Tarn Adams, co-creator of Dwarf Fortress, has over 1,400 hours in Factorio and is currently obsessed with terraforming games: 'Dwarf Fortress just doesn't accommodate a full-on sci-fi thing'
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out I could put locomotives on both ends of the train instead of having to build loops to turn around...
Throughput is greater if everything flows one way into a station. Don't have to go in and back out again to get a second train in. My more populous outposts have what looks like a train parking lot full of empties waitin' for 'em.
I'm on my first playthrough of Space Age currently and while I've got something fairly complex on Nauvis with multiple stops and interconnects and loops and a half dozen or so trains... a lot of my needs on other planets are just point-to-point single train transfers. e.g. running a line out to a scrap patch on another island with millions of units of resources on Fulgora after exhausting the initial scrap I mined out. I don't even need multiple cargo wagons let alone multiple trains to max out my factory's input belt capacity there at the moment... Could the whole thing be more efficient? Oh yes -- but sometimes simple is good enough, and not having to build loops before I got the deep elevated rail support and/or foundations helped tremendously!
I think I was probably supposed to figure out the double locomotive thing in the train tutorial -- I don't remember there being loops on the track there... -- but I'm pretty sure I'd already built at least simple factories on everything but Aquilo before I realized it was even an option. :p
The creeping horror for other players is making them zoom in to realise the scale of the thing. Its a long time to traverse even with rocket trains and go fast legs.
Edit: I should have included a picture of one of the cells for scale
Occasionally I'd get jams. The jams would manifest with a train sat occupying the corner, so i put a circuit in each one that sets off an alarm after 60 seconds of being continuously blocked. Then I'd investigate.
Generally, given that my stations only became available if they had > 1.0wagonscapacity*stacksize the trains mostly sat in "parking" waiting or at "parking" nearer the raw resource in the far outposts.
It required a little tuning, some modules have a lead-in perimeter loop where 5-6 trains can be stacked waiting to unload.
that is cool! i like the loops but wondering - modern trains are diesel generators running electric motors. i wonder if we could find a mod to use trains to power your electric grid when they are idle at stations.
Oh good, as long as they aren't like Civ or Slay the Spire. Can't wait to try out these totally casual games that will only take up a little bit of my time!
I have to get back to DF. I played it like a mad person during my time as a student, scribbling mad construction ideas during classes. Instantly bought the game on steam but barely played it since. Not having a 100% keyboard doesn't help but the reality is I just have to get creative and program it to make it possible to play DF with it... And now I want to play Factorio again :(
22 Comments
bazus1@lemmy.world · 65 pts · 149d
1400 hours... He might understand late-game efficiencies and modularization. it's nice to see he's starting to take an interest.
flandish@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 149d
here i am with my 270 hours. restarted a few times now that I have trains “down”.
e0qdk@reddthat.com · 10 pts · 148d
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out I could put locomotives on both ends of the train instead of having to build loops to turn around...
greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo · 6 pts · 148d
Throughput is greater if everything flows one way into a station. Don't have to go in and back out again to get a second train in. My more populous outposts have what looks like a train parking lot full of empties waitin' for 'em.
SlurpingPus@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 148d
It's like these folks never played OpenTTD.
e0qdk@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 148d
I'm on my first playthrough of Space Age currently and while I've got something fairly complex on Nauvis with multiple stops and interconnects and loops and a half dozen or so trains... a lot of my needs on other planets are just point-to-point single train transfers. e.g. running a line out to a scrap patch on another island with millions of units of resources on Fulgora after exhausting the initial scrap I mined out. I don't even need multiple cargo wagons let alone multiple trains to max out my factory's input belt capacity there at the moment... Could the whole thing be more efficient? Oh yes -- but sometimes simple is good enough, and not having to build loops before I got the deep elevated rail support and/or foundations helped tremendously!
I think I was probably supposed to figure out the double locomotive thing in the train tutorial -- I don't remember there being loops on the track there... -- but I'm pretty sure I'd already built at least simple factories on everything but Aquilo before I realized it was even an option. :p
greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo · 5 pts · 148d
In 1.0 I played bobs+angels and ran on a 100 square cell structure
In 2.0 I've still only done vanilla, but I went with a 200 square cell this time for bigger trains.
My only regret is exploring south and not east or west
The creeping horror for other players is making them zoom in to realise the scale of the thing. Its a long time to traverse even with rocket trains and go fast legs.
Edit: I should have included a picture of one of the cells for scale
PlexSheep@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 147d
Isn't a pure square grid inefficient, because trains get stuck? That happened to my square grid megabases, so I stopped doing them.
greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo · 1 pts · 147d
Occasionally I'd get jams. The jams would manifest with a train sat occupying the corner, so i put a circuit in each one that sets off an alarm after 60 seconds of being continuously blocked. Then I'd investigate.
Generally, given that my stations only became available if they had > 1.0wagonscapacity*stacksize the trains mostly sat in "parking" waiting or at "parking" nearer the raw resource in the far outposts.
It required a little tuning, some modules have a lead-in perimeter loop where 5-6 trains can be stacked waiting to unload.
flandish@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 148d
that is cool! i like the loops but wondering - modern trains are diesel generators running electric motors. i wonder if we could find a mod to use trains to power your electric grid when they are idle at stations.
orenj@leminal.space · 2 pts · 147d
Fuuuck
captcha_incorrect@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 148d
TIL
mercano@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 149d
Can’t wait for Dwarf Fortress 40k, the updated sci-fi version.
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 148d
I was just about to say the dev should consider making a sci-fi version.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 148d
Rimworld is just way more fun imo
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 148d
I actually picked that up a while back but haven't really had time to play it. Same for Dwarf Fortress and Factorio...
I've heard they're all pretty great though.
toynbee@piefed.social · 3 pts · 148d
It's okay, it's not like any of those games claim a lot of your time.
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 147d
Oh good, as long as they aren't like Civ or Slay the Spire. Can't wait to try out these totally casual games that will only take up a little bit of my time!
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 148d
DF has the deeper and more impressive simulation, but Rimworld is more fun to play imo.
I wouldn't put Factorio into the same category as it's "only" about building factories and making them more efficient.
charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 149d
I really hope I'm dead before Tarn is dead. He's my favorite genius
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 148d
He must be protected at all costs
Minnels@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 148d
I have to get back to DF. I played it like a mad person during my time as a student, scribbling mad construction ideas during classes. Instantly bought the game on steam but barely played it since. Not having a 100% keyboard doesn't help but the reality is I just have to get creative and program it to make it possible to play DF with it... And now I want to play Factorio again :(