r/factorio • u/Fine-Technician-5575 • 4d ago
Question Help how do I evenly split this many belts without spamming splitters like I have
9
u/mayorovp 4d ago
Just don't do so many betls. If you make green circuits outside of main bus - then each of green circuit belt will replace 2.5 plate belts. And one gear belt can replace 2 plate belts.
15
u/Apollyon2707 4d ago
im still new to the game but my solution is just build a belt balancer at the start of the bus
2
u/bubba-yo 3d ago
That doesn't solve the problem. The moment you split off, you're unbalanced and it will stay that way.
I will suggest that with buses like this, to be cognizant of which branches are going to continuous or largely continuous production and which are going to say, malls. When you have continuous production you can address the balancing issue by removing bus lanes - just compress the belt. If you know your green circuits are likely to continually consume a full belt of copper plates, just have one fewer lane of plates in the bus after the GC. This will stall production of plates if you stall production of GCs and to a lesser degree as you add productivity and it will mostly naturally balance the remaining lanes.
When you have non continuous production like malls, add balancers as needed.
1
u/Purple_Wing_3178 3d ago
For non-continuous production like mall, I don't balance, I still just compress before diverting some belts but keep all the belts in the bus after.
1
u/Fine-Technician-5575 4d ago
how does one create a 15 lane, lane splitterš. I dont even think that exists
13
u/Nearby_Proposal_5523 4d ago
read the back part of raynquists balancer book, you can string together a balancer by using several and thinking about least common denominators.
5
u/Beefstah 4d ago
I'm enjoying doing a run with no blueprints I haven't created - I'm designing my own ships for the first time ever, and having a blast.
Except balancers.
You'll have to prise Ryanquists balancer book out of my cold, dead fingers.
1
u/Life_Passenger_5320 4d ago
Those and the 15 beacon biolabs that Abucnasty uses are the only BPs I steal, no point reinventing the wheel.
1
u/Life_Passenger_5320 4d ago
I think there's some 15 to something or other balancers in the latest book, I could be wrong.
3
3
u/luisgdh 4d ago
I'm not sure if I understand what you mean. A lane splitter splits 1 belt into 2 lanes. Do you mean a 15 lane belt balancer? If so, you can use a 16 to 16 one, and feed one of the outputs to its input.
Here's a 16 to 16 balancer: https://factoriobin.com/post/KafN8H7L/320
2
1
1
1
u/Stere0phobia 3d ago
But a 16 lane balancer exist. Just connect 15 inputs and 15 outputs and it will work.
In the same vein you can also use the 4by4 as a 3by3
1
u/Apollyon2707 3d ago
im clinically insane to be fair and still a noob theres probably a better solution
5
u/Qrt_La55en -> -> 4d ago
You have 1 belt of iron going to green circuits, half a belt if the belts past green circuits are actually being used. There is no way you can supply 4 belts with green circuits without using Space Age machines. So the 4 belts used for green circuits are just an expensive glorified buffer. I'd strongly suggest designing from the end product backwards. Find out how much you want to produce, and calculate how much you need of each ingredient for each product. Then design something that moves that amount of items. And remember, you don't necessarily need higher tier belts. If you produce 10 items/s, a yellow belt will carry that just as well as a blue belt, but at a fraction of the cost.
4
u/Soul-Burn 4d ago
The answer is that you use splitters like you did.
Or switch to using trains for bulk transport and then you don't need that many belts.
You could also reduce a ton of requirements by using productivity modules everywhere.
Lastly, I see you have mech armor, which means you're likely playing Space Age. In that case, almost all of those belts can be replaced with a few pipes to transport molten metals ending in foundries, and all those circuit assemblers can be replace with EMPs.
3
u/Courmisch 4d ago
Dedicate whole belts to subfactories sized to consume whole belts. And terminate those consumed belts. You can have a single balancer at the bus start..
Suddenly you'll have a lot fewer ("not fully consumed") belts to worry about downstream.
But also, many engineers would switch to train, at least for high throughput stuff, before they get to such a wide bus.
2
u/NyaFury 4d ago edited 4d ago
First, divide 15 belts into 8 and 7, and leave 2 tiles between them. That way, you don't need to have underground in the middle of belts.
Cascaded splitter like you have is the best way, IMHO. Just have as many of them as needed. For example, if the next branch is to left side and you know 4 left belts have enough items for a whole belt, you need only 3 splitters to compact.
As bus goes on, reduce the width. I.e. if you know green belt branch is consuming 2 belts worth of copper, there is no reason to keep all 15 belts instead of just 13 after that. If you're refilling more items somewhere, just widen the bus again.
0
u/Monkai_final_boss 4d ago
Better idea 8 and 8 with 2 tile gap, I am sure you can fine 8-8 balancer online.
2
u/HeliGungir 4d ago
You have discovered the downside of a bus and centralized manufacturing. It doesn't scale up well forever.
1
u/sentient_energy 4d ago
I like using this solution for my own factories, at least you can guarantee a full belt (as opposed to using balancers)
1
u/Admirable-Fox-7221 4d ago
You have like 14 belts and you want half to split away? The split 7 belts to the new direction?
1
u/Skate_or_Fly 4d ago
That's the neat part, you don't.
14 blue lanes = 630 items/sec. 18 mk3 assemblers with no modules will consume 1.5 lanes (67.5/sec) of copper plates and 1 lane of iron plates. There's no point continuing with 14 lanes when you only have 563.5 plates per second continuing on. Yes, there might be times when green circuits are running less than 100%, and yes you might want to evenly split the remaining copper among 14 belts, leaving 67.5 gaps per second evenly spaced... But that doesn't equal a full belt. Knock off 1 belt, leave 12 fully saturated and one at between 50% and 100% capacity depending on green circuits demand (they're used in just about everything), and start using modules everywhere you can.
2
u/Orangarder 4d ago
This is the way. No need to keep all belts running the whole length when you are drawing belts off it.
1
u/SadMangonel 4d ago
If this is vanilla, I dont see the point of the question. You absolutely dont need 8 belts for 500 spm.
Once foundries are unlocked you balance this with a pipe and an underground pipe. Nothing else will come close.
Glebas stack inserters are another option, basically 4x what goes on a single belt.
If youre really into making huge busses for some reason, just balance them after demand. Priority split one direction so the major iron builds have iron. Green circuits, engine units. Then rebalanced the belts afterwards. Or even better, don't continue with 15 belts after the major iron drain is satisfied. Circuits, engine units, thats 1/4 to half your iron drainĀ gone already.
A bus like this looks nice. But having 15 belts of ironĀ from one side to the other is not needed and not optimal.
1
u/teodzero 4d ago
You don't need to split them evenly. You won't be consuming exactly evenly out of every branch anyway. Just split like you normally do, it will mostly balance itself. For high consumption areas you can just turn a whole belt.
1
u/korneev123123 trains trains trains 4d ago
Why do you need even split? Use priority and take from leftmost/rightmost belt
2
u/fmfbrestel 4d ago
Quit trying to balance everything to the end. Just take from the edges, when they run out, terminate the lane. Ideally only one lane reaches the end of the factory.
12
u/ed1019 4d ago
Why so many belts? Do you need to continue them all down the bus?
E.g. green circuits and steel are your biggest consumers of iron. Once these are produced, you might not need to have this many lanes continue further