These Balancers Improve Train Efficiency in Satisfactory

[@TotalXclipse]

Should we cover ratio balancers or something else next?

[@SomeRenegade]

Yes

[@FastTquick]

Ratio balancers would be great. Especially balancers that can evenly balance resources flowing 1500-1560 items per minute between 3, 4, 5 or more lines.

[@manticser7299]

They are all so handy. Makes for developing the factory plans and working out when what is most useful

[@oreubens]

1) Can we stop calling these "balancers" ! They don't cause balance in any way and if one output gets blocked/saturated then depending on how it's made it can even cause the imbalance to move onto the other lines. They're X to Y way "dumb" splitter/mergers. 2) There are a number of special cases with X and Y being 2 or 3, where you can make it extremely compact. 3) there is a simple & elegant (and easy to build) "any value of X and any value of Y" splitter/merger, it just takes space... you can fit parts of it into a blueprint. Bit hard to explain in this youtube chat though :D

[@tbone121974]

Yes please. Can you take it at a glacial pace?

[@BeyondNoobism]

This is honestly mind-blowing! I have no clue in what kind of scenario i would ever use something like this, but i'm only like 300+ hours into the game, lol but i love your content!

[@otrdispatch]

I kept asking myself "WHY though?" while watching this video. I'm right there with you. I don't understand why any of this is necessary. Seems like it's over complicating things like an engineer normally does.

[@TylerHanna]

@@otrdispatch I mean, the video explains why it's necessary, it's to balance the outputs of your train lines, since they can introduce variance

[@gampie13]

@@otrdispatch it's about balancing the throughput of a factory. When you get to midgame and late game, the efficiency of a factory becomes a massive factor, since you are scaling up production by magnitudes more than the beginning. So a 20-90% efficiency upgrade by balancing inputs and outputs, takes a 100k/min -> 190k/min production. So it's about making sure everything runs at perfect balance, so you have a stable power draw on your grid, and production. A badly balanced factory, is sometimes 60%+ LESS efficient than a decently balanced factory, mealy by stalling production and backing, which causes a chain reaction of backing up. And when you have the scale you get in to in the endgame, that causes a MASSIVE impact on your entire setup

[@baileypares5349]

@@gampie13fractories having a max capacity is an automatic load balancer, all load balancers do is save startup time, if you wait you'll get the exact same result

[@RoadtripEuropeDashcam]

for train stations i sometimes use buffers containers. say you have unlocked mk4 belts with 480 capacity per minute and want to transport that by train through just one fright station module. you get the problem that during loading and unloading the flow is interrupted. so you would never get the full 480 capacity from your mk4 belt. solution is to place a large container on both, the input and the output station and connect each container with both connectors and mk4 belts to the freight segment. On the input side, the delivering 480 p/m belt does not stop anymore when the train is loaded. instead the container is filled. as soon as the train departures the container empties with 2x 480 p/m into the freight station and so the 480 p/m delivering belt never stands still. on the output side you have the same the other way round. when the station receives a container load of the item, the items are unloaded from the station to the container with 2x 480 p/m and so the outgoing 480 p/m belt never has too wait for the unloading to be finished and is continuously fed.

[@NeoChrisOmega]

I made a nice and compact 9x9 load balance tower. It was before blueprints were announced and I was so proud of it I kept that save even though I've abandoned the build I was going for haha

[@venanreviews]

2:58 Giving the bean a lil train ride over np at all here.

[@999erh]

For the fluid one, I'm curious if it would work the same without the top input. At least in real life, the fluid would never travel up and out that way beyond that level of the tank. The rest would drain back to the bottom if and only if there was low enough pressure.

[@Wedgenet]

Your color selection makes it difficult to see the direction of the splitters and mergers. White on grey is not ideal.

[@widson0049]

For the buffer on maxed belts... the maximum amount of items per min that can be unlaoded on a single train station is 1278. This only counts when your trains arrive perfectly when the train station got empty. Its also only vailid for items with 100 stack limit. If your stack limit is bigger, the true output is higher than the 1278 but still not 1560. Prob the best solution for this problem is shown in this video. If you want to know how i came on this number, just ask in the comments...

[@imbackinussr8991]

Yes, I want to know how you came up with these numbers? Where does the number 1278 come from?

[@Bigpoolofthor]

Just wondering when you want to have a load balancer for a train. Would it even be possible to do so without cutting the throughput of the highest belt usage?

[@AJax2012]

I'll take all of the load banalcer videos you're willing to make! For some reason, mine always turn out wonky.

[@skylarc6063]

I really wish that they would just implement some of the mods into the game, like the 'belt limiter' mod, that you put down, interact with it, and set a value say 550, and it will restrict the throughput to 200/min regardless if you use faster belts.

[@TheByQQ]

But wait, why would you want to limit the speed of a belt?

[@ppeez]

​@@TheByQQwhy would you want to limit the throughput of pipes? There are plenty of reasons. Yet we only have one of the two options

[@TheByQQ]

@@ppeez pipes have sloshing and stuff, belts do not.

[@Ecliptor.]

@@ppeez so, valves?

[@clipperkid3753]

Awesome sink go brrrrrrrrrr

[@justintime5021]

Does the inverted "U" bend actually work to make the fluid prefer the straight through pipe ?

[@thehuggz-i9k]

Sure does. It's the most basic liquid overflow you can have. I typically make them a little higher than he does, but normally, I'm trying to also fill a buffer tank before overflowing, so it may work just fine with shallower pipes.

[@sambrown4210]

Interesting video! I'm not sure i understand why the load balancers improve the efficiency of the train station - did i miss something? If you have the right amount for each belt being loaded at the origin station, and ensure there is the buffer like you showed, then the same ratios should come out on the other side, no? Also, would recommend checking out Kibitz's 3-3 load balancer, its much more compact! :)

[@trooper5987]

this is in the case that u would have miners on different purity nodes to balance it out on the other end

[@daniellclary]

I need that 4 in 4 out Balancer, where the vid that shows how you make that one?

[@TotalXclipse]

Click Read More in the description, scroll to the bottom and it's the top video in the list

[@ikkuranus]

is the buffer necessary for the fluid on the way out and if so does it differ from the input?

[@monkeybarmonkeyman]

How they said when it goes live no longer experimental?

[@maxstr]

Is it cheaper or more efficient to just run a few miles of conveyors, rather than building a train infrastructure?

[@FastTquick]

No. It would eventually become more expensive to build than if you just built a train line anyway.

[@SpartanAltair15]

For a single run of materials? Sure. The thing with trains is that you can reuse the tracks for multiple item types going in different directions, and can move MASSIVELY more items per minute.

[@GeeTee90]

@@SpartanAltair15 It's also a lot more fun :-)

[@jarno8608]

Be aware that large storage containers aren't good at balancing, they prefer to output everything on the bottom

[@angulion]

Really nice! If you however feel a bit lazy and aren't a purist, you might want to use Modular Load Balancer mod.. :)

[@tukkajumala]

That mod kinda kills the challenge of belt logistics, but to each their own. I guess for large factories it is a lot more uobject efficient than building large balancers, but I can not shake the feeling of cheating when using it.

[@drewk7557]

cool vid. didn't understand any of it.

[@Hamstarin]

Honest man

[@BekoPharm]

Look mom, a game is making me do math. Math!11eleven

[@chilip8758]

funny when you say "I wont show you how to make that", after a paltry 800 hours in the game I can replicate it with a glance, only need the idea :D

[@TotalXclipse]

That's great! - the only reason I don't show it, is because we did in the video prior. But most of the time it's easy to make our own variations 😊

[@greenscorpeon3]

The whole thing of Train stations blocking inputs and outputs because the train is loading/unloading is just bullshit. Why do the train stations have such a limitation, but truck stations and drone ports dont have such a limitation, they can keep working even when the vehicle is docked and being loaded.

[@oreubens]

in line with the animation. The entire container/storage is moved out of the station and onto the train. so while the container is away... you can't load/unload. it's a silly reason, but hey... :)

[@group555_]

@@oreubensbut the trucks have such an animation too if I remember correctly

[@oreubens]

@@group555_ Not quite, the truckstop doesn't move the entire container into/out of the truck. it grabs a package of stuff.

[@group555_]

@@oreubenstrue, but regardless of the location of the package the actual trucks inventory empties out at a constant rate

[@oreubens]

@@group555_ yep. like I said. it's a silly reason why the train station stops (un)loading. But it's easy to work around.

[@thisguy35]

why i don't understand the point why not just put big buffers?

[@leszekzajac7772]

hmmmm just use modular load balancers md ;)

[@otrdispatch]

Why Why Why? I don't understand at all what you just made a video on. Why are you splitting one line of resources into a bunch of loopty loops only to merge them back into one place at the end? It seems like a very over complicated contraption to make the belts looks pretty while sending the product on a amusement park ride? When would someone ever need to do this?

[@nicolascasime9248]

Assume you have 3 lines. One is carrying 30 items per minute, the other 60 items per minute and the third 90 per minute. Don't matter why, you just got those lines. On most cases, you will want them spread even. Meaning (30+60+90)/3 = 60. 3 lines of 60 items per minute. This is what load balancers are for. Ive been playing for a long time, and only needed them once, but havent done trains so far. Apparently in trains this is way more important! I know, it seems a little bit confusing, specially because we dont easily see all of the inputs and outputs. But it works, and its pretty cool.

[@otrdispatch]

@@nicolascasime9248 Thanks for explaining this.

[@leznets91]

​@@nicolascasime9248 I literally just had a huge power failure because of a train line problem that a balancer would have fixed lol

[@rhonin210]

Aloha

[@ilyaorehov-zp1iv]

that's stupid, you can't rise train efficiency by using balancers, just use buffers correctly or make +1 wagon

[@badzok5136]

It's not stupid. This is really common practice at high throughput, especially over long distances. Just because you don't understand it doesn't make it stupid.

[@THUNDERBOLT-rv7fs]

imagine u use modular load balancer and get rid of that

[@BobBob-it7tp]

x

[@itsKimi]

putting blueprints behind a paywall is cringe dude.

[@paulstaffordallen4570]

On one hand I can sort of see your point. On the other hand the video contains a full tutorial on building it yourself. The blueprint is a luxury extra you don't need.

[@itsKimi]

@@paulstaffordallen4570 paywalling content in a game that isn't even yours, imagine that

[@bryceblazegamingyt9741]

​@@itsKimi it's called making a living. This is how the world works. Grocery store owners didn't grow their own groceries but they sell them anyways.

[@itsKimi]

@@bryceblazegamingyt9741 it's called shady business, trying to monetize a game that isn't yours is not something to be proud of.

[@matt69nice]

@@itsKimi it's not shady - if you're not interested then just don't buy it. No need to get pressed about something you're not interested in.