have a "normal" setup line of e.g. 14 boilers to 10 steam engines (all connected serially), for 5.1MW max capacity. If I only connect 2.5MW load, the engines will run at ~50% capacity, and use ~50% fuel, right? Now what happens if I connect different steam engines in the same 'li...

This certainly helps :) Maybe you should have a good look at https://wiki.factorio.com/index.php?title=Virtual_signals#Each and clariy there? It would already help to have the right pictures next to each heading, and I think the wiki does not list some of the cases you descibe above (but maybe I'm j...

So how many 0.1/s wells do you need to feed a steam engine via (refining+cracking+)solid fuel, optionally with speed/efficiency modules?

Great! Smart idea to average the contents and compare to that. That even allows you to place the whole thing in between the two warehouses, very neat! I didn't know about the everything/anything signals, these sound very useful (although I would have picked other symbols, e.g. the inverted-A forall ...

Right. Why not just "cross out" some of the capacity of the output chests?

Also, do you centralize goods that the player would want (e.g. weapons, outpost building stuff) in a sort of "reloading" station?

AFAIK, the "loops is bad" meme is from a version where chain signals did not exist yet. In that case, loops can always cause deadlock if a train can't exit a loop because of another train trying to exit the loop. With proper chain signals, the train would never enter the loop if there is n...

Thanks! As a somewhat useful corollary, I was curious how many engines a belt can supply (as I sometimes find that I run into trouble if coal is not supplied quickly enough in a long period of heavy use). A steam engine requires 510KJ/s, a coal provides 4MJ (with 50% efficiency), so a steam engine r...

I use the warehousing mod to get huge (6x6) storage areas which are ideal for station (un)loading since you don't have to mess with splitters, etc. Also, it looks cool. However, I use multiple wagons (two, in this case) and it tickles my OCD if the warhouse stocks are not in balance (e.g. front ware...