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rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 5:58 am
by JapaneseMom
I've got the gist regarding the signal thingy, but the planning or placing of rail road is confusing. im trying to create another exit from the existing rail, but it keeps on circling around and wont connect. instead of combining or in between, the rail road just getting on top of the existing rail road. means the train wont be able to access it, even if i put a station to this road. so, how do i build rail road? do i create two separate rail and then combine it, instead of creating another line from 1 existing rail?

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 7:10 am
by Koub
First lay a rail
ensure the rail on your cursor is the same orientation
Click on the existing rail with the green arrow showing the direction you ll branch off
branch the rail off

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 3:28 pm
by JapaneseMom
Koub wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 7:10 am
First lay a rail
ensure the rail on your cursor is the same orientation
Click on the existing rail with the green arrow showing the direction you ll branch off
branch the rail off
I've tried this tips, but it seems hard or impossible to branch it or split it to 3. i dont know if its because of space problems or just tiles placement
Screenshot (1037).png
Screenshot (1037).png (4.48 MiB) Viewed 2668 times

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:11 pm
by Theikkru
rail.png
rail.png (985.84 KiB) Viewed 2661 times

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:32 pm
by JapaneseMom
thank you, it works now. but what about this thing called two-track network? because it seems i cant use 1 way exit if i have more than 1 train

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:45 pm
by Serenity
You just need to signal things correctly

Two-track to one-track from one direction:
Junction1.jpg
Junction1.jpg (60.4 KiB) Viewed 2646 times
Two-track to one-track from both directions:
Junction2.jpg
Junction2.jpg (107.92 KiB) Viewed 2646 times

It's very important to have the two exactly opposing signals on the one-track section. So that trains can go in both directions

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:58 pm
by Theikkru
The important thing is to understand how signals work. The in-game tutorials do a good job of showing how signals and rail blocks work, so do them if you haven't already. Once you understand signals, it's all up to your creativity and personal preference to determine how you build your rails. If you want some ideas to get started, you can look through the railway setups forum; the 4-way intersections thread, especially, has a lot of useful examples.

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 5:19 pm
by JapaneseMom
Theikkru wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:58 pm
The important thing is to understand how signals work. The in-game tutorials do a good job of showing how signals and rail blocks work, so do them if you haven't already. Once you understand signals, it's all up to your creativity and personal preference to determine how you build your rails. If you want some ideas to get started, you can look through the railway setups forum; the 4-way intersections thread, especially, has a lot of useful examples.
as much as i want to advance the tutorial, im stuck on science and automation since the alien just keeps on being aggressive, so i decided to jump straight to the game

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 7:51 pm
by Theikkru
JapaneseMom wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 5:19 pm
[...]since the alien just keeps on being aggressive, so i decided to jump straight to the game
I should've been more specific. I mean the mini-tutorials built into the UI, not the "Tutorial" scenario that you pick when you create a new game.
railtut.png
railtut.png (456.37 KiB) Viewed 2597 times

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 8:27 pm
by starlinvf
JapaneseMom wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 3:28 pm
Koub wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 7:10 am
First lay a rail
ensure the rail on your cursor is the same orientation
Click on the existing rail with the green arrow showing the direction you ll branch off
branch the rail off
I've tried this tips, but it seems hard or impossible to branch it or split it to 3. i dont know if its because of space problems or just tiles placementScreenshot (1037).png

On that subject there are 2 quirks of rails that most folks forget to mention.

- They have a Turning radius; which means you may have to remove segments further back from the joining track to align them correctly.
From the Wiki "The minimum rail turning radius is 12, meaning the smallest possible 180° turn is 24 tiles wide."
Half the time its easier to branch out from the main track then to join a track into it- and then join the tracks in the straightways (if you can live with one part being slightly crooked).

- Railway segments are 2 tile spaces wide (2x2), and have a uniform restriction in their placement rules that prevent them from "half-overlapping". Normally this isn't a problem..... until you start having to plan corridors through a factory, OR try to plan out Train-to-train material transfers. Because most inserters operate in a 3-tile wide line, direct material transfers between train cars are basically impossible. And buffer chests need a 3 tile gap, and thus require beltways to fix the alignment. Logistics chests/bots are option for a 2-tile load/unloader; but you then have to consider performance cost (both on throughput limits, and game performance).


If it helps... merging tracks have to reach 2-3 segments deep into the joined track to make sure the Rail planner understands you're trying to merge them. In your earlier screen shot, the top part of the loop is ONE segment longer then the bottom half... which is why it refuses to align correctly. The rail Planner itself can do up to 90 degree turns easily. However, its super wonky trying to do S-bends, since its trying to guess what alignment you want based on the amount of alignment shift (left or right) plus length.

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:22 pm
by 5thHorseman
-- See below --

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:35 am
by Theikkru
5thHorseman wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:22 pm
[...]
This feels like it belongs in this thread.

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:50 pm
by JapaneseMom
starlinvf wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 8:27 pm
JapaneseMom wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 3:28 pm
Koub wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 7:10 am
First lay a rail
ensure the rail on your cursor is the same orientation
Click on the existing rail with the green arrow showing the direction you ll branch off
branch the rail off
I've tried this tips, but it seems hard or impossible to branch it or split it to 3. i dont know if its because of space problems or just tiles placementScreenshot (1037).png

On that subject there are 2 quirks of rails that most folks forget to mention.

- They have a Turning radius; which means you may have to remove segments further back from the joining track to align them correctly.
From the Wiki "The minimum rail turning radius is 12, meaning the smallest possible 180° turn is 24 tiles wide."
Half the time its easier to branch out from the main track then to join a track into it- and then join the tracks in the straightways (if you can live with one part being slightly crooked).

- Railway segments are 2 tile spaces wide (2x2), and have a uniform restriction in their placement rules that prevent them from "half-overlapping". Normally this isn't a problem..... until you start having to plan corridors through a factory, OR try to plan out Train-to-train material transfers. Because most inserters operate in a 3-tile wide line, direct material transfers between train cars are basically impossible. And buffer chests need a 3 tile gap, and thus require beltways to fix the alignment. Logistics chests/bots are option for a 2-tile load/unloader; but you then have to consider performance cost (both on throughput limits, and game performance).


If it helps... merging tracks have to reach 2-3 segments deep into the joined track to make sure the Rail planner understands you're trying to merge them. In your earlier screen shot, the top part of the loop is ONE segment longer then the bottom half... which is why it refuses to align correctly. The rail Planner itself can do up to 90 degree turns easily. However, its super wonky trying to do S-bends, since its trying to guess what alignment you want based on the amount of alignment shift (left or right) plus length.
pardon, but i really dont get this tips. how do I know or check this tile space thingy? i feel like the rail placement is ambiguous as of now, because i dont know if the space I have is enough or not. its easier to measure belt because i can put it into any shape or line to fit in, but i feel like its hard to know how many spaces needed for rail (because I haven't build a real working train system)

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:23 pm
by Serenity
A rail piece has a width of two tiles. You immediately see that when placing belts next to it

You'll be fine with two or three rail widths between two tracks. Two is enough, but three can make junctions easier as you have more room for signals. And three allows for S-bends
Rail.jpg
Rail.jpg (107.18 KiB) Viewed 2512 times
Two rail spacing to the left. As you can see it's not enough to connect the S-Bend. But otherwise this can suffice and a lot of people seem to use it.I also placed some belts there. It can be seen that rails are two tiles wide.
I use the right one and leave three rail widths between the tracks. That also allows you to place laser turrets around power poles, which isn't a proper defense, but can be quite nice in some situations

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:40 pm
by JapaneseMom
Serenity wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:23 pm
A rail piece has a width of two tiles. You immediately see that when placing belts next to it

You'll be fine with two or three rail widths between two tracks. Two is enough, but three can make junctions easier as you have more room for signals. And three allows for S-bends

Rail.jpg

Two rail spacing to the left. As you can see it's not enough to connect the S-Bend. But otherwise this can suffice and a lot of people seem to use it.I also placed some belts there. It can be seen that rails are two tiles wide.
I use the right one and leave three rail widths between the tracks. That also allows you to place laser turrets around power poles, which isn't a proper defense, but can be quite nice in some situations
ahhh thank you for the information, i thought S-Bend means the circle that you made in case you're planning to build one way train

like this
Screenshot (1042).png
Screenshot (1042).png (4.32 MiB) Viewed 2502 times

Re: rail road placement is confusing, please help

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:38 pm
by Khagan
Serenity wrote:
Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:23 pm
Two rail spacing to the left. As you can see it's not enough to connect the S-Bend.
Rails2apart.png
Rails2apart.png (1021.89 KiB) Viewed 2457 times
As you can see, it is enough. (Not that you would want to very often anyway, since usually the point of a pair of tracks is that they are going in opposite directions.)