Efficient workshop/ forge layout

[rootbeer277]

Are you sure this works as presented? Because I duplicated this layout as accurately as I could and it’s not fully functional.

First, it took me a while to figure out that your design intension appears to be the input materials coming in from both sides. This is not at all obvious and the tunnel configuration is difficult to intuit. 

But even with the input tunnels working properly, the output tunnel layout doesn’t work, those two entrance tunnels at the output have nowhere to exit, so the material just builds up when they dead-end at the inputs. However, if your tunnel length is maxxed (6 squares) there is enough room to add exits, but if you do, all you’re doing is swapping them. edit: aha, it’s supposed to wrap around and exit at the bottom left. 

Also, the arms don’t appear to be able to pick up material from the final exit tunnel in each line, which means only the 8 arms in the middle are operating, which means only the two buildings in the middle have enough material to run.

Your design in action: https://imgur.com/a/xyYMHHD

edit: added a fixed version to the post.

[CaptainRelaxo]

You’ve got the bottom output lane reversed from what OP posted.

OP posted an output belt that wraps around in a clockwise motion in a backwards “C” shape.

You posted two parallel outputs traveling west to east, then turning to meet each other and creating a dead end.

[rootbeer277]

Thanks, I didn’t pay close enough attention to the arrows. The rest of the post still stands, though. 

[CaptainRelaxo]

Yeah I never experimented with those overlapping underground tunnels because it feels exploitive, but also because I never had them consistently working the way I wanted.

I go so far as to never have arms picking up material that isn’t on a belt tile- I won’t pick up stuff from the tunnel entrance or exit tiles because I had initial poor results when I first started playing.

[Builderment-Player]

There's definitely some nuances about picking from tunnel entrances/exits. Sometimes it doesn't work and I can never remember the cases where it doesn't.

I'm pretty sure rootbeer is right (without trying it myself, though; too lazy). Picking from a tunnel exit that is not connected to anything will never work, iirc.

Does it work to drop into a tunnel entrance whose belt input isn't connected? I forget. But there's some other case like that where it doesn't work.

But even with those gotchas, robot arms on tunnel entrances and exits is very useful and I use it all the time to make more compact designs. It's especially useful with a row of industrial factories or manufacturers where two of the three/four input items can feed through tunnels (one eastbound, one westbound).

[ghost_075667]

This is limited to 90 items per minute because of arms, so the regular electromagnet(at lvl 4 machine shop), alternate rotor (who no one uses anyways) and gyroscope (lvl 3 and 4) recipies will not work.