Astroneer - Junction Automation - A Helpful Guide | OneLastMidnight

[@kjc420]

for the continuous power, you could just use a battery as nothing in the system consumes energy.

[@OneLastMidnight]

LOL, I knew this comment was coming.

[@Hunter-ze3my]

You don't even need that; you could even hook up the system to one of the rail posts if you set it up right next to one, and in cases like this video, that's what extenders are for.

[@KG-hf2pq]

@@Hunter-ze3my I tried that, but it's not providing power for some reason when I set it up that way. I had to put a battery on it as it's the only way it would work

[@Hunter-ze3my]

@@KG-hf2pq was the rail at any point connected to a power source?

[@KG-hf2pq]

@@Hunter-ze3my yes it was, the whole rail system had power. It was creative and I hooked up an RTG. The yellow line was present.

[@bagochips1208]

I think I understand the setup you have. for both sides, the starting 'on' switch indicates if the joint is in use, and the starting 'off' switch indicates whether the current track has a train coming. This way, when the first train passees through, it turns off a switch on the other track while turning on a switch in its own track, with both switches on, the power sensor flips the junction to its own side. This is simple but genious, thank you for sharing this.

[@megaview2893]

Thanks for this very clear guide; the trains are usefull when extractors are far away and you have a central base to collect all the resources. The and gate idea is also usefull in many other settings.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Glad it helped

[@OctagonalSquare]

What’s cool, is with enough dedication and time, you can expand this to be multiple junctions, not just a two way. So you could have a 3 or 4 way system.

[@NZMrSomebody]

Thank you for the solution to this exact scenario that I have. No more having to manually move trains when they mess up!

[@OneLastMidnight]

Cheers!

[@minvike37]

Wow you really make it look easy and fluid. I'm gonna need to watch this more than 10 times. Thank you sir.

[@OneLastMidnight]

You can do it!

[@amiiranamastii5306]

such a great use of sensors and buttons to create complex logic. well done!! 🎉

[@YeTenuousUmbrae]

One thing about this game is that its easy to get sucked into further automating a process that takes a long time to set up but actually only saves a bit of time overall. There's also hard and easy ways of acheiving the same automating goal. For now i have resisted fully automating some processes but when i do ill come back to videos like this. Its also funny how similar some of this is to my job. I 3d model infrastructure (revit with dynamo) and have to have to set up automated process, but its possible to fall into the same trap of spending too much time automatibg to save a negligble amount of time. Anyway, great video!

[@OneLastMidnight]

I completely agree. I tend not to automate much in Astroneer. I think mainly because there isn't much to do with the resources. I have 1000 of something, okay, what do I do with it. Maybe V2 they will find more uses for the items they have given us.

[@HoRiOnS]

Astroneer… a game that will spark interest with the kids of today to become the engineers of the future.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Completely agree.

[@indiaocean084]

Thanks for the guide i was struggling to use the junction to connect my auto Extractor this really helped me . Thanks.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Great to hear!

[@kana271]

excited for more astroneer videos on trains!

[@OneLastMidnight]

Choo, choo!

[@kana271]

@@OneLastMidnight Indeed!

[@tassie7325]

That was easy enough to follow, thanks I was all excited to get into the trains only to discover that I can't seem to think up a use for them. My Base is complete and all of the resource canisters are full of the fundamental resources whereby anything can be made. I can build whatever I want whenever I want without the need to leave the the planet. I think what the game needs in order to move to the next level is to enable the ability to programme Shuttles to fly inter-planetary. This would enable trains to be set up on other planets to deliver planet specific resources to a Shuttle that would then deliver those resources to the desired planet Base. However, for this to be a worthy set-up, the ability to trade scrap for those same resources would have to be scrapped (😎) or at least greatly reduced. Then another viable use for the Trade Platform would have to be created.

[@brianrutherford3681]

Very cool you gave me another idea.i need to get out of planet crafter and back into astroneer.

[@prowlerpunk]

THANK YOU SO MUCH... I was struggling with junction automation and in the end I created separate tracks for 2 of my trains😅

[@OneLastMidnight]

Glad it helped!

[@prowlerpunk]

@@OneLastMidnight yes... Every video of yours on astroneer will always help us with things to learn.. I mean your videos are less talk and to the point types... Very much appreciated ❤️❤️👍👍

[@OneLastMidnight]

@@prowlerpunk LOL, I was giving you a hard time! Thank you for your kind words!

[@willvaughter3297]

wow this was super helpful I wish more vids could be like this

[@OneLastMidnight]

Thanks for watching, but are you saying my other videos are not super helpful?

[@willvaughter3297]

Lol no all your vids are very helpful. I wish more content creators would make their videos like this.

[@SusannaSaunders]

Oh Err! You back with more videos! Hope you had a good time away Midnight 🙂

[@OneLastMidnight]

I did, thank you! Problem with those type of vacations is you need another vacation to recover.

[@jonynos16]

This open up so many possibilities, nice thinking ;) ill apply this knowledge

[@MrHavoc1001]

Top quality my dude. Like normal. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Appreciate it!

[@keithgreen47]

You can build this without using any platforms. Just set all the parts on the ground. They have stands. Connect them with the power cables. Power >>(Cable)>> Switch 1>> (cable)>> Switch 2>> (cable)>> Power Sensor. I do like to put the little work light on the end, after the power sensor. Just for effect.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Platforms? You mean stations? I was using the stations for auto-loading and unloading.

[@chez4itz]

​@@OneLastMidnightlike the medium platforms

[@garysearby9478]

All your videos are clear and helpful. Thanks for taking the time to create them :0)

[@OneLastMidnight]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@ryanj1262]

Well done for figuring this out! You explained it very clearly. Loving the content 👍

[@OneLastMidnight]

Glad it was helpful!

[@0x0404]

That is very clean. It seems like something that should have been built in to the junction though.

[@GinSoakedBrain]

So, correct me on this if I'm mistaken but, will a train self-dedicate to the two stops if place at the pickup stop? The behavior seemed to be so in your example. Thanks for the video - well done.

[@aflw378]

Thanks for that I was having a hard time with that one very helpful

[@DanimalUpchurch]

With this set up, the receiving station needs to be right after that junction, correct? Otherwise, if it was further, and both trains were towards the station, this would get backwards. If I'm thinking right ...

[@immerda4244]

correct me if i am wrong, but I just used the pins from the normal rail pillar, and put them into their side of the junction. and it doeas (from my point of view) the same, as your construction ?

[@anthonyflury3979]

Thank you for posting this - i was wondering how to do something similar. I did eventually get a 3 to 1 system set up (although i had an odd problem with one of my cars. Just a shame that auto-arms are so slow when unloading the stations.

[@arifkurtlu4678]

I’ve done the same exact junction with only one count repeater. One branch from either of the posts connects to left and the other branch from the same post connects to right side with a count repeater (that set to 2) in between.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Nice!

[@jackskalski3699]

Hmmm I don't follow your explanation but will try to come up with a solution myself:)

[@Acarinn]

Did you need an and gate for this? It seems like the trains would never interfere anyways based on the timing, the posts for each branch could have been wired directly to the junction through a 2 count repeater. So it only tiggers when the car is on the way in

[@Acarinn]

Ah nvm you showed it works in case of a collision, so it WOULD work for whatever timing

[@kyleclarke4845]

To anyone who doesnt understand - the and gates are saying 'if this train is here AND that train isn't here, open the junction'

[@OneLastMidnight]

Thank you @kyleclarke4845

[@PaulHale]

Quick question - How do I resolve a blinking red segment?

[@Auckie85]

I’m kinda late to this. But just run a node to one of the three endpoints on the junction. Each node will adjust to the corresponding rail intersection

[@OneLastMidnight]

Nice

[@Dave83138]

Has anyone else run into any of the sensors / button repeaters not being able to utilize full length branches after 4 segments? The pin just gets stuck and I can't move it forward, it seems there is a distance limitation from the sensor rather than the amount of segments. I'm using storage sensors to button repeaters to shut down auto arms by extractors when my storage was full so the train doesn't get flooded with one resource in the loop setup.

[@OneLastMidnight]

I don't think there are distance limitation just defects. I am waiting for an update to fix several issues.

[@WolfMineLogan]

I seem to be having an issue with this setup, I have 1 auto extractor set up farther beyond another one, so sometimes the same extractor station will send off the train twice before the second one can. I've noticed when this happens, after the 1st train has already come and gone, if it goes through the junction a second time the track will not behave like it should, but instead change the junction to turn into the OTHER mining line, causing a head-to-head collision and stopping everything up. And even if they're the same distance this will still occur if 1 resource node is larger than the other. Any ides on how to resolve this?

[@WolfMineLogan]

I seemed to have resolved the issue, if anyone else experiences this all I did was reset the entire junction, pulling it far away enough to disconnect it from all 3 lines and placing it back. Ran through it a few times and it behaved like I wanted it to, never activated the straight track. Luckily, too, I was about to rig up some Macgyver hill billy sensor array to activate and deactivate the track whenever it saw the platforms lose power 😅

[@OneLastMidnight]

Strange. Think it got confused at some point?

[@stefannegoita5660]

If I have a rail to the center and on every layer of the planet i have an extractor for different materials and i want to all go to a rail station on the surface where is my base, what do i do?

[@PeterParkerJr]

Good Stuff OLM!

[@OneLastMidnight]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@bazerger6258]

Can't you just draw the power from the Rail Posts, instead of using an RTG? Or maybe even just use a single charged battery, since it doesn't actually draw power.

[@Triminios4589]

Another thing you can do is connect the segment pins from tje rail post to the junction it will do the same thing

[@OneLastMidnight]

Cheers!

[@KrombopulosMichael8834]

Thanks for this im kinda new to the game and this helped out so much you can count me as a subscriber

[@OneLastMidnight]

Welcome aboard! Thanks for watching.

[@jerryreescano2934]

Awesome sauce!

[@OneLastMidnight]

Oh yeah!

[@LollosoSiTV]

The incoming train stops at the junction when the second train is unloading. But will it be restarted after the train finishes unloading?

[@OneLastMidnight]

If you followed the switch setup correctly, yes.

[@supersayianz]

Is it possible if i branched out the segments on the existing setup to another rail junction? Will it work?

[@OneLastMidnight]

You can use this were any two rails need to combine. Here is an example - r is Rail, and j is Junction. r r r r r r r r j j r r r r j r r

[@supersayianz]

@@OneLastMidnight for your “R is Rail” are you referring to the rail post? Or rail station? Or rail car?

[@OneLastMidnight]

@@supersayianz Rail post and rail line.

[@supersayianz]

@@OneLastMidnight i wanted to send you a link to my google drive to see my setup. But I cannot share the link in the comments [auto removed]. You may find the link which I have sent you an email to on your business enquiry email. Apologies as your discord link has errors.

[@OneLastMidnight]

@@supersayianz There are no errors with my Discord link - discord.gg/MEhpVQH

[@mingklytus]

Thank you

[@OneLastMidnight]

You're welcome

[@vegassims7]

GREAT JOB.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Cheers!

[@katemcdonald7021]

Hiya my broski - just a question - I am trying to replicate this but with a loop on one end and a straight track on another. Any thoughts as to how to make this work for all three sides? Do I make a third option? Please help this dummy out haha

[@OneLastMidnight]

That is a tough one, and I'm not sure how that would work - one AND gate to monitor the straight end, but the loop would also need to communicate with something - what, I'm not too sure because it is hard to monitor the station. I would think you would need another junction or two. Hmmm...

[@katemcdonald7021]

@@OneLastMidnight yes I have created myself a pickle haven’t I. My station is on the loop side of the track too. Would I need to close the straight end in a loop to the station like the other loop do you think? Albeit it would be a massive loop around.

[@TeslaElonSpaceXFan]

Wow. Thx!

[@richiefree7756]

How would you make an automatic rail yard? Where when you are done with them you just send them down the rail and the switches automatically switc to an empty line?

[@Hunter-ze3my]

Probably something like this: A detector will switch the track to straight when a train passes, but if that train wants to come back, it will go back to curving, I can't quite explain my thought process (was never really good at that) so I hope that I got some of it at least understandable.

[@Daeon108]

God that would be pretty complicated, not sure you can really do it automatically since there is no real output once the train has discharged its cargo. I would imagine you would have to have a control panel to manage access with a proximity sensors at the end for calling the train back. Eh another maybe round about way of doing it is a ticket system? Once you know the train is done add a material to the train and send it down to the yard. At the yard entrance you would have a auto an auto arm set to that material with multiple platforms with storage sensors in reach. As each storage sensor achieved a full status it would close the corresponding gate thereby preventing new trains from entering. When you need the train back you would have to activate a proximity sensor from a central location to send it back... There are a crap ton of issues with this idea... I think you would need individual platforms for each leg of the rail yard with way to return the material back to the train so when its recalled it can unlock that leg for other trains to use it later. At the end of the day i think its possible, but you are going to need a ton of buttons, gates, auto arms, and platforms to make it a reality.

[@cohen_donley]

2 questions for the almighty midnight, can i put the junction closer to the 2 stations that are picking up resources? what is the delay repeater set to?

[@OneLastMidnight]

Repeater delay is 5, and I wouldn't put the junction close to the resource because it will delay the delivery even longer, but... Your choice.

[@cohen_donley]

@@OneLastMidnight i wanted to put it closer because both the stations are coming from the core to the surface and i only have one track. i guess i’ll put down 2 tracks

[@ronaldlaflem8539]

@@cohen_donley You might consider placing a Rail Station near the core and having the main line to the surface run back and forth between the stations. You can then set up multiple short rail lines between the resource extractors and the core rail station using an auto-arm to load from the multiple rail lines into the station.

[@xander2853]

Since no power is actually consumed in a gate you can just use a small battery

[@OneLastMidnight]

There you go!

[@xander2853]

I just realized that auto switches make proper logic gates possible

[@OneLastMidnight]

Ding!

[@witchychic3294]

Thank you!!

[@OneLastMidnight]

You're welcome!

[@lyianx]

For as much time as these are to set up, you'd think it would be intended that the resource nodes would last longer with the auto extractors. :|

[@OneLastMidnight]

Yeah, it really depends on the resource node for sure.

[@yorkshire_tea_innit8097]

At least in this case the setup is mainly on the junction which you can reuse over again. You don't even need stations at the extraction zone as the signal is just on the train itself.

[@Crevtout98]

Nice bit of "programming" :-). Thanks.

[@OneLastMidnight]

Glad you liked it!

[@sammy5576]

what if the left train comes while the right train has tripped the sensor but hasn't crossed the junction. won't this cause the right train to get stuck at the junction?

[@sammy5576]

by bad ill have to look into this

[@OneLastMidnight]

Should still work. Been a very long time since I've used that stuff.

[@sparda169leon]

Platforms are very unnecessary. And as someone else commented, a battery would work instead of the qtrtg/power source, so long as there is "some amount" of charge initially.

[@watcherwatching5051]

I just use 2 counters at 1 and 0 and an area switch to flip the states.

[@Daeon108]

hurr durr, of course, true false... Lol thanks for pointing that out!

[@alamrasyidi4097]

wow its just like factorio

[@xT1TANx]

This is not working for me. The car says trys to continue forward instead of reversing directions the end points. EDIT: for anyone with this issue. The station didn't have an endpoint and no junction past it. Moving the station a bit made it reform the end points.

[@Jonascor11]

Thisss haelped toooooo mucsh I wrotee it wroneg I ment to do it funy🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@gravidar]

Thank you for explaining how junctions work, however, this is not worth the effort so I think I'll just build 2 stations next to each other. There must be a simpler way of sharing a track that can be built in

[@Nen_niN]

Don't get me wrong, it's a really cool and creative solution, but how practical is it? Couldn't you just make another station?

[@OneLastMidnight]

You can, but you can't have two trains on the same track - they will stop each other. The junction manages the two trains so the reach the destination.

[@smae6677]

Why don’t you use a sensor post thing that’s like their entire job

[@madally2009]

This still works 1st march 2024

[@OneLastMidnight]

Nice! Thanks for the update!

[@IanSebryk]

choo-choo hat is very distracting. otherwise, thank you.