This topic has the purpose to make you see the light, and accept Underground Belts as your lord and savior.
Most of the builds you will see are based on the following rules:
1- Underground Belts that come out of the ground will be called "oBelts".
2- Underground Belts that go inside the ground will be called "iBelts".
3- You can take items from an iBelt, but you cannot place items in them.
4- You can place items in an oBelt, but you cannot take from them.
5- Underground Belts are awesome and you should use them more.
6- This was last tested and found to be working on version v0.9.8
With two easy setups you can start using Underground Belts today.
Liner Smelter
With this setup you can make your ore's trip from the source back to your base be much more productive without sacrificing time or space.
Make sure you understand the setup before moving on.
Of course Underground Belts are a kind master, so this will work with any kind of furnace.
For fuel based furnaces: the fuel can share the same belt as the ore, neither will mind.
If you are thinking:
"I can replace the iron ore with copper ore!" Congratulations, you have a basic grasp on the game's most basic concepts.
If you are thinking:
"I can replace the iron ore with iron plates for a steel making express lane!" I'm sorry but, as right as you are, I'm afraid you are not quite getting the full potential of this setup.
Try it yourself! You can run the ore, iron and steel side by side in the same furnace lane. I'm sure you will figure it out...
Ok, I'll give you a hint. Remember the rules about iBelts and oBelts. You need to turn the iron plates output into iron plates input.
Let's take this a few steps further...
Basic Components Underground Factory
Two lanes side by side.
Complete with output to input change AND lane-to-lane resource sharing for more advanced components!
Input= Belt1(Iron Plates) & Belt2(Copper Plates)
Output= Belt1(Wire+Copper Plates) & Belt2(Iron Gears+Electronic Circuits) & Belt3(Iron Plates+Steel) The steel is a lie...
but it doesn't have to be.
Oh my god, this is so compact fast and organised... I think everyone has started seeing the true power of this by now.
Yes my child. You CAN make much more complex factory setups for much more complex components and finished goods, that beautiful output is perfect for that.
Try to avoid the urge to run a regular belt on the side for outputting and sharing of components. It annoys the Underground Gods.
Some closing notes:
You can easily change final products by redirecting a few inserters.
You can use Small Electric Poles for a perfect electric grid fit.
You can use Medium Poles to take advantage of the top lane;
Even if you don't need a fifth component lane it's still useful for fitting a lot of stuff, like:
-Laser Turrets!
Top it with a wall!
-Provider Chest Outputs!heresy
-Requester Chest Inputs!capital sin
-Component Sharing Intersection between perpendicular Underground Factory lanes!NOW we're talking!
You can't use basic inserters to pick items up from blue belts unless it's clogged.You can use that to your advantage to prioritize some factories over others. You can even use it to store excess products!
But that's something to be discussed in another topic...
