Introduced a friend of Factorio, so is helping them with their base, and then it kind of got out of hand. So the core base is spaghetti City. With a somewhat organized mall off the edge. And then single tracked trains everywhere, using extensive sideings.

I forgot about some of the train pathing mechanics. I had originally created the sideings to have the holding lane off the main track, but then none of the trains would path to the holding lane, so it was like I had no sidings at all. Once I put the holding lane on the main track the sidings worked in the trains became much more efficient.

Hilariously because I was trying to keep things simple, and teach my friend mechanics, the entire train system is one engine and two cars. So small.

I just put in some train-based smelting to free up some of the spaghetti City in the main base.

No city blocks yet, but who can say for the future

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh that sounds great, especially playing with a friend is very fun. I prefer to have one central unloading hub for the trains that then feeds my base as a kind of mid game setup. Double sided train tracks make signaling much easier as well. If it works, if works

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm a big believer in trains, but I think a lot of train systems are too busy. Making sure the trains are full before they move, making sure they can be unloaded fully when they arrive, reducing the total number of trips. I think single lane works. Or at least in my bases it works.

Dual track designs have more intersections, and opportunities for deadlock, you still have to build up passing sidings, for the larger intersections.

But it's great to experiment either way. I was on a big multiplayer map, and I just started playing with the single tracked design and I got more throughput than the dual and quad carriageways that some of my friends had made. And then I was hooked. :)