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Trains waiting in queues for a long time reducing througput
Trains waiting in queues for a long time reducing througput
In my latest game I have been experimenting with having a tile style base(this is my first time doing this). The idea was to have a train or muliple for each resource and in the endgame to just copy tiles to increase production. Things have been going mostly well but recently I have observed that trains get stuck in long queues around the depot tiles where they get refueled. Is there a better way to set things up?
Re: Trains waiting in queues for a long time reducing througput
There has been a lot of research done on intersection design (viewtopic.php?t=100614. I use roundabouts like you have, but they are not the greatest for throughput. The bigger issue is congestion. It looks like every train in your network is trying to go to one little depot block both on the way to load and a second time on the way to unload.
Two suggestions: check out the new train interrupt system. You can design a system where your train schedules are only load - unload, and use interrupts to send trains to the depot if they need fuel or if there is no place open for them to load/unload.
Secondly, instead of one giant depot, make a dozen little depots distributed over your base. That way there are never too many trains trying to use enter a single depot. I would start with mini depots that can handle 4 trains, and increase that if you find trains are stuck waiting for a depot to open.
I love trains and I would love to see how you change things and how it works. Choo choo!
Two suggestions: check out the new train interrupt system. You can design a system where your train schedules are only load - unload, and use interrupts to send trains to the depot if they need fuel or if there is no place open for them to load/unload.
Secondly, instead of one giant depot, make a dozen little depots distributed over your base. That way there are never too many trains trying to use enter a single depot. I would start with mini depots that can handle 4 trains, and increase that if you find trains are stuck waiting for a depot to open.
I love trains and I would love to see how you change things and how it works. Choo choo!
My own personal Factorio super-power - running out of power.
Re: Trains waiting in queues for a long time reducing througput
This "cityblock" approach with its very small rail cells means a very high number of intersections/crossings, and trains will wait at intersections if they meet. You're using roundabouts at the crossings, and these are the worst crossing designs because they make most trains wait, when other crossing designs trains would allow trains pass each other without waiting.
This design flaw is worsened by transporting everything by train, even if the producer and consumer are next to each other, so a high number of trains is used, so they meet often, so they congest the tracks.
The cityblock idea looks nice on paper: just build everything somewhere, and the trains will automatically satisfy demand from supply. But what you will get is train congestion.
So you need to design a train flow in advance before you start filling your small cells and choose mutual provider and consumer locations in a way the trains will flow without crossing each other. If you look at existing cityblock bases in building progress, you see some are degenerated into huge rail track lines in parallel, in an attempt to avoid congestion. They spend more space on rails than on the production lines.
(You might have noticed I'm not a friend of this general design approach. Instead, plan the flow of trains ahead. Build rails only if you actually want to transport over this rail. Use elevated rails to make intersections and crossings as congestion-/waiting-free as possible. This is the great advantage over the 1.1 game engine without elevated rails. But you're unable to use elevated rails with cells that small, so you're missing out that advantage.)
Having some kind of rail grid in general is advantageous. It connects/organizes a base as a whole. But it's not the best thing for local delivery. I use a grid size of about 350-400 tiles. A whole factory fits into one cell. It's mainly to organize the outer area up to the defense perimeter:
This design flaw is worsened by transporting everything by train, even if the producer and consumer are next to each other, so a high number of trains is used, so they meet often, so they congest the tracks.
The cityblock idea looks nice on paper: just build everything somewhere, and the trains will automatically satisfy demand from supply. But what you will get is train congestion.
So you need to design a train flow in advance before you start filling your small cells and choose mutual provider and consumer locations in a way the trains will flow without crossing each other. If you look at existing cityblock bases in building progress, you see some are degenerated into huge rail track lines in parallel, in an attempt to avoid congestion. They spend more space on rails than on the production lines.
(You might have noticed I'm not a friend of this general design approach. Instead, plan the flow of trains ahead. Build rails only if you actually want to transport over this rail. Use elevated rails to make intersections and crossings as congestion-/waiting-free as possible. This is the great advantage over the 1.1 game engine without elevated rails. But you're unable to use elevated rails with cells that small, so you're missing out that advantage.)
Having some kind of rail grid in general is advantageous. It connects/organizes a base as a whole. But it's not the best thing for local delivery. I use a grid size of about 350-400 tiles. A whole factory fits into one cell. It's mainly to organize the outer area up to the defense perimeter:
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Re: Trains waiting in queues for a long time reducing througput
Thnaks for the great suggestion will certainly look into into it. I do actually have multiple train depots but I believe when given the choice trains go to the nearest available leading to increased congestion. Choo choo all the way!Amarula wrote: Mon Mar 03, 2025 2:11 pm There has been a lot of research done on intersection design (viewtopic.php?t=100614. I use roundabouts like you have, but they are not the greatest for throughput. The bigger issue is congestion. It looks like every train in your network is trying to go to one little depot block both on the way to load and a second time on the way to unload.
Two suggestions: check out the new train interrupt system. You can design a system where your train schedules are only load - unload, and use interrupts to send trains to the depot if they need fuel or if there is no place open for them to load/unload.
Secondly, instead of one giant depot, make a dozen little depots distributed over your base. That way there are never too many trains trying to use enter a single depot. I would start with mini depots that can handle 4 trains, and increase that if you find trains are stuck waiting for a depot to open.
I love trains and I would love to see how you change things and how it works. Choo choo!
Re: Trains waiting in queues for a long time reducing througput
All kinds of ways to address.
1. Use interrupts instead of static refueling schedules to reduce the refueling traffic
2. Design better block intersections with higher throughput or use multiple lane intersections with elevated rails
3. Use localized blocks spearated by multi-lane highways and attempt to segregate local blocks by item type and supply / demand traffic
4. Remove fuel depots and instead use dedicated fuel trains that deliver fuel to each station by circuit
5. Launch nukes at half of your base to cut overall train traffic by 50%
I think the easiest and most immediately effective solution would be to use interrupts for refueling.
1. Use interrupts instead of static refueling schedules to reduce the refueling traffic
2. Design better block intersections with higher throughput or use multiple lane intersections with elevated rails
3. Use localized blocks spearated by multi-lane highways and attempt to segregate local blocks by item type and supply / demand traffic
4. Remove fuel depots and instead use dedicated fuel trains that deliver fuel to each station by circuit
5. Launch nukes at half of your base to cut overall train traffic by 50%
I think the easiest and most immediately effective solution would be to use interrupts for refueling.
Re: Trains waiting in queues for a long time reducing througput
I think the easiest solution is to put a blue chest and an inserter at each train stop, and forget the refueling stations, entirely.
(Although I do understand that may be beside the point, if you're just having fun building trains and stops and all that.)
(Although I do understand that may be beside the point, if you're just having fun building trains and stops and all that.)