Do you bother with slower belts after unlocking and producing faster ones?

[qwr]

I started blue belt production on Vulcanus but I always feel it's a waste to use express belts for everything. Especially lube for blue belts and tungsten for green belts. But red belts are entirely made of iron which is free on Vulcanus. Lube has to come ultimately from coal which looks like is the limiting resource now.
For low throughput things like rocket parts I still use yellow belts because I made a whole bunch before and they're just sitting in storage.
Do you bother with the slower belts or just use fast belts for everything?

[Nemoricus]

I build with the fastest belt I currently mass produce. It’s not worth my time and attention to decide which belt type to use in every situation.

[eugenekay]

I think the Red and Blue belts look nice, so I use them anywhere that the Throughput is not needed. You can also “braid” the different colors of Underground Belt together to compactly weave multiple items. Stack Inserters piling up to 4xItems makes up for the slow Linear speed.

I like to make “Circles” using the Yellow belts to stand on while working in Remote View. Or you can make Spiders ride giant ribbons of them!

[Hurkyl]

I usually don't bother upgrading from yellow unless I specifically need the extra throughput. Eventually I get to a post-scarcity point where it becomes easier to only use the top tier belt, but I don't usually play far into the post-game before starting a new game.

With Space Age and stack inserters, the throughput of yellow belts lasts me a long time.

That said, post-scarcity on Fulgora for iron arrives pretty quickly, so I will often switch to blue belts there once I'm established, even while I use yellow everywhere else.

[coffee-factorio]

Depends on my timing, the stage of the game I'm at. A red belt is 10.5 plates instead of three plates. So there's a time when I just look at that and go "Nope." I prefer to put the plates into efficiency modules in electric furnaces instead.

I think in base game it's red ones on chemical science, then keep that up to artillery? After that you have a defense mechanic that lets you run production science without being bothered by biters.

Space Age it's a bit different.

If I've got access to a sufficient rate of infinite parts, red ones. 'Cause it doesn't effect chemical science by requiring red circuits.

After Gleba. I have advanced asteroid rerolling and I'm scaling the platform till my logistics are an on demand service. So blue belts happen on a dedicated station. I have stacking then, so I can take a stockpile of red belts to 120 spm, then replace them. I do belt weave.

After I win the game? Turbo on Gleba. Figure out where else I need it. Stick with easy to distribute blue belts unless I see a problem basically.

[crimsonarmy]

I do this process:
1. Yellow belts because that's all I have
2. A few red belts in throughput limited areas
3. Red belts everywhere
4. Suddenly realize I am way past the point where I can mass produce blue belts and start using them everywhere.
5. Go to Vulcanus. Unlock green belts. Use green belts everywhere on Vulcanus.
6. Transport green belts everywhere
7. Weave blue and green belts when needed.

[nzer]

Pre-space, yes. Red and blue belts are significantly more expensive than yellow, and if you use them for everything you will be dumping a significant portion of your factory's iron for no reason.

After Vulcanus, using green belts for everything is totally fine. A single lava pump and a couple foundries will produce more green belt than you could ever use.

[DoKeMaSu]

In my current playthrough I am using a mix of green and yellow. I have literally zero blue belts anywhere, and only used reds before I made it to Vulcanus.

Sometimes I use the yellows when throughput is really not an issue, but sometimes I also use them strategically in builds to slow down and build some backpressure on the green belts. Imo that is most useful for asteroid processing, or certain sushi setups.

[m0rtalis]

I'm currently only doing a base game playthrough but when designing my blueprints I'm trying to use the lowest possible belt tier that can supply my machines. I just figure I probably have them lying around in storage anyway and it's just a little more resource efficient. Plus it's easier to estimate how much of one resource a blueprint is going to consume. And the main bus I'm only upgrading as needed.