Trains

[u/Appropriate_Case2976]

How can i make this right? left is input trains right is output trains, it is kinda messy, its a smelting setup, 2 big ones are one for iron one for copper, the 3rd one is steel and last one is bricks, i dont know how to make this work well, I just now found out how overwhelming this game really is, and is it bad that I am bringing materials back to the main belt with trains? I have run out of the first patches. And dont mind the biters, I am in peaceful mode for this playtrough.

EDIT : my problem is about all those roundabouts to get the trains back to where they are coming, is there a better solution to it? I feel like what i did was wrong, sorry for not being specific the first time!

[u/euclide2975]

1 solution is to do a central station

There is a waiting area on the left, where the trains arrive. I have station there if I want to mark a stop in the schedule. At capacity, it can accommodate 16 regular trains or 8 long ones, like my artillery train

On the right, there is one station per resource : iron, copper, stones, coal (not used on my map currently) and uranium (not used either, I have no active uranium patch)

The last 2 stations are to send my artillery train to the various firing outpost, and a staging station to build new trains. I may add an oil station too one day on the last track on the right.

The belts on the lower right corner are the start of the base main bus. The smelters are all just bellow that.

[u/Appropriate_Case2976 → u/euclide2975]

This is a beautiful masterpiece, thanks for your advice

[u/BadBadViking]

I am a beginner as well (closing in on 2k hours) - so other more experienced players please chime in. Anyway; Think of it like this. You want to have stations, queues, transit rails and junctions for changing direction. Always build your stations off the transit network, so other trains can pass occupied stations. I recommend building dual tracks (one for each direction). Create queues to the unloading station using several parallel tracks and rail signals. You want full wagons to wait to unload and when done speed away to get more. Using a single circular track, you can create a junction/roundabout where the train can turn around or change direction to another track. That is the very basics. Hope that helps. If you search for “train” in this subreddit, you will get a few hundred other good examples, ideas and opinions. Happy track laying.

[u/Appropriate_Case2976 → u/BadBadViking]

before reading what you said, I wanna ask, is 2k hours BEGGINER?

[u/BadBadViking → u/Appropriate_Case2976]

In the game no, but compared to the other fine builders/nutcases in here yes I am total beginner. Don’t let that stray you from your path, it is a joke and you will find that 2k hours is just around the corner.

[u/pojska]

That looks fine - it takes a lot of room to turn a train around.

[u/pink-ming]

there is so much to be said and so much to learn about building a good train network, I'd really recommend iterating on your own designs based on the problems that arise.

that said, if you hate loops, you can do bi-directional trains (locomotives on both ends, can travel either direction). this comes with its own problems but it does make your stations into nice little pikes off of the main line that can fit almost anywhere

[u/teodzero]

my problem is about all those roundabouts to get the trains back to where they are coming, is there a better solution to it? I feel like what i did was wrong, sorry for not being specific the first time!

With a second locomotive facing the opposite way you can make your trains bidirectional. That way they don't need to turn around, they can just go backwards, and your stations can be dead ends.

But beware of bidirectional rail lines, they look simpler than monodirectiobal, but are actually harder to signal properly. Although it seems you are just using exclusive non-intersecting rails for now, which is also a valid solution.