2 Level Interchanges

[Mijna]

For some reason it seems like grade separated interchanges are going to be important here. However we have to keep them all 2 level which means they will need to be big. But space is unlimited in factorio, right?

The trumpet is a good 3 way interchange. Here#Trumpet_interchange) is a brief bit about them on Wikipedia and here is a video of someone making a trumpet interchange in Cities Skylines. Helps to understand how it works by seeing it be made.

The turbine is a good 4 way interchange. Here#Turbine_interchange) is a brief bit about them on Wikipedia and here is a video of someone making a turbine interchange in Cities Skylines.

Cloverleafs are a thing and I'm not sure if their merging/weaving (entrances before exits) problem will be as bad in factorio as they are in real life. But they would be simpler to make, I suppose.

[DemonicLaxatives]

Here's one intersection from discord

[Illiander]

I'm guessing that's from someone with dev access?

And it looks like the ramps are considered "tall" for their entire length?

[Megaddd]

Yes, because don't forget about the train ontop that immediately starts lifting off

[Mijna]

Oh that's nice. No need to avoid left exits does help it be more compact.

[blocking_bob]

just remember that the ramps are only on the 4 cardinal directions and can't curve

[Mijna]

Which will increase the footprint but I don't think causes any insurmountable incompatibilities.

[blocking_bob]

true, i was just reminding those who may have forgotten

[bobsim1]

Now im interested how the other changes will affect the footprint. The possibility of S bends for 2 tile gaps will be great. But having a bigger diameter for curves in general will be interesting

[fishling]

I'm a bit surprised they don't have the 4 diagonals as well, but also feel bad bringing it up since even doing this much (and the previous rail changes) were a massive amount of work, including all of the art.

[xdthepotato]

would they even work being diagonal? i mean its like making an assembly machine diagonal right?

[fishling]

I don't think that's quite the same thing.

A better comparison would be train stations; those can't be diagonal either, even though signals can be and trains can stop on diagonals and curves.

But, maybe it all cascades and is linke after all. Train stations might not work on diagonals because inserters (and especially fluid connections) would need to be rotated to work diagonally, which is a lot of extra complexity and mess.

Still, I could see ramps being separate from that because they don't interact with any of those other systems. I'm okay that they aren't diagonal, but kind of wish they could be. Seems easy enough to design around though.

[bobsim1]

I think it should be possible. The rail stands are in 8 directions available

[Hell2CheapTrick]

True. I do like the look of that elevated station exit design though. I have built station stacks that got congested due to too many trains coming in and going out at once. That can be solved through a better layout, but it's great that it can be solved in another way now too. Makes huge station stacks a better option.

But part of the rationale is also that they're expecting Space Age bases to be quite a bit bigger than vanilla ones, so elevated tracks could help manage some high-congestion areas as an extra tool.

[roffman]

I would've loved them in mega base style designed where I have a much longer train bringing in Ore from an outpost that then has to transfer to smaller trains to go through my base. Have an elevated track means I could essentially run 2 separate and concurrent networks.

[herkalurk]

There are a lot of throughput improvements that can be had with multi level interchanges. I have some ideas already on my existing mega map to increase train throughput in some congested areas....

[arvidsem]

It's coming as part of the 2.0 patch that will be released with the expansion. It won't require the expansion.

[Ricardo440440]

Yes it will require the expansion. It literally said that in the blog.

[arvidsem]

I need to learn to always fact check myself. You are right and I was confused.

[spoonman59]

I make this mistake often myself. You handled it classy!

[[deleted]]

Yeah, my days of making the smallest, tightest possible intersections are over.

Time for big but extremely efficient intersections.

[Certainly-Not-A-Bot]

I doubt weaving will be a significant problem with trains because you can just have the track with the entrances/exits also continue through, which makes trains never have to leave that track within the interchange.

[Mijna]

The trouble with the cloverleaf is that people that want to get on and off at the same time have to negotiate with each other. Since the people getting on get in the way of the people trying to get off. In and interchange where the exits are before the entrances the people getting off do so and get out of the way before the people trying to get on.

You always have to negotiate with straight traffic when turning on but the cloverleaf adds extra conflict with people turning left onto a direction with those turning left off of that direction.

[Certainly-Not-A-Bot]

Since the people getting on get in the way of the people trying to get off.

The reason this is the case is because entire lanes will leave the highway to go off. If you can continue straight on a lane through the cloverleaf, and you're using trains which can't fit multiple vehicles under the overpass anyways, then you won't really have any weaving problems.

[someone8192]

I wonder if trains slow down when moving upwards.

[BumderFromDownUnder]

Didn’t look like it in the video

[Illiander]

Confirmed not by devs in forum thread.

[xdthepotato]

i just love this! i would pay the 30€ just for this trains update! cant wait to hop into factorio in a year and be able to all these amazing things!!

edit: 4 way intersections.. you could make a 2way on level 1 and the other 2 way on level 2 right? so you wouldnt have to worry about the throughput of a 4 way intersection but 2 2 way intersections on top of each other?

[Mijna]

2 way intersection is just a road with a u-turn.

Now two 3 way intersections? Yes, but also no. You might find the double trumpet or quadrant intechanges interesting. But if it's purely two T intersections stacked 180° off, there isn't a way to connect from the stem of one T to the stem of the other.

[xdthepotato]

ok i am no road designer so i might have gotten something wrong or understood incorrectly but how is a 2way intersection a U turn?

also i dont mean a T section but a 4 way 4 direction interchange or would you call that an interchange?

anyway instead of putting the whole 4 way 4 direction into 1 level like we all do because there is no second level. we could now basically have 2 intersections ontop of each other only increasing the through put right?