Let's see your clever builds

[MantisShrimp]

Look at all this symmetrical sexiness, except for the belts. This is with the Yuoki Industries mod. It turns the green and blue ores into the pink/purple cube things. Even the brown cubes get turn into the pink/purple cubes using that changing machine thing at the left end. I just started using the mod so I don't know the names of all the stuff yet, I just go by the color of the things.

[YuokiTani]

Look at all this symmetrical sexiness, except for the belts. This is with the Yuoki Industries mod. It turns the green and blue ores into the pink/purple cube things. Even the brown cubes get turn into the pink/purple cubes using that changing machine thing at the left end. I just started using the mod so I don't know the names of all the stuff yet, I just go by the color of the things.

yep, looks really nice and powerful.
i'am not sure if it's more energy-efficent as direct transmutaion - how much energy consumes this setup ? (maybe also production-rate of UC-A2 and consumption-rate of green/blue)

(also reminds me to improve the graphics of the water-generators)

[MadZuri]

super fast clock circuit (I can't tell if it is 30Hz or 60Hz, I think it's 30Hz)

clock

[MantisShrimp]

yep, looks really nice and powerful.
i'am not sure if it's more energy-efficent as direct transmutaion - how much energy consumes this setup ? (maybe also production-rate of UC-A2 and consumption-rate of green/blue)

(also reminds me to improve the graphics of the water-generators)

I'm having major power problems right now so pretty much everything is turned off for when biters attack. The only other purple block producing thing is one PFW thing trading those hammers for purple blocks. I'm pretty sure It's more power/resource efficient to use direct transmutation, mainly because you can stick modules in them and it'll be smaller so I can surround the factory with beacons.

[DaveMcW]

super fast clock circuit (I can't tell if it is 30Hz or 60Hz, I think it's 30Hz)

clock

60Hz if you are counting all changes. 30Hz if you are counting the 1 signals.

Tested that with an adder that runs at the same speed as game.tick.

[DOSorDIE]

Reverse Smart Filter

Pro: Filter only the one item out
Contra: Slow but i need a chest

Before:

Before.jpg (155.02 KiB) Viewed 9207 times

After:

After.jpg (148.34 KiB) Viewed 9207 times

Config:

Config.jpg (186.99 KiB) Viewed 9207 times

I hope you like it!

[cpy]

Other off-topic: In most cases it's not a good idea to build the rails close together.

Name one.

[n9103]

Curves.
Busy sections that you need to cross on foot.
Slight protection for power poles.

There's three. Debate the last if you want, that'd be fair, but the first and second are perfectly valid.

[cpy]

Curves are not a problem, i can make them tight without problem.
Just zoom out and see if it's free, then run. If you cant do that play some frogger first.

[DaveMcW]

Curves.

curve.jpg (295.12 KiB) Viewed 9160 times

Busy sections that you need to cross on foot.

crossing.jpg (385.75 KiB) Viewed 9160 times

[hitzu]

Name one.

Intersection that can provide more than one train to pass at the same time.

There the train from the west would block the whole intersection, even for the train from the east.

[MeduSalem]

Name one.

Like hitzu pointed it out already: Crossings/Intersections (except for roundabouts maybe) are generally highly inefficient due to lacking the space needed for placing signals required to seperate the two-way traffic into seperate blocks.

Terminal stations may be ugly too as you can't perform an in-line lane shift between the tracks thanks to the curve radius. But you need to do that to get the train to the other track when it changes direction on leaving the station. The only way to solve that is to make an awkward jump to the side like that, which I think is one of the most ugly things I can imagine when it comes to rails:


(Picture is from this thread: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 971#p94057 )

That's one additional reason why I always leave 2 spaces between tracks, next to being able to put Roboports and Electric Poles as well as signals and other stuff theree that I want to follow the train tracks. The later reasons are not actually a real hinderance though, just my personal preference.

With other words it's so not worth it to try saving on space when building a rail network as you may encounter several annoyances and maybe even a bottleneck depending on the type of intersections you use.

[cpy]

Name one.

Intersection that can provide more than one train to pass at the same time.

There the train from the west would block the whole intersection, even for the train from the east.

How exactly you avoid this with separated tracks if you have space there?

[hitzu]

How exactly you avoid this with separated tracks if you have space there?

Place signals on vertical rail between horizontal ones.
Like this

[DaveMcW]

You can always add a track separator if you really need one.

crossing2.jpg (238.57 KiB) Viewed 9876 times

t-junction.jpg (355.64 KiB) Viewed 9876 times

[ssilk]

Other off-topic: In most cases it's not a good idea to build the rails close together.

Name one.

https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 983#p96983

But the above solution looks like a compromise. (Even that I still would prefer to have more space between, cause you can also cross the tracks by another rail. In my eyes a self-limitation. More space, more options.)

[MeduSalem]

You can always add a track separator if you really need one.

That T-junciton looks very pretty and interesting... But would you approach hitzu's intersection of both tracks the same way? At least it would look funny then... like admiting that placing tracks too close results in workarounds. But in the T-junction it doesn't look too bad after all because it integrates very well into the design.

Does anyone actually have a "pretty" 4-way intersection in general that works without sacrificing any efficiency? I mean not a roundabout, because that's been beaten to death already. Somehow I haven't seen anything in particular that didn't suffer from problems.

[DaveMcW]

I mean not a roundabout, because that's been beaten to death already.

You are so prejudiced.

Roundabout is simple and powerful, why would you need anything else.

[MeduSalem]

You are so prejudiced.

Roundabout is simple and powerful, why would you need anything else.

Can't help about it. I'm always exploring further alternatives and possibilities... some of them turn out to be good and valid, but others not so much... and for some I simply deny their existence because they are ugly and/or boring or verge on cheating. xD

Anyways I'm still using roundabouts myself in all 4-way intersections because of how there's simply no "pretty" alternative in those situations other than not having 4-way intersections in the first place.

At least I haven't found a 4-way intersection that offers enough space to actually place all the necessary chain signals, which then means it isn't working 100% effective. Either the left turns are the problem or the intersecting straight pieces. In either case a roundabout is much simplier to do and at least as effective then.

Which is why I have asked myself if someone else figured out how to do it with a maximum of a 4 tile (roboport) space between two tracks. I pretty much gave up after 3-4 hours trying various alternatives. I know that one can do it if incorporating even more space between tracks, but then you can almost go for a roundabout already because it takes as much overall space.

[Morofry]

Now with chain signals, making a simple diamond intersection is straightforward enough for single rail applications.

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I have found an effective way to use single rail with passing sidings on maps where stone supply is initially a problem, as was mine. Chain signals were instrumental in making longer blocks as well as having the entire line be able to support more trains overall, increasing efficiency.

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