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High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 7:25 pm
by iceman_1212
All of the other science packs can be made in the traditional beacon layout by using the underground belt trick to separate output from input at the end of a line.
High tech science packs are the only ones which require 4 inputs, 1 of which is copper cable which is required in high volume. Here is the layout I'm using in my current game. Would be curious to see how others are doing this one.
P.S. If you can figure out a way to replace the substation in the middle with a beacon (whilst powering all inserters), I will pay for your next infinite research
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 11:32 pm
by Mehve
Im not home so i cant throw it together myself, but have you tried just belt braiding all four inputs down the one side?
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 1:15 am
by iceman_1212
I didn't try because it didn't seem like that would provide enough throughput for the copper cables: 30 copper cables needed every 14 seconds as per high tech science recipe, crafting speed of 5.5 --> actual consumption rate of ( 30 / 14 ) * 5.5 = 11.8 copper cables per second. Half a blue belt is 20 copper cables per second which means that throughput is only enough fully meet demand of the first assembler.
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 1:42 am
by Mehve
I'm still thinking you would ship in the copper plates and manufacture on site. Batteries, modules, and proc units along with copper plates on the right via regular red-blue belt braiding. Copper plates on the blue half, obviously. A single fast inserter should be fine to handle all three non-coppers into the assemblers. That would completely free up other side for just cable buffering and the output belt.
...is what I'm thinking, anyway.
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 3:51 am
by Mehve
Yep, works like a charm. You can cover things with medium poles, letting you run full rows of beacons too. Copper plate consumption is roughly 1k/min, easily provided by a single blue lane, while output levels out at roughly 260 science packs/minute.
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 9:11 am
by iceman_1212
nice, much cleaner
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 8:47 am
by vanatteveldt
Now we need a solution without belt braiding
Also, on marathon/expensive recipes one lane of copper is not enough.
I've made a sushi belt solution, where I put everything except copper in one lane (using red/yellow input belts to put more processing units on the belt) and use the other lane as output. This can still be tiled, just merge all the outputs together and have it come back beside the last column of beacons.
This produces 264/m, which is exactly the expected at marathon: 60/14*5.5*1.4*2=264, consuming 1k of copper or almost a full blue belt.
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 2:19 pm
by Mehve
I don't quite follow, tbh. You're inputting and outputting the same amount of copper and high tech potions per minute that my design did, when mine only gets half a belt of copper? Plus, marathon doesn't actually alter any recipes in that specific setup, only outside, so it's good for either game configuration.
Also, I've given up on avoiding belt braiding at this point. When there's actual tutorials teaching you how to use it... I've thrown in the towel
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 3:40 pm
by vanatteveldt
Sorry you're right, 1k is less than half a blue belt, so should be fine. I'mnot sure why my setup seemed to be copper starved. Anyway, if the copper and output are swapped you don't need the complicated setup to separate the return belt..
Re: High Tech Science Pack (w/ beacons)
Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 4:29 pm
by Mehve
If you were using boxes to move the cables, did you restrict their inventory size? If you don't, the first assembler will take most of the copper and just keep filling the box. You won't hit steady state until the transfer boxes hAve filled to capacity.
Also, you could obviously extend your configuration to double the length if you wanted.