Factorio Forums

I'm pretty new to Factorio, and I recently learned a bit about these things people call buses. I made a small 2 conveyor bus, but now I'm not really sure how I use the resources on the bus. My goal is to move a small portion of the iron to a section of my factory. How should I do this? I was thinking I could just use multiple layers of splitters.

You do use splitters to branch of resources.

mrvn wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:04 am

You do use splitters to branch of resources.

Alrighty, thank you very much!

most people run 4 lanes of belts and leave a gap of 2 between each group of belts.

This way you have enough space for balencers and underground belts.

A splitter does the job yes.

Later on you might see that you don't necessarily need to use a splitter and can just branch off the belt if that belt's worth constantly gets used up completely. It makes it easier to see how many resources are being input to the bus, how many belt's worth are being used, and how many are left. It leaves an empty row on the bus with no belt, where you can later belt in extra resources from the side to fill in the row again, if you choose to produce extra material elsewhere to bring in.

For now, just take your time getting used to it.

JimBarracus wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:53 am

most people run 4 lanes of belts and leave a gap of 2 between each group of belts.

This way you have enough space for balencers and underground belts.

What are balancers?

They are an arrangement of splitters to draw from or distribute from belts equally:
https://wiki.factorio.com/Balancer_mechanics

They still have their uses, but with the introduction of splitter priorities their usefulness on a bus has drastically decreased. People used to split from a bus and then rebalance it right away. And/or have taps that draw from all lines equally. But with priorities it's far easier to just shift everything over to the side you draw from and then also draw with full priority:
https://wiki.factorio.com/File:4-split-priority.png
That also shows you very easily that you need to add more resources down the line

As noted for some things it's just easier to give them dedicated lines though. Circuits are a good example as they eat most of your resources. Early on it's perfectly fine to use the iron and copper plates from the main bus. But as you produce multiple belts of circuits later, I find it far more convenient to give them their own smelters and plate belts.

crispeeweevile wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:51 pm

What are balancers?

Don't worry about advanced topics like balancers and other "established" ways to build things too much if you're just starting out. Enjoy tinkering and coming up with your own solutions when problems come up, just use trial and error.

Once you've seen someone else's clever way to solve a problem, you can never go back and solve it yourself from a clean slate. You'll always have the solution you've seen in your head.

It's a matter of taste and playstyle of course, but I wish I hadn't watched so many videos and read so much in the wiki and just played and tried around in the beginning more. Don't make the same mistake and spoiler yourself too much

d0t wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:45 am

crispeeweevile wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:51 pm

What are balancers?

Don't worry about advanced topics like balancers and other "established" ways to build things too much if you're just starting out. Enjoy tinkering and coming up with your own solutions when problems come up, just use trial and error.

Once you've seen someone else's clever way to solve a problem, you can never go back and solve it yourself from a clean slate. You'll always have the solution you've seen in your head.

It's a matter of taste and playstyle of course, but I wish I hadn't watched so many videos and read so much in the wiki and just played and tried around in the beginning more. Don't make the same mistake and spoiler yourself too much

Okay I'll remember that.

Balancers were never really good for the bus anyway. They have their place, but some random point in the bus (right after material gets pulled off of the bus) is not it.