idea: cargo wagons as load-balancers instead of belts.

[MF-]

When I have one factory supplying three other factories with something, perhaps it would work nicely if I used a wagon instead of a transport belt.
You don't have to make a belt-loop to achieve full utilization of the producer.
You can benefit from multi-item inserter upgrade, probably sparing quite some energy.

I haven't really though about it much. I doubt it would scale.

The idea of using the wagon as a wide chest that can have multiple inserters per side + benefiting from the multi-grab upgrade could be useful somewhere.

[ssilk]

That are interesting ideas, even if I can't bring them together now.

My experience says, that other ideas welcome in such situation.

Instead of explaining much - as normally - I show a picture and links:



https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... iner#p6311
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistics

"Containers are the blood infusion of this times. Without containers, we would be lost."
A transport system as I think about is very simple and works nearly as the internet-routing (packets and adresses). There are stations, which have an adress and crossing-points. Before a container is allowed to be put on the transport system, he needs an adress. Every crossing point knows where to route the container.

Much more could be said, later.

[MF-]

My idea was about the wagons being static, acting as a chest that could be accessed by many inserters at the same time.

[ssilk]

My idea was about the wagons being static, acting as a chest that could be accessed by many inserters at the same time.

Now I understood!
So it would be just a bigger chest... more input/output. hmmm. Must try this out, sounds cool. But you won't have control over how much is inside with the current wagons, you need limitation/regulation.

I was thinking about how the wagon comes from A to B without Lokomotive and without making those area-demanding rails...

Idea:
- if containers are placed side by side, they work as one storage, as one big chest. So you can create "wide-spanning chests", as with the cargo-wagon, but much wider. (as always I recommend to limit the size in some useful manner) Add control to the containers (one wire is enough) and so control the inserters with it... I think that could really speed up things.

- to combine it with container idea: Maybe we have a "cargo-inserter", which can put a container on top of an assembly, so that the assembly needs no inserter anymore (A container is a chest with only one stack, so with only one item). When the container is empty it vanishes and makes place for a new. Now, the cargo-inserter is really big and can cover e. g. 20 fields. Then the only problem is, how to produce and fill all the containers...

- to combine the wide-spanning with the cargo-inserter and "top-hooked on assembly": A "cargo-storage" is an area, in which containers can be placed. At one side it has a cargo-inserter-arm. If you insert items into it, it is stored at some container in the area (like in a chest). If an assembly in reach needs items, a matching container is placed on it.

[MF-]

I can easily limit the size, if the output inserters will be directly supplying the machine (by killing the unused slots by an unrelated item)

How big would the multi-chest be ( inside )?
I consider this super-wide chest idea bit abusive (technically it's item teleportation.. ), the fact that the wagon costs steel and is not that big inside probably compensates it

Producing containers - I suggest a packager/unpacker machine.

[ssilk]

I can easily limit the size, if the output inserters will be directly supplying the machine (by killing the unused slots by an unrelated item)

Good point, but I mean the mixture of items in the wagon, if you want to use it as input and output for different items at the same time.

How big would the multi-chest be ( inside )?

Multi-chest = container or wagon? Perhaps we need different sizes? Different types (items)? An own assembly where you can configure the size?

I consider this super-wide chest idea bit abusive (technically it's item teleportation.. ), the fact that the wagon costs steel and is not that big inside probably compensates it

Yes, it's some kind of magic introduced. I rewrite the last idea:

- A "cargo-storage" is a big item (4x4, 3x5 or even bigger, different sizes, drag the are covered area???), that works as a big smart-chest. You see how much space there is left when you see the empty spaces in it. You can fill/empty it with many inserters at the same time (may be the inserters are pluggable into the cargo-storage? where is the place I can walk?). When researched it fills a stack very fast into a container (it produces the containers itself, if enough resources) and inserts it with a cargo-inserter onto an assembly. This containers can be used only once.

I think this is the same thing as a plaza in a city. You have an area, where everything meets and is distributed, logistic without much smartness in an area around this plaza.

Producing containers - I suggest a packager/unpacker machine.

I would like that and it's logical, but - I have thought longer over that - doesn't bring the game forward. First you need something, which does many things in one step (and may be not so fast). Later in the game you can split everything into different parts (producing containers, packing/unpacking, storing, transportation with belts or train) which speeds it extremely up.