Factorio Mini Steel Furnace (Factorio fanwork)

Mini Steel Furnace (Factorio fanwork)
My first rocket-launching base since 2016
Merging Buses
Version 0.18.40
This time synchronised (and with sound)
Version 0.18.39
4-4 Belt/Lane Balancer
Got the game yesterday, how's my factory looking?
TIL Fluid Wagons are rounded on the map
Factorio external "monitor"
Optimal train configurations visualized (including mods)
What's the best type of intersection in theory?
My quest for the Ultimate Mall/Hub continues
clear blueprint
Armoured Car
When I started using dual monitors, i noticed the game loading bar is synced with the windows taskbar icon, so many little details i never notice...
Third Game, Check My Mall & (no white) 100(ish) SPM Compact Build!
Would this modification be worthwhile?
I just put my first city blocks. what do I put in them?

Mini Steel Furnace (Factorio fanwork)

Posted: 31 Jul 2020 08:33 PM PDT

submitted by /u/HideBoar
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My first rocket-launching base since 2016

Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:28 PM PDT

submitted by /u/bitman2049
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Merging Buses

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 04:31 AM PDT

submitted by /u/mugmanOne
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Version 0.18.40

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 01:56 AM PDT

Bugfixes

New release to fix standalone Windows version having only demo content.

Use the automatic updater if you can (check experimental updates in other settings) or download full installation at http://www.factorio.com/download/experimental.

submitted by /u/FactorioTeam
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This time synchronised (and with sound)

Posted: 31 Jul 2020 01:48 PM PDT

submitted by /u/Aplyde
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Version 0.18.39

Posted: 31 Jul 2020 11:27 PM PDT

Bugfixes

Fixed clearing ghost from cursor would not clear quickbar selection. more
Fixed blueprint book not shrinking when the last item was destroyed.
Fixed crash when Lua received event of player selecting area to deconstruct.
Fixed upgrading book by item would not work while being in editor. more
Fixed biters not grouping before attacking an artillery outpost. more
Fixed crash related to saving blueprint which has all the entities/tiles as question marks.
Fixed desync when loading blueprint shelf with modded entities. more
Fixed that swapping blueprint cursor into a non transferred blueprint didn't trigger the transfer.
Fixed that cycling blueprint book in the shared blueprint library could also cycle the index for other players holding the same book.
Fixed that cycling book wouldn't mark blueprint storage to be resaved, so the indexes would be lost if no other changes were done.
Fixed a desync when returning to a multiplayer game while the book active index was changed in a different game. more
Fixed that the action to put item into a blueprint library was not based on the latency hiding state of held item, which could result into the action doing nothing when the item held was not in the server state yet.
Fixed that quickbar links into items contained in blueprint books in the player inventory didn't work.
Fixed that it was possible to setup empty blueprint of other player if the original player was still having the quickbar link to it.
Fixed that quickbar links did work only for the main inventory of player, so it didn't work for currently equipped armor for example.
Fixed that LuaInventory.insert() didn't work properly for blueprint books. more
Fixed crash when reassigning blueprint with non-even snap grid size to contain rails. more
Fixed crash when holding a blueprint from the blueprint library while being dead. more
Fixed that the info for selecting entities to be upgraded was mentioning entities that were marked for deconstruction, even when these are ignored by the upgrade planner.
Fixed that ordering deconstruction didn't cancel upgrade order. more

Use the automatic updater if you can (check experimental updates in other settings) or download full installation at http://www.factorio.com/download/experimental.

submitted by /u/FactorioTeam
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4-4 Belt/Lane Balancer

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 04:20 AM PDT

That's right, we're not done with lane balancing yet...

WHAT…IS THAT?

This is a throughput unlimited, 4-4 belt balancer, that will also balance the eight lanes those four belts are composed of. The balancer will mix the belts and lanes together in a way that will evenly supply all eight lanes to an inserter that is placed after it. This balancer will evenly distribute any combination of inputs to the outputs however, this is not a universal balancer. Adjusting the outputs to three belts and the inputs to less than 3 belts will unevenly load the outputs (pic below). One belt will carry twice as much as either of the other two.

I wish we had another name for these things. You can balance lanes without balancing belts and vice versa. However, anything new term will likely be confused with universal balancers.

WHY…BOTHER?

Because addressing edge cases, and largely unnecessary aesthetic issues is fun. I'm not convinced lane balancing is useful beyond the aesthetic value of full belts...except for a few cases that overall design can address. More info here. u/Xodial and I have an electronic chip array that is draining one side of every belt in our copper plate bus. 50% reduction in throughput for downstream, low-density structures is less than ideal. We're currently building a city block style, mid-base with 16 belts of copper plate. Placing this balancer where each set of four belts joins the bus should bring balance to the belts. Upgrading the electronic chip arrays to beaconed designs would consume full belts and therefore, fix the "issue", but this is more fun. We do all sorts of things to get through temporary issues.

HOW…'S IT WORK?

Comparing this balancer to a traditional 4-4 belt balancer shows some similarities. Like the traditional balancer, this new balancer will mix the input belts using 3 stages. At stage one, the two left-most belts are mixed together, and the two right most belts are mixed together. At the 2nd stage, the two outside belts are mixed together, and the two inside belts are mixed together. The two 2nd stage splitters are spaced apart, but don't let that be confusing. It's the same number of splitters per belt regardless. Finally, at the 3rd stage, the left-most pair of belts are mixed again and right-most pair of belts is mixed again. More information about belt balancer mechanics and some visual aids here.

\"New\" 4-4 Comprehensive balancer compared to traditional 4-4 balancer

The difference between the traditional and new balancers are two intermediate steps after the 1st stage.

The first intermediate step is to split each of the four input belts in to two separate belts or "half belts" because only one side is used from here. This allows me to isolate individual lanes for balancing.

The splitters outlined in red have one input and two outputs each

The second intermediate step is, the individual lanes are carefully merged back together by side-loading undergrounds. If you trace the belts, you can see the left-hand side of a "half belt" is side-loaded into an underground, and the right-hand side of the other "half belt" is side-loaded into an underground (coal/plastic pic below). This allows each output lane to have inputs from both the left- and right-hand sides of the input belts. Feeding those outputs into the 2nd and 3rd stage splitters allows an inserter to pull from each input lane.

6 Undergrounds are used to combine the lanes back into belts

One of the previous iterations loaded both sides of the undergrounds to improve efficiency but the overall design used 18 undergrounds while this one uses 10—didn't quite work out. One of my primary design constraints is overall size. This design is my best compromise between height, width and materials.

Here are some examples of the balancer in different scenarios:

Works like a friggen champ!

Many main bus layouts seem to have four belts, four spaces, repeat. This design will work without modification or alternating alignments.

Iron Plate: One input belt to four output belts, evenly distributed. The slight wave pattern is caused by the path the iron plate follows. It's longer to get to the far side of the balancer resulting in a wave pattern.

Copper Plate: two input belts to four output belts, evenly distributed

Electronic Circuit: one input belt to its inverse output belt, full throughput

Advanced Circuit: Less than three inputs, three outputs, uneven distribution. Leftmost belt is carrying twice as much as the other output belts due to an imbalance in the inputs for the final three splitters. This disqualifies the balancer from a "universal" designation. I'm not yet interested in the trade-offs demanded by universal balancers, I'm perfectly happy with this. It's impractical enough as it is.

Plastic/Coal: Shows how the lanes are manipulated to achieve balance. It's interesting to see how the outputs fluctuate depending on compression. As the belts are first being loaded the plastic and coal fluctuate from side to side before settling into a stable, although unpredictable, pattern. This is due to coal and plastic being fed into both sides of all lanes at the same time. Dead-heading the belts and pulling items off one at a time will yield a pattern of coal-plastic-coal-plastic.

RESPECT

This is not a new concept I've invented. I was inspired by a u/Nilaus video, started playing with individual lane balancers and realised it would be more efficient to load both sides of the undergrounds instead of just one. This led me to play with 2-2 belt/lane balancers.

Another example of not side-loading both sides, I either use more space or more undergrounds to achieve that \"improvement\" in efficiency

There are numerous other designs to this. Once I had a 2-2 balancer that worked properly, a 4-4 would provide the most utility because I want these things at the source and our main bus is composed of 4-belt segments. I'm not the first to work on a 4-4 design either. There are several other designs but I prefer to strictly use side-loads. Side-loading belts with Inputs that are not 100% compressed will make the lane balancing unpredictable. Side-loading undergrounds also makes it easier to select which side of the belt to manipulate.

The left-hand balancer is one of mine that led to the current version. The right-hand balancer is from u/Hexicube, uploaded a year ago.

I have not tested u/Hexicube's design as I mine was already made when I found it.

CLOSING

I'd love to hear what you think, especially if you see any issues. I'd like to work on more of these, but more belts dramatically increase the complications

For now, here's a link to a book with 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4. They're all throughput unlimited, consumption from any lane is evenly supplied by the inputs. The 3-3 is a new one, I haven't spent any time on refining it. These are fun to work on but I'm going to have a hard time making a full book all on my lonesome...

BLUEPRINT BOOK

Also, does anyone have any information on the UPS cost of these things? I know splitters are hard on UPS but what kind of numbers are we talking about? 10,000 splitters? Our current midbase isn't going to care, we only designed it to achieve 240 SPM (unbeaconed/moduled, so 330ish). As we grow, I'd like to understand what I'm trading for lane balancing.

Anyhoo, thanks for taking a look.

Happy Family

TL;DR

Somewhat dope yet delightfully superfluous "comprehensive" (belt and lane) balancer. Evenly distributes all input lanes to all output lanes. Link to blueprint book above.

submitted by /u/Fooluaintblack
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Got the game yesterday, how's my factory looking?

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 03:16 AM PDT

submitted by /u/Sam2676789
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TIL Fluid Wagons are rounded on the map

Posted: 31 Jul 2020 07:27 PM PDT

submitted by /u/FactoryBuilder
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Factorio external "monitor"

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:56 AM PDT

submitted by /u/wanttoknowaboutit
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Optimal train configurations visualized (including mods)

Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:55 PM PDT

submitted by /u/tummyrampage
[link] [comments]

What's the best type of intersection in theory?

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 03:29 AM PDT

So over the years I have lots of different designs but there is so many variables to count for.

Assuming for simplicity we have a 2 rail system intersection.

Do you allow it so the trains can only turn in 1 direction? Maybe they can go in 2 directions or 3 or 4 (roundabout)?

Do you want to allow rest stops inside the intersection?

Is it better to have 4 intersections that only allow the train to go through or turn 90 degrees so after all 4 it can finally loop around vs an intersection with 4 path opportunities?

I'm just curious if the community has decided on a theory that applies to intersections. Personally avoid allowing a complete loop and create individual paths for 3 directions with waiting stops in between but I don't know if that's the most efficient.

Stuff like this

submitted by /u/Learning2Programing
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My quest for the Ultimate Mall/Hub continues

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:50 AM PDT

Full of all the goodies

I've been trying to build out an ultimate mall/hub as the central point of a new rail mega base. This is the latest version. Features include...

Builds pretty much everything except ammo, solar and personal tools like power armor
Beaconed production of circuits, modules and cogs is power switched to turn off when not required
Inputs are mostly from requester chests or direct insertion
Minimal wires as each assembler is fed by an inserter controlled by logistics network content count. If there's enough in the network somewhere it cuts out.
All outputs are Storage chests with filters set so items will return to the hub for recycling
All this is fed by priority controlled trains

The unloading bays with priority control and buffer controls and indicators

I'm still bug hunting but the next step is to throw it into my latest No Spoon run to convert it into a mega base. In theory it should self start if you can feed in a trickle of materials from a bus and spare stuff you'd have around after launching your first rocket.

submitted by /u/daddywookie
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clear blueprint

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:42 AM PDT

Hello,

Since the last updates, I'm not able to clear the blueprint in my hotbar. I usually pressed SHIFT+Left mouse to clear the blueprint, but it has no effect now, and I can't find any mapping in the shortcuts menu.

Any advice?

submitted by /u/spouriel
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Armoured Car

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 07:33 AM PDT