Railroad

[chives1926]

the armored train would be nifty and maybe add a new defensive car to the research like a train car with guns on it that need to be reloaded and you can add lazor defense (like the ones for that amour you where)

[Canyew]

During WW2 I remember hearing of artillery cannons mounted on train cars so the train can move to a spot quickly, stop and fire shells at a target then move on... would be good for those, oversized alien nests.

[Hazard]

During WW2 I remember hearing of artillery cannons mounted on train cars so the train can move to a spot quickly, stop and fire shells at a target then move on... would be good for those, oversized alien nests.

Train based artillery was generally for extremely heavy guns, very uncommon, and required that the one operating the gun build a rail loop to aim the gun, as the guns were build directly into the carriage and had limited ability to traverse, if they had any at all. Unless you need to break very heavy fortifications that can shoot back it's far too much effort.

It'd make a lot of sense though if there's a bunch of tank guns and mortars on board, although it'd still be limited to the rail lines.

[ltnickmage]

I thought that it would be really cool to have an electrical train is like the power armor. There would have to be some new specific modules for just the train and others for the armor. Few mods that could go into the "electrical" train increase speed for energy, or you could have laser turrets that protect the train, batteries. At each train station the train would stop for power until its batteries recharged, or at high tier make energize tracks that give power to the train. Just a few ideas about changing the train system. I don't use trains for 1) I never had long enough distances to need them 2) I don't want to have to use coal and set a spot at each station with some coal in it just for the train.

[ssilk]

To 2) You don't need to reload coal at every stop. They take really not much and if full loaded I think they can drive 10-20 mins at full speed. It is enough to build an own train stop only for reloading coal and program the schedule so, that it reloads every 3-5 turn (not quite comfortable yet).

[psihius]

Electricity powered trains are a logical step, a lot can be added in this direction. As an example: ridicilously expensive, but ridicilously fast maglev trains as an end-game thing, with very wide turnning circle, power hungry and unable to change tracks on it's own (see the real thing: the tracks have to actually move themselves, it's pretty slow). Regular electric trains somewhere in the middle of the tech tree.

Currently diesel locomotives run at 259.9 kph, and that is darn fast - I think in reality only electric trains can manage those speeds, so I would imagine that diesel locomotives should run slower (160 tops) and with the acceleration they have right now (or maybe make it a little slower, but not much). Next stage are electric trains - those have much better acceleration and can manage those 259.9 kph, maybe a little more. Then there can be self-powered wagons, when every wagon has a motor and there is no distinct locomomotive - those are very fast accelerating and are really fast (the amount of wagons does not affect acceleration, only the power usage), but require next level tracks (stone, bricks, steel, copper wire, maybe some electronic circuts). And then the maglev trains

I would imagine something like this
Also, the faster the trains, the wider the turning radius (hense the curved rail piece size).

Also, I don't know why, but I would like the option to have the rail with the overhead wire Or we go just full battery style trains for electric and special rails

[hitzu]

Also, the faster the trains, the wider the turning radius (hense the curved rail piece size).

https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =33&t=5726

img

[neetzow]

Thumbs up for Armored Trains/Wagons... Just some though:

I like the idea of modular/personalizable technology, so you could have this "defender wagon" or "modular wagon" as just a Main thing where you can attach stuff, like turrets, solar panels, batteries or whatever. Also, adjacent wagons could benefit of some of each others implements.

Armored wagons should be heavier (and require more steel).

By the way... I would like to change a turrets weapon... would be nice to have flamethrowers at my wall... they would be nice at the end of a train (although not the best - and probably not the cleverest - option in the case... well, i love fire! ).

[hitzu]

This simple change can make train station planning much easier. Just relocate a stop point so one can place insertes just next to the station sign without counting empty squares for a locomotive.

[ssilk]

I drive often with two locos (cause much faster). You can put the loco also at the end.

[hitzu]

I drive often with two locos (cause much faster). You can put the loco also at the end.

I use two-headed trains, so it would have so sence.

[TurielD]

Ok guys, I can't be the only one who's driven ever so slightly loopy by the straight track piece you need to complete a 90 degree turn,,,



Is this particularly hard to fix? I know it's just an aesthetic thing, so it can't be a real priority, but it would be great to see the loops look, well, curved

[ssilk]

Make a suggestion, how this could be fixed without introducing new rail types.

[damerell]

I notice the train is called a diesel locomotive (in English anyway), but it runs on coal rather than a liquid fuel. It would be cool if there were two tiers of train, with a slower steam locomotive first that uses coal, and then the current train becomes fuelled by heavy or light oil (or a mix?) loaded by a special machine.

Yes, please. I imagine Factorio having some heavy articulated type like a Garratt, which would undeniably make it slower than diesel. But the main limiting resource for a steam locomotive's range is not coal (or oil, or wood, or solid fuel) but water; balanced right, this could make for an interesting exercise in establishing watering facilities - towers at stops, or troughs. And having the diesel burn diesel already implies adding a way to add liquids to vehicles, so there's no additional work to be done to be able to put water in locomotives.

Taking another leaf out of OpenTTD's book, if an early-game crude track didn't require steel plates, but would only take smaller wagons and a lighter tank engine, this would allow access to trains quite early (but with limited utility). It could then be upgraded to take the normal track pieces and heavier locomotives, with the progression from tank engine to heavy locomotive to diesel traction to electric (which might go at the current diesel's hefty speed) being potentially interesting.

I'd suggest that in the harsh Factorio environment, electric trains might run on third-rail traction, being less fragile than overhead rails. This would also avoid the question of whether you can build the electric network just by building an electric railway; on the contrary, the third-rail system might require a substation to be feeding a track tile within a given distance, meaning electrification could involve a challenging expansion of electric facilities.

The other thing I'd like to see from TTD is better loading orders at stops. "Wait for full load or n seconds", etc.

[warmadmax]

I like the idea of having a steam train, water and the whole nine yards..

I'd prefer it at the late red, early green science stage, buildable using Iron ingredients ideally, could even take a boiler and steam engine.

two tiers of train carriage?, iron carriage with the current 20 slots, then steel carriage with 40 or 60 slots?.

[damerell]

I like the idea of having a steam train, water and the whole nine yards..
I'd prefer it at the late red, early green science stage, buildable using Iron ingredients ideally, could even take a boiler and steam engine.
two tiers of train carriage?, iron carriage with the current 20 slots, then steel carriage with 40 or 60 slots?.

I think that's pretty much what I had, except two tiers of steam locomotive - one small one to go at the iron stage, one large one at the steel stage; not as good as a diesel, but burns absolutely anything, so you can run it without a refinery chain (or, if locomotive fuel costs become significant, without choosing between running locomotives or making plastic bars).

[ofca]

Make a suggestion, how this could be fixed without introducing new rail types.

Obviously there would need to be new rail types and old rail types would need to become "legacy", i.e. they can exist in the game and on maps, but cannot be built anymore and would need to replaced when destroyed, and railroad network would need some minor changes. All "legacy" objects would become destroyed if placed on the map, and removed from storage if stored once the final release version hits, to keep the codebase clean. And yes, I've been puzzled by this too, that this one piece is always needed. All of this however may become moot once the planned auto-building of railway networks comes to fruition - drones wouldn't care much about this one extra bit of work

[TurielD]

Make a suggestion, how this could be fixed without introducing new rail types.

Indeed!

So, rail curve segments basically take up (most of) a 2x3 grid. While flat-to-flat connections make a great 90 degree curve along any cardinal direction, they currently have to be connected by a flat segment on the inside of that curve to join up to the next 90 degree set. Here's my suggestion, allow the option on the right:



This wouldn't require removing or really altering anything about the current rail system - those would all still work exactly the same as always - but it would allow for tighter and more natural looking corners through the direct linking of two curved sections.

All it would require is a little graphical cleanup, I think - basically cutting off the last little part of the graphic of each side of the linking curve along a 45 degree angle.

[wwdragon]

I agree with OP.

While the current train setup allows moving resources, it lacks any intelligence and is simply time based. I also want the train to fill up before coming back.
I also want the train to wait at home base until it's completely empty.

[bobucles]

I'm surprised there's no form of electric train. The tracks are already metallic, so put a few MW in there and the train won't have to refuel ever again!

Trains could have some niceties (stronger engines, bigger cargo, etc.), but I think the most critical piece that's missing is ELEVATED rail. The weakest link for a train network are the intersections, where trains have to take their turn going through and can get quickly clogged up. Intersections are the primary reason players stick to small, low capacity trains. An elevated rail can bypass that, letting one train travel over another and creating the possibility of express high capacity train lines. Only two new items are NEEDED for this- A massive ramp piece that allows trains to move from low to high elevation(two way), and a generic high elevation track piece. A high elevation corner piece would be nice to have, and a splitter for making "highway ramps" would also be nice. But they aren't critical.

In terms of resources the elevated rail would utilize more steel (double or triple) compared to regular rail.

In the grand scheme of things an elevated rail would allow players to make a "highway cloverleaf" that allows constant traffic flow with no collisions.