multiple stations same name _ make trains to go all stations

[varundevan]

hi,

I have a iron and copper ore loading station , where over 12 trains go pick ore from 7 different patches and deposit in one spot (the blue box , its a like a warehouse for ore).

I have noticed that the trains always wants to go to the nearest stations and wait in the nearest station but do not even consider go to the farthest station at all, or the pathfinder almost never route to the station that is far away.

so , more trains go to the nearest station and wait in the pathway and blocks other trains.
and yes , i can have different name for each patch , but that would create so many names and work and becomes hard to keep track and it is bit irritating IMO . (especially in my case , where i want to keep on expanding)

if any one could share any solution, it would be helpful.

InkedUntitled_LI.jpg (1.99 MiB) Viewed 5214 times

the blue box is the warehouse , the green boxes are the near by stations that trains often visit, the red boxes are the stations that the trains never visit.

[SyncViews]

Yes, they go to the nearest station. You generally don't want multiple stations with the same name some distance apart, and multiple trains.

Rather give each station in a different its own name and have separate trains. This shouldn't really take long, just have one name per ore patch, "iron 1", "iron 2", etc. set up one train with a simple "Inventory full" condition then copy-paste to any additional trains. Especially as you expand and get larger and richer ore patches and many levels of mining productivity, they will each last many hours.

Now you can get part way by using circuits to disable the station, then the trains will go to another, but this is generally bad if you have multiple trains for that route, as a bunch of trains will reroute to the next-closest one, and it becomes a bit of a "race". This can also cause trains to try and u-turn in places you didn't desire and get stuck (e.g. a copper ore train trying to u-turn through an iron station and getting stuck behind iron trains), sometimes even blocking the main line without careful planning.

If it is rather multiple "platforms", that is fine, make sure you have a common waiting area and use chain signals, the trains will wait at the chain signal until the platform is free. Again be sure to not disable all the stations due to the re-routing, you might instead circuit control a signal to be forced red if you want to control which is used.

[astroshak]

The key to having multiple Iron Mine stations, and one (or a couple all at the same location) Iron Smelting station is to make sure of a couple of things. One, that your stackers at all your stations have enough bays for all your trains. Two, if you are disabling Iron Mine stations, that you always keep your Iron Smelter station on. Three, that you have enough Iron Mine production that regardless of your demand, you always have at least one Iron Mine station on. For me, this means having at least one Iron Mine for every two trains, sometimes even approaching 1 for 1.

I also tend to have some iron mine areas dedicated to Iron Plate. And other iron mine areas dedicated to Steel. This way, I am able to separate out the demands; I have one area producing Iron Plate (Iron Smelting), and another area producing Steel Plate (Steel Smelting). Neither poaches Iron Ore from the other.

The other reason for that is, I do not tend to put them right next to each other, on the same branch off of the main rail system. And so by having their own dedicated mines, I am avoiding the “Many->Many” setup that causes real problems. I keep things to “Many->One” and “One->Many”.

[varundevan]

Yes, they go to the nearest station. You generally don't want multiple stations with the same name some distance apart, and multiple trains.

If it is rather multiple "platforms", that is fine, make sure you have a common waiting area and use chain signals, the trains will wait at the chain signal until the platform is free. Again be sure to not disable all the stations due to the re-routing, you might instead circuit control a signal to be forced red if you want to control which is used.

in order to have common waiting area for all mining stations, i should have a single path through which it should lead to all mining stations. that is how i understood, pardon me if i am wrong.
in my case having waiting station is not possible since , (if you look at the image) i have multiple routes for any station.

[varundevan]

The key to having multiple Iron Mine stations, and one (or a couple all at the same location) Iron Smelting station is to make sure of a couple of things. One, that your stackers at all your stations have enough bays for all your trains. Two, if you are disabling Iron Mine stations, that you always keep your Iron Smelter station on. Three, that you have enough Iron Mine production that regardless of your demand, you always have at least one Iron Mine station on. For me, this means having at least one Iron Mine for every two trains, sometimes even approaching 1 for 1.

I also tend to have some iron mine areas dedicated to Iron Plate. And other iron mine areas dedicated to Steel. This way, I am able to separate out the demands; I have one area producing Iron Plate (Iron Smelting), and another area producing Steel Plate (Steel Smelting). Neither poaches Iron Ore from the other.

The other reason for that is, I do not tend to put them right next to each other, on the same branch off of the main rail system. And so by having their own dedicated mines, I am avoiding the “Many->Many” setup that causes real problems. I keep things to “Many->One” and “One->Many”.

thanks for the answer, how ever your solution might not applicable to me.
but in my case i have a 60 spm tilable print which i am repeating in blocks. so , every tile consumes 60 spm worth if iron and copper. so 60spm worth copper and iron times 6 blocks amount of copper and iron required to be delivered at the same time.
so i might need a differnt solution.

[disentius]

You might be interested in this solution.
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comme ... in_system/

[astroshak]

The key to having multiple Iron Mine stations, and one (or a couple all at the same location) Iron Smelting station is to make sure of a couple of things. One, that your stackers at all your stations have enough bays for all your trains. Two, if you are disabling Iron Mine stations, that you always keep your Iron Smelter station on. Three, that you have enough Iron Mine production that regardless of your demand, you always have at least one Iron Mine station on. For me, this means having at least one Iron Mine for every two trains, sometimes even approaching 1 for 1.

I also tend to have some iron mine areas dedicated to Iron Plate. And other iron mine areas dedicated to Steel. This way, I am able to separate out the demands; I have one area producing Iron Plate (Iron Smelting), and another area producing Steel Plate (Steel Smelting). Neither poaches Iron Ore from the other.

The other reason for that is, I do not tend to put them right next to each other, on the same branch off of the main rail system. And so by having their own dedicated mines, I am avoiding the “Many->Many” setup that causes real problems. I keep things to “Many->One” and “One->Many”.

thanks for the answer, how ever your solution might not applicable to me.
but in my case i have a 60 spm tilable print which i am repeating in blocks. so , every tile consumes 60 spm worth if iron and copper. so 60spm worth copper and iron times 6 blocks amount of copper and iron required to be delivered at the same time.
so i might need a differnt solution.

One way to break Many->Many up is to insert a One in between.

Have Many Iron Mines feeding a single Iron Distribution Station. Have the ore (or plates, if that’s how you’re shipping the stuff) offload from trains from the mines, and load onto trains going to your blueprinted 60 spm stations. You can do the same thing for stone and copper as well.

One advantage of this would be that you can consolidate the iron ore from many mines (from many shorter trains) into one longer train for distribution. The disadvantage, of course, is the need for additional trains, fuel, and space for the consolidation/distribution center.

[Premu]

You can use some "circuit magic" to steer trains to all your unloading stations. Here is a design from me which I already have posted, distributing trains over several unloading stations with the same name:

viewtopic.php?f=194&t=85193

You might be able to use it directly or at least adapt it for your needs.

[varundevan]

The key to having multiple Iron Mine stations, and one (or a couple all at the same location) Iron Smelting station is to make sure of a couple of things. One, that your stackers at all your stations have enough bays for all your trains. Two, if you are disabling Iron Mine stations, that you always keep your Iron Smelter station on. Three, that you have enough Iron Mine production that regardless of your demand, you always have at least one Iron Mine station on. For me, this means having at least one Iron Mine for every two trains, sometimes even approaching 1 for 1.

I also tend to have some iron mine areas dedicated to Iron Plate. And other iron mine areas dedicated to Steel. This way, I am able to separate out the demands; I have one area producing Iron Plate (Iron Smelting), and another area producing Steel Plate (Steel Smelting). Neither poaches Iron Ore from the other.

The other reason for that is, I do not tend to put them right next to each other, on the same branch off of the main rail system. And so by having their own dedicated mines, I am avoiding the “Many->Many” setup that causes real problems. I keep things to “Many->One” and “One->Many”.

thanks for the answer, how ever your solution might not applicable to me.
but in my case i have a 60 spm tilable print which i am repeating in blocks. so , every tile consumes 60 spm worth if iron and copper. so 60spm worth copper and iron times 6 blocks amount of copper and iron required to be delivered at the same time.
so i might need a differnt solution.

One way to break Many->Many up is to insert a One in between.

Have Many Iron Mines feeding a single Iron Distribution Station. Have the ore (or plates, if that’s how you’re shipping the stuff) offload from trains from the mines, and load onto trains going to your blueprinted 60 spm stations. You can do the same thing for stone and copper as well.

One advantage of this would be that you can consolidate the iron ore from many mines (from many shorter trains) into one longer train for distribution. The disadvantage, of course, is the need for additional trains, fuel, and space for the consolidation/distribution center.

Thanks for the answer,
I have the distribution center (blue box in the image). The problem is getting the trains to go to all stations, in a SIMPLE METHOD

[varundevan]

You can use some "circuit magic" to steer trains to all your unloading stations. Here is a design from me which I already have posted, distributing trains over several unloading stations with the same name:

viewtopic.php?f=194&t=85193

You might be able to use it directly or at least adapt it for your needs.

Thanks for sharing.
I think that is a good job, however i find it hard to understand the circuitary.
let me try.

[varundevan]

You might be interested in this solution.
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comme ... in_system/

thanks for sharing , let me take a look

[Nosferatu]

You can also trick the trains pathfinder into helping you in these cases:

When the rail block is guarded by a rail signal set to red by the circuit network -> Add a penalty of 1000.

For this i installed circuit switched trainsignals before my ore stations - usually two.
One is set to go green if the station has more than 5000 ore. The other 10000 ore.

Trains will now automatically choose the ore patch with the least penalty - and if they have the same they take the nearest.
Of course it's a little bit more complicated than that. The red lights alone would deadlock any incoming train.
So there is also a train sensor involved that simply adds 10000 to the ore count if a train is incoming - which opens up the other blocks.
The bottom two signals are optional - they are set to go red if the sensor goes red - so they send a penalty out if a train is in the station.

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