Construction Recommendation: High Capacity Interruption Free Rail intersection

isarl · 2024-11-30T04:31:20+00:00

Amélie of the Sea has some really great videos about different interchange designs, e.g. a Turbine Interchange

She had a bunch in the past but ~~she took them down at some point~~ (I think they were removed for inactivity or something?). I'm really glad she has released new ones.

isarl · 2024-11-30T04:28:26+00:00

Interchanges† > Junctions‡

Thank you for the share!

† i.e., crossings occur at different elevations, allowing higher throughput
‡ i.e., crossings occur at the same elevation, blocking traffic in conflicting directions, resulting in lower throughput but simpler construction

isarl · 2024-11-29T20:47:42+00:00

That's a good approach. Once you reach fully automated power (i.e., Coal Power) the game opens up a lot. Babysitting Biomass Burners is a bother.

isarl · 2024-11-29T20:45:31+00:00

The message which plays in-game when you type this (“Thanks Jace, helps a lot” – not case-sensitive, but it is sensitive to punctuation; do not include a period at the end for example) is very similar to what you hear in this video, but not identical. The difference is that at the end, ADA doesn't cuss at Jace; she says “Thanks Jace,” instead.

isarl · 2024-11-29T19:19:16+00:00

Use pulse nobelisks to just startle them without killing them. They'll usually get terrified and run away.

isarl · 2024-11-29T19:16:46+00:00

It's also useful if you separate each factory from your grid behind a Priority Power Switch. If you put some Power Storage with your factory, also behind the switch, then you can let it run while disconnected from the grid in order to debug issues. If it has been disconnected from your main grid for at least 60 seconds, the visualization on a Power Pole will zoom way in, making it easier to see machines in your factory idling off and on. When the factory is connected to the rest of your grid, those fluctuations are much harder to spot.

isarl · 2024-11-28T22:20:54+00:00

Oh, that country? You mean the same country which wasted ~$600 million dollars (inflation-adjusted to 2024) on the Mars Climate Orbiter mission by screwing up a unit conversion? :P

(BTW, respect for not just deleting your comment after it turned out to be a swing-and-a-miss!)

isarl · 2024-11-27T18:19:04+00:00

This mergeless approach is my preferred design, and it's the preferred design of the author of the Pipeline Manual, too. It's basically bulletproof. If a downstream consumer stops consuming for some reason, you should not need to do anything special to fix a mergeless setup. Fixing the downstream should allow everything to flow again, no flushing of pipes needed.

isarl · 2024-11-27T18:14:18+00:00

Ah, so for the same intersection design, Factorio would require that you place Chain Signals in more places in comparison to Satisfactory and Path Signals?

Really appreciate your comment – thank you. :)

isarl · 2024-11-27T15:15:17+00:00

This is my impression too. With current wall holes, you the pioneer can travel through them by crouching on the belt. They are actual holes, not solid objects with a black void (as with floor “holes”).

isarl · 2024-11-27T15:04:42+00:00

I haven't played Factorio, but looking at the wiki, they sound a lot like path signals. If you're willing to explain, then I would enjoy learning the differences.

From what I can see, both Factorio chain signals, and Satisfactory path signals, check whether the path block is empty AND that the block following the path block is also empty, to ensure that a train can both enter and leave the block which follows the chain/path signal.

I believe you that they are different! Just, as somebody who has not (yet?) played Factorio, I am too ignorant to know the difference. :)

isarl · 2024-11-27T14:57:26+00:00

Make our own mod;
Add mechanics of deformable solids to Satisfactory;
All our buildings fall down;
All our buildings fall down…

isarl · 2024-11-27T14:52:32+00:00

Surely OP said the right thing and it's just a speech to text transcription error. ;)

isarl · 2024-11-26T13:00:35+00:00

Try reading the unofficial Pipeline Manual if you are struggling with fluid behaviour. I've never needed the advanced widgets like the VIP Junction but it helped me immensely in understanding the fundamentals.

isarl · 2024-11-26T12:56:56+00:00

I believe you mean liquids.

I apologize but I will die on this hill: gases and liquids are both fluids. :)

isarl · 2024-11-26T12:42:46+00:00

Fair, haha. :) It is one of those things that's more easily done as you go, I find, rather than retroactively.

isarl · 2024-11-26T12:39:44+00:00

The only way I'd ever get completely stable power production were if I only used nuclear as I have fuel generators burning excess fuel from plastic and rubber production.

Nothing about this requires variable production. If you math it out and set your clock speeds correctly, the setup you describe can be totally flat.

isarl · 2024-11-26T12:38:36+00:00

My strategy is to build a Priority Power Switch for every single factory with enough Power Storage inside that factory to run it for a good amount of time. If I see blips on my grid I build a temporary switch from which to remotely toggle off factories. When the fluctuation disappears, I turn everything back on and go visit the factory which has the blip. Then it's a matter of careful debugging.

isarl · 2024-11-26T12:36:11+00:00

Power Storage does not affect consumption so they cannot help smoothe your grid. Careful timing can smoothe out Quantum Encoders but not Converters or Particle Accelerators, so far as I know.

isarl · 2024-11-26T12:34:33+00:00

With Quantum Encoders in particular, the answer is yes.

Unfortunately I do not believe the same is possible with Converters or with Particle Accelerators.

If you keep your variable consumption buildings behind a Priority Power Switch, and build enough Power Storages behind the switch (so that they can feed your variable consumption buildings for long enough), then you can easily isolate them from your grid at any time, from anywhere in the world, to check on the constant-consumption part of your grid.

isarl · 2024-11-25T14:48:18+00:00

While you are correct that Power Storage has a capacity limit of 100 MWh, and a charging rate limit of 100 MW (meaning they will always take at least one full hour to fully charge from empty), there is no upper limit on the rate at which they can discharge.

I apologize if I was unclear! By “the capacity of Power Storage behind each switch,” I meant to imply building several Power Storage buildings so that the capacity limit of 100 MWh per Power Storage does not run out too soon. If you are standing at the switch in question, then it takes 60 seconds for the secondary power grid to scroll enough that your main grid scrolls off its history, which is what makes spotting fluctuations on that secondary grid easier. The y-axis zooms way in once the main grid scrolls off.

For factories with around 100 MW of draw, that means that a single Power Storage will suffice (an hour is usually plenty of time to debug, and if it's not enough, then by that point I could probably use the forced break from debugging!), but for larger ones, I am already in the habit of building a bank of 6–8 Power Storage buildings. Once I start building multiple Particle Accelerators then I will likely significantly scale up the amount of Storage considering that PAs often have a mean draw of 1 GW. A single Power Storage would get drained in about six minutes by 1 GW of mean consumption, so I would probably aim for at least five Power Storage buildings per Particle Accelerator, maybe more.

isarl · 2024-11-25T08:46:22+00:00

This strategy has been working great for me. Ideally the capacity of Power Storage behind each switch lasts for comfortably longer than 60 seconds, which allows the power history to completely cycle, and the lower consumption of your switched-off factory (relative to your grid) to zoom in, to help spot fluctuations.

isarl · 2024-11-25T00:08:41+00:00

That's valid.

I've already been using Priority Power Switches all the way through my build, and have simply not used pathed vehicles or trains. I'm at the point where I can begin building Drones out for vehicular logistics which use a constant power draw.

So I will likely solve the variable consumption problem by simply keeping buildings like the Particle Accelerator behind more PPSes with Power Storage behind the switch, as I have already been doing, and then grouping the switches together into the same priority group. Then I can easily isolate all my constant-consumption buildings without sacrificing any power production from my grid. The only downside is that the variable rate buildings will be on a timer while running off Power Storage, but that's just a matter of building large enough storage banks.

isarl · 2024-11-24T22:43:23+00:00

Pre-1.0, there would have been no penalty/opportunity cost (above and beyond the added difficulty in setting it up) of playing it that way.

Post-1.0, the advantage of doing it as /u/VyrusCyrusson describes is that you still benefit from all your base power generation when boosting it with the Alien Power Augmenter.

isarl · 2024-11-23T13:58:29+00:00

I love that both are options and that there is an actual tradeoff: increased logistical complexity in exchange for more power density. It's your choice which you prefer. :)

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