but well, this is a kind of discussion, which doesn't bring anything forward. 
(and I guess, almost a requirement when playing with RSO)
This is an old quote from a previous version, before we even had oil. The capacity for trains has also changed since the stack size changes. Still, it's mostly applicable now. I go for trains as soon as I can afford it since it gives me a network I can expand cheaply and quickly. Trains have a lower initial investment, negligible upkeep (especially compared to the energy required to run tons of inserters without the benefit of stack size upgrades), and have a huge capacity right off the bat.Psycho0124 wrote:Excellent. I get to abuse my calculator again.
Say you had a big hungry factory; it requires 10,000 items per minute (copper, iron, coal, stone). Say those resources were 1000 tiles away.
At ~1800 items per minute per express belt, you'd need 6 Express belts side-by-side to get the throughput you need(!). At 31.5 Iron per tile, you're looking at 31,500 iron to get the job done (not to mention the mess at the factory to handle all those belts).
Or you could just spend 2,750 Iron and 500 stone on rail tracks, 335 iron on a train and 3 cargo wagons, and transport the same amount of material. Since cargo wagons can each carry 960 items (15 stacks technically but all resources stack to 64), a train with 3 cargo cars could handle the job with 4 trips per minute (with sufficient inserter stack size bonuses for loading/unloading).
Belts are many times more expensive and their capacity is limited. Once you lay a train track, you can just run more trains on it when you need to move more. I have one section of track in my game that sees a 2-car train once every 5 seconds. Max throughput for that line is somewhere around 38,000 items per minute (same as 21 express belts side-by-side!!) if all trains were 100% full. No telling how high you could push it with more trains and tighter signaling..
Hmm good post, it is nice to actually see the numbers. After reading this, I am fully convinced trains are better. I kind of figured they were cheaper than belta for long distances and lots of throughput, but good to know for sure now.Psycho0124 wrote:This is an old quote from a previous version, before we even had oil. The capacity for trains has also changed since the stack size changes. Still, it's mostly applicable now. I go for trains as soon as I can afford it since it gives me a network I can expand cheaply and quickly. Trains have a lower initial investment, negligible upkeep (especially compared to the energy required to run tons of inserters without the benefit of stack size upgrades), and have a huge capacity right off the bat.Psycho0124 wrote:Excellent. I get to abuse my calculator again.
Say you had a big hungry factory; it requires 10,000 items per minute (copper, iron, coal, stone). Say those resources were 1000 tiles away.
At ~1800 items per minute per express belt, you'd need 6 Express belts side-by-side to get the throughput you need(!). At 31.5 Iron per tile, you're looking at 31,500 iron to get the job done (not to mention the mess at the factory to handle all those belts).
Or you could just spend 2,750 Iron and 500 stone on rail tracks, 335 iron on a train and 3 cargo wagons, and transport the same amount of material. Since cargo wagons can each carry 960 items (15 stacks technically but all resources stack to 64), a train with 3 cargo cars could handle the job with 4 trips per minute (with sufficient inserter stack size bonuses for loading/unloading).
Belts are many times more expensive and their capacity is limited. Once you lay a train track, you can just run more trains on it when you need to move more. I have one section of track in my game that sees a 2-car train once every 5 seconds. Max throughput for that line is somewhere around 38,000 items per minute (same as 21 express belts side-by-side!!) if all trains were 100% full. No telling how high you could push it with more trains and tighter signaling..
Mmmm.. Trains...
Try the "Resource Spawn Overhaul", and you get those absurd distancesThe Lone Wolfling wrote:Theoretically, trains are better.
In actuality? Unless you're talking absurd distances, belts generally are better. People forget one of the most important resources is *time*. Your time, that is. It takes much longer generally to set up train tracks than it does to run a belt, especially in the late game when you have "boots of speed". (And yes, I am crazy enough to have a separate powersuit mk II for running)
Most of the time is spent at the ore loading spot, for me at least. Trying to get the station set up.
And trust me, it's great fun. Belts are just an option to trains because the original resource spawn simply sucks, and I hope that Wube really takes a good look at the RSO in that regard.Have you tried just building a prototype train station, copying it, and using a roboport and some constructions bots to just pop it in place out where you need it? I usually set up the miners while the construction robots get the station up and running. By the time I'm done placing miners and belts, the station is ready to go. I use a few logistics slots on my player to keep station-building supplies topped off (lasers, tracks, wall pieces, buffer chests, inserters, belts, etc.). It takes me longer to ride out there on a train than it does to get a new mine running.The Lone Wolfling wrote:Most of the time is spent at the ore loading spot, for me at least. Trying to get the station set up.
I think most important is fun. So if you like trains, you have no problem spend time to play with them. And if you don't like trains just don't use them, but there is no reason to discourage others from using them.The Lone Wolfling wrote:People forget one of the most important resources is *time*.
Martc wrote:I think most important is fun. So if you like trains, you have no problem spend time to play with them. And if you don't like trains just don't use them, but there is no reason to discourage others from using them.The Lone Wolfling wrote:People forget one of the most important resources is *time*.
All kidding aside though I don't care how people play...as long as we keep getting more people to buy and play the game and that all of that keeps getting converted into new content for me to play with.
