A recommended number is two free spaces for every group of four belts, although leaving more space can be useful too. The following is a split-off off a 4-wide bus. It is only visible to you. This can be done to reserve room for later expansion, blueprint-ghosts are a good usage for that as they don't allow the belt to be filled with non-usable items. In general, no block should be greatly than 4 but 1 and 2 are fine. Neatness matters! Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, apply management skills to keep it working and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.Join forces with other players in cooperative Multiplayer, create huge factories, collaborate and delegate tasks between you and your friends. Personally, Ill run 8 lines of copper, 8 lines of iron, 2 lines of steel, and 1 line each for coal and stone. 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, 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. Kharkiv, Hamburg Green Science will share the other side. how to design cityblocks : r/factorio - In place they are used sparingly, 1 gear factory provides more than enough for an assembly line, and they can be placed such that the iron comes on half the assembly line, and the gears are placed on the other half. What should be on main bus Factorio? Flensburg, Hamburg Although a main bus can give you a huge advantage, it's still up to you if you want to use it. Mechanical Throughput Magic (circuit-free), Frequently Suggested / Link Collections. This item will only be visible to you, admins, and anyone marked as a creator. The gif on the right shows a 4 4 balancer being fed by two belts, but only outputting one belt which means that its throughput in that arrangement is 50%. - Copenhagen, Hamburg Readers ask: Factorio Main Bus Guide? - Bus foundation Place 2 rows of belts along the gear, inserter, and belt assemblers, and place the snaking belt that leads to the Green Science assemblers as per screenshot below. by CJ5Boss Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:40 pm, Post Other times, this is not an option. That means that a splitter can be used to put an equal amount of items on two belts. Post all other topics which do not belong to any other category. Balancer mechanics - Factorio Wiki Here are some things people have put on their bus in the past: Each of these items would get a dedicated line of belts from which one would draw from if there is a need for the item. by sha664817 Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:57 am, Post But hey, if it can give you some form of advantage, then why not try to do it? Each of these is essential to your main bus design: Iron Plates x4 (recommend x8) Copper Plates x4 (recommend x8) Steel Plates x1 (recommend x2) Green Circuits x2 (recommend x4) Red Circuits (Advanced Circuits) x1 (recommend x2) Blue Circuits (Processing Units) x1. Bus terminal is located approximately 2.2 km from the city centre, which is approximately a 10 minute ride. Thus up to a full belt can be delivered and the remaining resources can go through on the main bus. Make sure to leave room for a lubricant pipe to feed the blue belt assemblers. Keep the main bus, build your new base close to it. There is no real right answer just whatever works best for your set up. - Make sure to re-balance belts after you split from them. We have located 2 bus terminals and one bus stop in Hamburg. Hamburg, Giessen All trademarks are property of their respective owners in the US and other countries. by Amarula Thu Jan 10, 2019 3:44 pm, Post - Id like to consider starting a train-grid factory that I see people use and I'm just theorizing that I'll come into . is the fix to just have much larger grid sizes to account for the wait platforms? Glad you found it useful! Hamburg, Siegen Reason being is to have 4 belts of green circuits at full power requires 6 belts of copper and 4 belts if iron. - Place Assemblers: 1 crafting Iron Gear Wheels, 6-8 making Red Science. - Some people like to have fluids part of their bus which could include: Having all possible items on a bus results in a huge wide bus with a lot of belt-buffer for expensive items and standing belts of output-items that won't get used in another process. Since the process can be repeated infinitely, balancers with 2n output belts are easy to create. I kinda disagree on steel. However, in most cases a belt is split away from the main bus that can deliver the resource to a sub-factory. This indicates not enough products being produced to meet demand, this can be remedied with adding more lanes with corresponding more production further up the chain of production. I tend to only use main busses when bootstrapping up a large train-based base so just iron, copper, steel, green circuits, and maybe gears. spaghetti for everything else. One reddit post mentions the use of cargo wagons as a means to increase throughput and reduce the size of a bus. If you don't have red circuits yet, don't worry -- you're just planning for the future! Balancers that are input balanced take evenly from all input belts/belt lanes. The following amenities are available at Bus terminal bus stop: ATM, Toilet, Luggage storage, Kiosk and Coffee bar Near the bus stop in Bus terminal you can also find: Train station (387 m) and Parking (203 m) In case that you wish to continue your journey from the bus stop, you can find . Berlin, Hamburg When you purchase Stealth Optional is supported by its audience. Watching the trains move through the junction is so satisfying and mesmerizing! All trademarks are property of their respective owners in the US and other countries. Some people build these assemblies off to the side, or transport these products by train as they run out of space near the beginnings of their factory. I've had many playthroughs of the vanilla and mildly modded factorio but until now have consisted of main bus's of ingredients and trains that only bring ores from long distances to feed the fires. EDIT: Here is an example of what I call a stage 2 "starter" base. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Hamburg, Kolding The 4 line meta comes from a time of fixed underground lengths and the need for even balancer sizes. Split off a full belt of red circuits to go closest to the assemblers, since they are needed in highest quantity. Post You'll want production running while you work to keep you supplied. How many main bus lines do you generally use? Add more production to fill your belts with intermediate products: Copper & Iron Plate, Steel, Green Circuits, etc. if its easier on the group to explain, I'd be happy to be suggested a video that covers such dilemmas and any others that I'm not yet imagining. Makes doing blue science and rockets later easier as well. What to have on the main bus :: Factorio General Discussions Lubricant: Used in making Electric Engines & Express (blue) level belts, splitters and undergrounds. Factorio SPLITTING OFF THE BUS How to Split off the - YouTube there is even enough iron left for "buildy things" (belts, etc). Tutorial:Main bus - Factorio Wiki When logistic robots are available one might start moving some items by robots instead of using the bus. This is especially deceiving when the item isn't moving and all belts have filled up as these belts can't carry the amount they lead one to believe they can. Balancers also use the mechanic that splitters take an equal amount of items from both input belts. 6 years later and you still respond to almost each and every person. by ultralance12 Tue Jan 29, 2019 4:53 pm, Post If you don't find any maps or scenarios you enjoy, you can create your own with the in-game Map Editor, place down entities, enemies, and terrain in any way you like, and even add your own custom script to make for interesting gameplay. Balancers that are output balanced distribute evenly to all output belts/belt lanes. This page was last edited on 23 November 2020, at 11:18. - I'm not a fan of linear buses, but I would urge you to plan out a production target and design according to that. Yea, that's fine, to make gears where they are needed. Additional referece for all that is Factorio: Thanks to everyone who shares their ideas on the forums & YouTube! Hamburg, Rotterdam How Many Lanes Should A Bus Have? : factorio - reddit You need to sign in or create an account to do that. Make sure the empty side is across from the inserter! The reason I asked about what a main bus should have is because I am rebuilding my base from scratch. Split off iron in two places (for throughput), and a half-belt of green circuits. You can replace splitters and undergrounds similarly by just placing upgraded versions on top of the old, (without the need to deconstruct them). A guaranteed method to achieve throughput unlimited balancers is to place two balancers back to back that fulfil the first condition for throughput unlimited balancers (100% throughput under full load). What bus companies operate the routes starting from Hamburg? The easiest way to upgrade belts is simply run along the line, holding down the mouse button to place belts on top of existing ones. What should I put on my new main bus and how many belts of each item? Now red belt can span 6 tiles, which is pretty good for parts of the bus. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Provide all of their own modular factories and feed them with trains, and merely replace a certain part of the build once it runs out. If you need more inject more material later instead of widening the bus. You're going to need more than a single belt of iron and copper. Use a blueprint book instead of designing your own. But robots have their own difficulties and require a lot more resources and knowledge of the game. First of all, you'll need to think of the best area in where to put it. And the character saw they that they were good and that they would help him on his quest to get to end-game. Hamburg, Lviv The base uses a combination of Solar and Nuclear power to supply the whopping 30GW of needed power when the factory is going full tilt. For the belt furthest from the assembler, split off green circuits. - Creating a train grid factory. Community-run subreddit for the game Factorio made by Wube Software. Advertisement Espaol - Latinoamrica (Spanish - Latin America), http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661582295, https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/4d3per/belt_balancer_compendium/, Red Circuits (Advanced Circuits) x1 (recommend x2). - Heya Gmanicus! by Rjskeet Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:05 am, Post So you should generally have 4 iron, 4 copper, 4 green circuits, and then you can do 2/2 steel/plastic to start out, then as you progress and get other resources made you can either leave them local (for gears/copper wire) or add them to the main bus on belts of 2 - so red circuits, maybe batteries etc. Place assemblers in a grid-like pattern as shown, adding belts, inserters, and power poles. Use the belt throughput numbers to determine how many lanes it should have. Most likely you will need dedicated iron/copper smelting for green circuit production since so many things take them. I have made about two lines of iron and copper in my last few vanilla games. Place 2 rows of belts along the assemblers. Rust game file size: How big is the download. For n n balancers where n is a power of two numbers, nlog2(n)n2 can be used to calculate how many splitters are needed. I ment it more like a general thing like if someone has a favorite setup they use it a cool to learn stuff from others like having 8 copper lines instead of just 4. - Plastic x1 (recommend x2) Batteries x1. Maintaining a main bus would require you a lot of effort and time to do it, including re-balancing your belts. don't steal from the 4 belts of iron), 2 belts red circuits, 1 plastic, 1 belt blue circuits, 1 belt with half regular and half electric engines, 1 belt of batteries. Factorio main bus guide: Blueprint, design, alternative and more Input balanced lane balancers draw evenly from each side of the input belt, while output balanced lane balancers output evenly onto each lane of the output belt. I've had many playthroughs of the vanilla and mildly modded factorio but until now have consisted of main bus's of ingredients and trains that only bring ores from long distances to feed the fires. you can also reduce needs late game with productivity modules. http://www.doomeer.com/factorio/#1132bbbbbbbbbbrrgrrrrrgrrrgrgrrrrrrrrrgrrrrrrB10rB12rB24rrrrgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrA1rrrA1rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. While I might leave room for 4x iron/copper, 2x everything else, the setup normally doesn't live long enough for me to flush it out completely. All production. Using iron plates as index 100: Copper: 78 Steel: 7 Plastic: 15 Coal: 13 Iron Gear: 6 Electronic Circuit: 38 Advanced Circuit: 6 Stone Brick: 2 Note that this is for science only. All production and builds in the factory are belt based and there are 4 identical, but rotated \"mini bases\" that each produce 1.3k SPM and fit into a corner triangle. by Miravlix Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:19 am, Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited. Frankfurt (Airport), Hamburg Espaol - Latinoamrica (Spanish - Latin America). I agree with Hedning, that it depends on whether you want to launch one satellite and then say "game over" (and start over), or continue on, and see how many satellites you can launch, and build a mega-base! Incredibly helpful, thanks for the effort. This may happen at a later stage in the game up to which a bus is a very good tool to reduce clutter. That way at every step along the bus a few items are split off and used up and when the production comes to a stop the items go on to be used by the next production. Paris, Hamburg The balancers/taps get very large above 4 since your next logical jump is 8. I do put steel and batteries on the bus. Sometimes this can be fixed by looping the unused output back around the balancer and distributing it among the inputs. When your need for materials becomes too great, you may want to consider moving some production OFF of the bus and feeding it in from other locations. it really stacks up over the 5/6 process steps to make a rocket. Far better to make these locally as needed. Place a regular inserter and a long armed inserter to feed each Science assembler. Grouping differing items together can cause problems when splitting them off, hence only groupings of two differing items is recommended. Chests between each belt structure move items along as well as providing a collection place for pickup. The idea is that one wants to draw from every belt (and lane even) equally to not have too few items at the current planned production and not have empty and at the same time standing belts of items. - Valve Corporation. by Rjskeet Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:55 am, Post How many main lines of base resources( copper. 0eNqlld1qhDAQhV+lzHUsxv/6DPsGpRTdDUvAjRLjUhHfvaPWVTBbMu1VcPR8OTOTMQOUVScaLZWBfAB5rlUL+fsArbyqoppipm8E5HCX2nQYYaCK2xRYvvAiGBlIdRFfkPOREZSnnTKwKqURt01mdKHaptbGK0VlduLwP+Jo/GAglJFGiiX1+aH/VN2tFBqTejA6VOirrnFdKAyaukVhraZ9EeYFDHpc0NFqo+5M000bHsABAewTuCHFMCeAo2fVPGAfVAsl/kM9+WZPqifuEmd3KxUPHVykFuflXWKBpu5Q7gzNtkloKmkMxo44/zVec7cg3qitCGwU7lMxVjOcuyTEfxLyrYiA2j27k9DBif+rkYg8lS6Hk8f0oXTiJsQO2suWUhpoP0oZofJIwJ/u/IPOdxcQg6pA7xiLvBnyMl0ad6HbZZSyNOBZmPhhNI7frCw6ag==, 0eNqdld9qgzAUxl9lnOs4TBq19Rl6tdsxhrahBGyUGMuK+O476jqFxpGzq+DR75fv/DHpoaw61VhtHOQ96FNtWsjfe2j1xRTVGHP3RkEON21dhxEGpriOgfmLSMLAQJuz+oKcD8yj1E5dF5mzhWmb2rqoVJVbiYVXvLXtcaXckZRvK6UcPhgo47TTas57erh/mu5aKosZ/ao7VNiLrXGdnTNo6haFtRk3RVgkGNxxQTsPD3Xnmm5M8gksCOCYwN1RDHMCWBLAFG7yjwrzBazNBjfdmrhNKg4gnLVVp/ld6oFmwdDYyxQe5j7cKA82elimvqm0cxh7xsWvyaOeHgSP6R0PaQznwQnz4CJyEZIw/0k49ua7o06Mv2wywEn8p5GEfDYE1T2lHw1B3IzYT3/Z9pQGCi/iQKg8EvDon66mfHUHMqgK9I4xGU2Ql2qE3JRt539NSpGmmeDiMAzfI+ZmDA==, 0eNqlldFugzAMRX9l8nOYcEih5TP2Ok0TbaMqEgQUQjVU8e8LdAy0hirWniIM9+TajsMNjmUnG6O0hfwG6lTrFvL3G7TqootyjNm+kZDDVRnbuQgDXVRj4P5FJGBgoPRZfkGOAyMo31ZK7lUqK6tFZk2h26Y2NjrK0q7EyX/EYvhgILVVVsl76tND/6m76iiNS2qLwaCpWyer9birQ0WcQe+WZBgN/cHwX0znNjYXU7t1AxTPHDYnU3e26UbbD9yEwI2QABYEMIW7I9eT++qZkjHow2TBmHg2w+CsjDzdX3EPc7+c9KZU1rrYo6n4dffE1iHYFgbbwpjeUVw6qvRGQxFD8sWffGNfusip3fRWDZMAJ/FTI4I8pkEl2tGnNIibEs+Jv2wZpYHeacQ9ofKO4O7c6X7OV/8fBmXhvLuYiCbIy8i4StNOiFQInqYZR34Yhm/sYzpB. 0 reviews that are not currently recommended. That means that a splitter connected to two input belts will evenly distribute those items onto the the two output belts. For me my last base that could launch three rockets every half hour had 4 belts iron, 4 belts copper, 2 belts green (but was starting to bottleneck, should have built 4 lanes green), 2 belts steel (from its own supply of iron ore and smelting, i.e. This formula is based on the number of nodes in a Bene network, which is essentially the same as a throughput unlimited balancer it allows any input to reach any output. by Trebor Thu Jan 10, 2019 5:14 am, Post - Bowling. In Factorio, having a main bus is an advantage, however it must be well-designed to make sure that it could be used properly and efficiently. - I've never been a fan of the central bus. Hamburg, Flensburg Look into what products use your resources and how many of those resources you can produce. I am currently thinking bigger now and starting a new game with a starter base and then working on building 'towns' that each produce stuff and use trains instead of a main bus to move supplies between the towns. They are also inefficient to belt -- 1 copper plate makes 2 copper cables, inflating the need for belts by two-fold! Steam Community :: Guide :: Factorio: How to Build a Main Bus at minimum put 4 productivity 3 modules on the rocket silo for to reduce supplies needed for the rocket by 40%. Add mods to increase your enjoyment, from small tweak and helper mods to complete game overhauls, Factorio's ground-up Modding support has allowed content creators from around the world to design interesting and innovative features. - Factorio Base Tour - Hornet's 5.2k SPM Multiple Main Bus - YouTube Blue belt can transport 40 items per second fully compressed. Thanks for this! Search reviews. 0eNqVld9ugyAUxl/FnKstwRbwT1sfY7fL0mhLHIlFh9DMGN99qO1mWrrCFfHI9+NwvgP0UFSaNZILBVkP/FCLFrL3HlpeirwaY6prGGRw5lJpE0Eg8tMYmGeEFAYEXBzZN2RkQB7Kt4WSWpVcsdNC1lRcKSYXsshBpmQu2qaWKixYpRbiePhAwITiirN509NHtxf6VJhlMvKIgaCpWyOrxbiqQYUUQWeGeBgTusFQdwz5BxN5ZxPZMLE3htowiTMGXykIjlyyw/wrtjBT70LdQKkFuvmFamO7LGVtxidY01bXXqq1avTYNXfgrW8hsa2Ou/v2tqS1SubEiA1BsKcX+HnVCPH1lzhAqb8X+M8KLh44QSKHIl6sxavEIVHvQ2I3JvEx13rMSOqCwBeEPYuN72as9wbZ+p5OgzEX7HQZZ4tnBkGVG52J0XDaUyB5+amCl6IL1nqtBf/SbE9fg9xMPTPZTuA0jmmabiihu2H4AQXcOK0=, 0eNqVlNFugzAMRX8F+WmTwkpSSlc+Y6/TVEEbdZZoYMGphir+fYZOHVrTijwhQu7J9Y3xGcrK6caiIcjPgLvatJC/n6HFgymqYY26RkMOJ7TkeEWAKY7DwmVHrKAXgGavvyGXvQhQvk2UyqtE0seJrKmQSNuJbDlDRrYwbVNbiktd0USc9h8CtCEk1Jeix5dua9yx5GNyeY8hoKlbltVmOJVRMW/t+JH2g6F/GDUbkzygLIPNLH2YNBijfJjVbMzVjIA9Wr27fFIeZnZ707cJvaweuFpfCY6v2B5szc/HWQ++ftumdtS4oUFuuK+hoSU+d5sZ9cXXAqUPIZPA3L1GpAy9Pb8ZFRx38pc2mjthy+BO97tLQ+L2tpNcBXSk30QWWov3p5XrwBHCFJ5t4xzMJxNeQFWwjNdUPFYUWTx8UvRUdtHCLZzBL6e36jkqeetJ23bkZmmqsmytpNr0/Q+uzw2D. With splitter priorities that were added in 0.16 it is very simple to split off a belt from a main bus while ensuring good throughput properties. Therefore, I usually go down to two. Putting a lane-balancer after an inherently balanced build that produces the item is also not necessary as then half of the production pauses and the other half fills the moving lane to saturation. As others have said the main bus simply acts as a buffer - remember that it's not your resource pool. Oldenburg, Hamburg Place these one tile away from the Red Science output belt. by vanatteveldt Tue Jan 29, 2019 7:14 pm, Post Lane balancers may be output balanced or input balanced. Hamburg. Privacy Policy. The concept of a Main Bus is to put the most used and useful ingredients in a central spot to use for assembling machines. Balancers that are throughput limited may not be able to provide maximum output if one or more outputs are blocked. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. If you want to get away from spaghetti designs, building a Main Bus will allow you to reach a vast throughput of materials through your factory. For more main bus blueprint design options, click here. If what you're going for is launching one satellite (beating the game) and researching all techs (for the achievement), in my experience you don't really need a "full" bus. - - This Factorio Base Tour showcases a magnificent 5.2k SPM (Science Per Minute) Mutliple Main Bus Megabase made by Hornet! Universal balancers can be throughput limited. Universal balancers solve this issue by having the back-looping built in. The output from putting them on something like green circuits feels impressive because of the output from so few assemblers, but it's much more effective to multiply blues, then reds, before greens! There are also over 200 trains on the map.Overall a very impressive and extremely satisfying base, both visually and with its huge and efficient production capabilities. It includes all the methods you need to take the designs and blueprints from the beginning on constructing your main bus, all the way up to using it to gain the advantage. - - If you look at popular bus designs most of them seem to have 4 belts with 2 spaces in between. Some players eventually phase out the main bus entirely in favor of robots. In essence this means that an n-n balancer is not a functional n-(n-1) balancer. While the core gameplay is in the form of the freeplay scenario, there are a range of interesting challenges in the form of the Scenario pack, available as free DLC. Yet! This means I still have throughput on my iron/copper busses for other things. Raw materials such as Iron, Copper, Oil etc are delivered via trains and are then turned into all 7 types of science using a large main bus. For very large amounts of items railways may be a better alternative that can not only carry large amounts of ore but also the intermediate and end-products. I hope to cover everything in the series, but if you can't find something in the playlist above please leave a comment and I'll try to make a video on it.Today we covered how to split off a main bus, using priority splitters in both a waterfall and a reverse waterfall method, as well as more traditional main bus splits which take 25% off each lane.Map Download https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tP8lTMwijmavLCTsXYDTlB6xoNbfbFOlBlueprint String: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ML-UGyxwLOSfpIKC9G6L35IXkPqNOMImFactorio is a game in which you build and maintain factories.You will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies. IMPORTANT: Guide will be updated for Full Release when I can find the time to do so! Place Concrete or Stone Brick under a couple lanes of your bus & in one of the spaces between lanes (at a minimum) since it gives you a speed boost when running. Usually I make factories which consume 500 k - 1M iron plates per hour (4-8 blue belts), but three trains transport iron to green circuit factory, steel factory and main base (in which science packs are produced). Every item that is used in more than one recipe, got it's own production area with train inputs and train outputs, in my 2700 SPM game. 4 iron and 4 copper is fine. It is advisable to leave space between the groups of belts of one item for underground belt to surface and for other things to cross the bus.