Running pipes alongside each other

[SeriousStu]

Hi guys - loving the game so thought I'd sign up to the forum

So something I have problems with is my pipe layouts. I hate how parallel pipes automatically connect to each other when they're intended to carry different liquids. While I could just keep them a space apart to avoid them connecting, I find the extra space they take up quite inconvenient. Underground pipes won't connect, so that's also sorta a solution, but if you have a lot of pipes I find using too many underground pipes makes me lose track of what's going where (despite the extra info you get from hitting Alt).

What do you guys usually do when building up your liquid transport network?

[Tro]

You can use pumps but they cost electricity and are general a nuisance to both build and use. You should always try to maximise how much of your pipe is underground simply because it's a pain to get around them.

[FishSandwich]

What do you guys usually do when building up your liquid transport network?

Seriously though I get what you're saying, It'd be nice to pick and choose what kind of pipe layout you want instead of the game 'guessing' the pipe layout for you. You could try compromising between underground pipes and normal pipes, using underground in sections where you'd know they connect and normal pipes where they wouldn't.

[SeriousStu]

You could try compromising between underground pipes and normal pipes, using underground in sections where you'd know they connect and normal pipes where they wouldn't.

Yup, this is what I currently do. My first foray into oil pumping has not been the tidiest - I'll do better in future. Though I'm hoping a patch down the line will enable us to run pipes along side each other without them connecting.

[Aza-Industries]

I'm not too fussed about it.

But if they did change anything, maybe just add an additional pipe type that only goes in a straight line.

With a simple recipe requiring 1 regular pipe and 1 more iron plate or something.

That way it wouldn't interfere with the current system.
It's a good system atm because it removes the tedium that having specific shaped pipes such as T, corner, or X pipes would cause.

But for me, I just use a lot of underground pipes.



With info:


You'll get use to them after a while.

[tralala]

With info:

A very cool and compact design I must say.

[DarkenDragon]

coding wise, they could make it such that when you shift click the pipe, you can change the type of pipe your using similar to how it'll de-connect power lines.

the only problem with this idea is that it will have so many different combinations that it might take a while to get through to the one you want.

straight north and south, straight east and west, corner north to east, corner south to east, corner north to west, corner south to west, T junction north, T junction west, T junction east, T junction south, 4 way. so thats 10 different configurations to deal with.

or they could make each one it's own item and have it so that nothing ever connects, so you'd only have 4 different pipes that you can rotate.

or now that Im thinking about it, make shift click change the type of pipe (straight, corner, t junction, or 4 way) and then you can use "r" to rotate it. though this means that you wont have the pipes automatically connecting anymore. though I think this would be a better solution and allow for more compact work with little change.

but then again, I would think this would be a very low priority change since there are many other things they could work on first.

[SeriousStu]

I'm not sure about VERY low priority, but I agree it's not at the top of the list But here's a proposed solution...

Placing pipes could be made similar to placing conveyor belts. You chose a direction and place it down. The pipe will bend if you place a pipe facing 90° from the adjacent pipe (just like conveyor belts). Placing another 90° pipe onto an existing pipe creates a T-junction. To create a 4-way pipe, simply add another pipe facing the 'empty' direction on a T-Junction (this means you'd need 3 pipes to create a 4-way pipe).

The one disadvantage I see with this mechanic is what the game decides to place if you're placing a 90° pipe in between two straight pipes. After a little thought, maybe it should create a curved pipe with the option to hit R to make it swap between the two curved pipes and a straight pipe facing the direction you placed it.

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting liquid should only flow in one direction by suggesting this 'conveyor belt' style of placing pipes; that's what the Small Pump is for. I do think this might afford more flexibility to lay down tightly woven pipe networks. After all, we have to hit R all the time when placing grabbers, belts, assemblers, chemical plants etc so extending this functionality to pipes doesn't seem completely bonkers to me!

Anyway, this is all just a little food for thought. If it stays identical in the game as it is now, it's certainly not enough to put me off the game

@Aza-Industries, I'm super impressed by your pipe network

[JamesOFarrell]

Based on this discussion i created this mod. Hope it helps.