They’re not so bad. It would be cool if you could set up and simulate signalling from a centralized view, and you often have to make round-abouts and sidings absolutely massive to fit the longest train that might use it, but I mean they work.
I wish they would just run on consistent schedules and not block the storage when loading and unloading. For a game about logistics, it falls short all over. It’s spaghetti code held together with duct tape. It’s fun, but so many problems.
For low volume cargo, it’s usually not a problem. For example, I manufacture computers at the Desert Advanced Manufacturing Node in the rocky desert, and I ship them by train along with five other products also made at the D.A.M.N. to the PRoject Assembly Tower to be made into adaptive control units and to the Super Heavy Industry Terminal to be made into Radio Control Units. In both cases they just get belted straight to the machines that take them because those machines won’t realistically consume an entire train load before the train returns.
For high volume cargo, I handle it like this: I make plastic at the West Heavy Oil Resource Extractor, 60 refineries worth. Each row of 10 refineries is belted into an industrial storage container with one MK4 belt, and then that storage container is belted into a single freight platform with two MK4 belts. The same is done at the D.A.M.N. to unload the train there for manufacturing computers, supercomputers and such. The same is done at the Aluminum Swamp Site to handle the massive amounts of silica the plant consumes as well as the huge number of aluminum casings produced, which are shipped to the S.H.I.T to be made into…everything made there, directly or indirectly, from fused frames to nuclear pasta.
I call that technique a “buffer box.” The storage container won’t block when the station is loading or unloading a train, and it can be fill the platform or be filled from the platform twice as fast as the belt from/to the factory. I then plan each freight platform as if it can carry the same throughput as the belt that feeds it.
I will sometimes split the box/platform connections, connect Box 1 to platform 1 and 2, Box 2 to 2 and 3, and so on, and then box 6 to platform 6 and 1. Sometimes at the load end one end of the train or one specific box or something will end up feeding faster than others so that’s a way to balance it, so I don’t end up with 5/6ths of my A.S.S. totally backed up with the remaining 6th struggles to meet demand.
A quirk of industrial containers: They sort of work as mergers and splitters. They don’t guarantee proportional bandwidth the way actual mergers and splitters do; you might see one of the two belts going into a container feeding while the other is backed up, or one of the two coming out of a container full while the other is empty, but since we’re connecting the side with 2 belts to the same platform it doesn’t functionally matter in this use case.
Yeah, I’m not saying theres no work arounds. I’m saying you shouldnt have to fight the game this way just because the developers cant be bothered to fix it.
If you just want to do the story part, then you only have to deal with a few problems. But when you are building mega factories, sinking millions upon millions of points, these issues are amplified and the game becomes unfun and limits the way you have to design everything.
All of the petroleum coke necessary for operating the A.S.S. is belted in on a single Mk5 belt from that impure oil well near the southern edge of the swamp, designated the Automated Swamp Site Heavy Oil Liquid Extractor. The A.S.S.H.O.L.E. is also where the S.H.I.T. gets all of its gas, from the nitrogen well in the nearby dangle spires.
They dont have consistent speeds. They can take 60s to make a journey, then 59s to make the same then 62s. They should use their variable power, to keep a consistent speed, making deliveries predictable, when the game revolves around pm calculations, it falls short on this.
If that level of variability is dropping your throughput you should add another train or more cars.
The way I view it is the train has a max throughput that is <total capacity of all cars> / <worst case time to complete the circuit> which is generally pretty high compared to belts. If the train is the bottleneck, you can simply add more cars or trains to boost the top of that ratio. I am to keep the theoretical throughput of my train system above what I actually use so there is some buffer.
I’m not saying there isnt work arounds, I’m saying that it’s impossible to achieve peak efficiency, a train might randomly run slower and it might deliver at 1199.99pm instead of 1200pm, that happening just one time has cascading effects on the whole production chain.
Trains that share the same lines that were previously spaced out to avoid interferring, will suddenly be queuing. If you prefer this jank and randomness, they could leave a toggle in and then update it to be consistent otherwise. I should be able to make an actual timetable and carefully weave trains, it would look so cool seeing trains not need blocks because they are on a schedule and all dodge each other.
Same for fluids too, give me less annoying predictable fluids instead of someones attempt at “realism”, put a toggle in for the diehards to keep the current one.
Same for fluids too, give me less annoying predictable fluids instead of someones attempt at “realism”
Man, that was really bothering me on this run, too. 90% of the time, I can just avoid pumping fluids at all by always having the extractor and the destination at about the same level. But there was one spot where I needed to get water to the top of a factory building, and that was just a huge pain. I’d get it working, get it flowing … and then it would randomly stop for no apparent reason? Even after making the pipeline more pumps than pipe, it still kept happening. I’d get back from doing something else to find that particular factory backed up and shut down because the water pumps had stopped working again. And only flushing the entire pipeline could get it to (eventually) work again, after waiting for the water to slowly make its way up from the extractor again.
Normally I don’t bother at all with the fluid packaging/unpackaging tech, but in that instance, I was considering actually packaging the water and using a conveyor to get water containers to the top instead.
(In the end, adding a couple of fluid containers at the top seemed to fix the problem … or at least delay the problem enough that I never ran into it again.)
It’s really old code that I think the devs are scared to touch in case they break something. It uses floating point numbers, so you can never fully utilise a pipe, it’ll be 599.999pm instead of 600pm. You can’t keep the fluid flowing because it takes it in chunks.
I had multiple factories working fine, but after many many hours of it slowly being 0.00001 off somewhere due to a rounding error, it stopped working and brought many lines to a halt.
It needs updating really badly. But I just think the devs are content with how it is now and don’t want to risk breaking things more than they already are. Which is unfortunate. I mean if they release a DLC, I really hope they tackle all the issues first.
If only trains didnt suck.
They’re not so bad. It would be cool if you could set up and simulate signalling from a centralized view, and you often have to make round-abouts and sidings absolutely massive to fit the longest train that might use it, but I mean they work.
I wish they would just run on consistent schedules and not block the storage when loading and unloading. For a game about logistics, it falls short all over. It’s spaghetti code held together with duct tape. It’s fun, but so many problems.
For low volume cargo, it’s usually not a problem. For example, I manufacture computers at the Desert Advanced Manufacturing Node in the rocky desert, and I ship them by train along with five other products also made at the D.A.M.N. to the PRoject Assembly Tower to be made into adaptive control units and to the Super Heavy Industry Terminal to be made into Radio Control Units. In both cases they just get belted straight to the machines that take them because those machines won’t realistically consume an entire train load before the train returns.
For high volume cargo, I handle it like this: I make plastic at the West Heavy Oil Resource Extractor, 60 refineries worth. Each row of 10 refineries is belted into an industrial storage container with one MK4 belt, and then that storage container is belted into a single freight platform with two MK4 belts. The same is done at the D.A.M.N. to unload the train there for manufacturing computers, supercomputers and such. The same is done at the Aluminum Swamp Site to handle the massive amounts of silica the plant consumes as well as the huge number of aluminum casings produced, which are shipped to the S.H.I.T to be made into…everything made there, directly or indirectly, from fused frames to nuclear pasta.
I call that technique a “buffer box.” The storage container won’t block when the station is loading or unloading a train, and it can be fill the platform or be filled from the platform twice as fast as the belt from/to the factory. I then plan each freight platform as if it can carry the same throughput as the belt that feeds it.
I will sometimes split the box/platform connections, connect Box 1 to platform 1 and 2, Box 2 to 2 and 3, and so on, and then box 6 to platform 6 and 1. Sometimes at the load end one end of the train or one specific box or something will end up feeding faster than others so that’s a way to balance it, so I don’t end up with 5/6ths of my A.S.S. totally backed up with the remaining 6th struggles to meet demand.
A quirk of industrial containers: They sort of work as mergers and splitters. They don’t guarantee proportional bandwidth the way actual mergers and splitters do; you might see one of the two belts going into a container feeding while the other is backed up, or one of the two coming out of a container full while the other is empty, but since we’re connecting the side with 2 belts to the same platform it doesn’t functionally matter in this use case.
Yeah, I’m not saying theres no work arounds. I’m saying you shouldnt have to fight the game this way just because the developers cant be bothered to fix it.
If you just want to do the story part, then you only have to deal with a few problems. But when you are building mega factories, sinking millions upon millions of points, these issues are amplified and the game becomes unfun and limits the way you have to design everything.
Nice acronyms too aha
this was a delight to read.
All of the petroleum coke necessary for operating the A.S.S. is belted in on a single Mk5 belt from that impure oil well near the southern edge of the swamp, designated the Automated Swamp Site Heavy Oil Liquid Extractor. The A.S.S.H.O.L.E. is also where the S.H.I.T. gets all of its gas, from the nitrogen well in the nearby dangle spires.
Trains are great!
I love trains, I dont love the randomness of Satisfactory ones!
What’s random about them? In my factory they seem extremely reliable.
They dont have consistent speeds. They can take 60s to make a journey, then 59s to make the same then 62s. They should use their variable power, to keep a consistent speed, making deliveries predictable, when the game revolves around pm calculations, it falls short on this.
If that level of variability is dropping your throughput you should add another train or more cars.
The way I view it is the train has a max throughput that is <total capacity of all cars> / <worst case time to complete the circuit> which is generally pretty high compared to belts. If the train is the bottleneck, you can simply add more cars or trains to boost the top of that ratio. I am to keep the theoretical throughput of my train system above what I actually use so there is some buffer.
I’m not saying there isnt work arounds, I’m saying that it’s impossible to achieve peak efficiency, a train might randomly run slower and it might deliver at 1199.99pm instead of 1200pm, that happening just one time has cascading effects on the whole production chain.
Trains that share the same lines that were previously spaced out to avoid interferring, will suddenly be queuing. If you prefer this jank and randomness, they could leave a toggle in and then update it to be consistent otherwise. I should be able to make an actual timetable and carefully weave trains, it would look so cool seeing trains not need blocks because they are on a schedule and all dodge each other.
Same for fluids too, give me less annoying predictable fluids instead of someones attempt at “realism”, put a toggle in for the diehards to keep the current one.
Man, that was really bothering me on this run, too. 90% of the time, I can just avoid pumping fluids at all by always having the extractor and the destination at about the same level. But there was one spot where I needed to get water to the top of a factory building, and that was just a huge pain. I’d get it working, get it flowing … and then it would randomly stop for no apparent reason? Even after making the pipeline more pumps than pipe, it still kept happening. I’d get back from doing something else to find that particular factory backed up and shut down because the water pumps had stopped working again. And only flushing the entire pipeline could get it to (eventually) work again, after waiting for the water to slowly make its way up from the extractor again.
Normally I don’t bother at all with the fluid packaging/unpackaging tech, but in that instance, I was considering actually packaging the water and using a conveyor to get water containers to the top instead.
(In the end, adding a couple of fluid containers at the top seemed to fix the problem … or at least delay the problem enough that I never ran into it again.)
It’s really old code that I think the devs are scared to touch in case they break something. It uses floating point numbers, so you can never fully utilise a pipe, it’ll be 599.999pm instead of 600pm. You can’t keep the fluid flowing because it takes it in chunks.
I had multiple factories working fine, but after many many hours of it slowly being 0.00001 off somewhere due to a rounding error, it stopped working and brought many lines to a halt.
It needs updating really badly. But I just think the devs are content with how it is now and don’t want to risk breaking things more than they already are. Which is unfortunate. I mean if they release a DLC, I really hope they tackle all the issues first.