Train Stop Limits
Train Stop Limits
The default train stop limit when turned on is 0. By default that means no trains will be scheduled there which is counter intuitive to setting a limit. The idea of the limit is to make sure that a precise amount of trains do show up. Should the default train stop limit be 1? Or is there a way to customize the default settings of a train station?
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NotRexButCaesar
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Re: Train Stop Limits
Setting the default limit to 1 has already been suggested in “ideas and suggestions”
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Re: Train Stop Limits
Depending on the station, I’ll either leave that off, or use circuit network conditions to set the limit.
I use a balancer at mines to ensure the chest groups (6 chests per cargo wagon) get the same amount of ore, and I’ll run a wire connecting all the chests to an Arithmetic Combinator. Each / (total capacity of train; 16000 for a 4-8 train ferrying ore for example), output Each. The output gets sent to the Train Stop, with the Limit set by the signal corresponding to the train’s load (Iron Ore, Copper Ore, etc.).
Some stations do not need limits; only one train is ever going to visit that particular station (example : Uranium Mine Sulfuric Acid resupply station). Others, particularly mines, are going to see potentially a lot of trains wanting to visit, so those are the ones in particular that get the dynamic limits set. This way, if I have 2 loads of ore at the station, I don’t have 5 trains thundering at it (the other three are seeking other stations to get ore from).
I use a balancer at mines to ensure the chest groups (6 chests per cargo wagon) get the same amount of ore, and I’ll run a wire connecting all the chests to an Arithmetic Combinator. Each / (total capacity of train; 16000 for a 4-8 train ferrying ore for example), output Each. The output gets sent to the Train Stop, with the Limit set by the signal corresponding to the train’s load (Iron Ore, Copper Ore, etc.).
Some stations do not need limits; only one train is ever going to visit that particular station (example : Uranium Mine Sulfuric Acid resupply station). Others, particularly mines, are going to see potentially a lot of trains wanting to visit, so those are the ones in particular that get the dynamic limits set. This way, if I have 2 loads of ore at the station, I don’t have 5 trains thundering at it (the other three are seeking other stations to get ore from).
Re: Train Stop Limits
I do agree with you that a limit of zero is counter-intuitive to the intent of a limit. However, for the question, what should the train limit be for this particular train stop, the answer is almost always
"It depends!"
Since the limits were introduced (thank you Wube!), I have never set a limit to 1. The only time I can think of using a limit of 1, is when there is only 1 train using that stop, where the limit is not needed. (Aside from something like astroshak's elegant calculation of how many trains can currently be served by available resources, but that is not a hard limit of 1.) Edit: of course, it depends! Other players may have many reasons for wanting a limit of 1.
For me, it is much better to have a limit of zero: if I forget to set the limit that I want for this stop, I will immediately get reminded (or at least the first time I try to send a train there); it will be obvious that the error is me forgetting to set the limit, and I can easily fix it. If the limit was set to 1, or some other non-zero default, I might go for quite a while before I realize that the reason I am getting awful throughput at that station is that I forgot to set the limit. I have copied a train setup (to get the loading or unloading design) and taken a while to realize that it came with a limit that wasn't what I wanted for that particular stop.
Tl;DR In my opinion, the default of zero is the best available option.
"It depends!"
Since the limits were introduced (thank you Wube!), I have never set a limit to 1. The only time I can think of using a limit of 1, is when there is only 1 train using that stop, where the limit is not needed. (Aside from something like astroshak's elegant calculation of how many trains can currently be served by available resources, but that is not a hard limit of 1.) Edit: of course, it depends! Other players may have many reasons for wanting a limit of 1.
For me, it is much better to have a limit of zero: if I forget to set the limit that I want for this stop, I will immediately get reminded (or at least the first time I try to send a train there); it will be obvious that the error is me forgetting to set the limit, and I can easily fix it. If the limit was set to 1, or some other non-zero default, I might go for quite a while before I realize that the reason I am getting awful throughput at that station is that I forgot to set the limit. I have copied a train setup (to get the loading or unloading design) and taken a while to realize that it came with a limit that wasn't what I wanted for that particular stop.
Tl;DR In my opinion, the default of zero is the best available option.
Last edited by Amarula on Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Train Stop Limits
In my opinion default of zero is the only available option.
Re: Train Stop Limits
I'll clarify a little more. When manually setting the train limit the intention is to make it so a train can arrive. By saying that you wish for a limit implies that you wish for one or more trains to start showing up. By default the train stations are already available for trains to arrive at, provided they have the name set. Why would turning on a limit for a station then by default turn it off? The reason for when checking the box the limit should be 1 is that it's the next non-zero number that would guarantee the station stays active. There are many reasons as to why you would only want one train headed to a station however the are no reasons as to why 0 trains going to a location without player set parameters.
Thinking more about this, it seems like the main problem is that the number in the checkbox is arbitrary. Can we be able to change the defaults of the train station or by clicking the check box for train limits can it highlight the 0 so we can change it to what we arbitrary want it to be?
Thinking more about this, it seems like the main problem is that the number in the checkbox is arbitrary. Can we be able to change the defaults of the train station or by clicking the check box for train limits can it highlight the 0 so we can change it to what we arbitrary want it to be?