Smart requester station setup for peer review.

[CyberZe]

All info and files are uploaded to https://factorioprints.com/view/-M65XHOd6ky27QlzbWeQ

My idea was to make one huge parking depo from which any requester station can pull a train when it needs to. I wanted to use as little resources as possible, including one signal wire if possible. It seems to be working fine and I can see a way to expand on this idea by using same stations with different conditions as provider station, but haven't figured this part yet properly.

Pros:
smart
less traffic
stuff only when its needed

Cons:
a bit hard to setup
need to remember IDs both while making new stations and adding new trains
needs a huge parking depo but does not require any waiting areas at stations

PS. I forgot to give credit to DaleStan since I used his multiplex idea, although not exactly as he imagined it.

[willmax]

So, from what i understand, the relationship between Train and Station is One to Many. Meaning that a Train can serve many Stations but a Station can only be served by one designated Train. Is that correct?

I am currently developing a similar concept but with Many to Many relationship, meaning all my Copper Plate carrier Train can serve all Copper Plate requesting Station. I put a stopper in the "Waiting Bay" (in your term, it is "Park") to prevent any unnecessary train being deployed.

Honestly, I am preparing my own material to post about this concept, though.

[CyberZe]

Yes one train one route system. But since the stations are getting turned off when they are not needed u can easily set it up your way too.
- Use same stations blueprint as providers set conditions like so http://prntscr.com/s8icia
- Set route like so http://prntscr.com/s8iee8

You get the same outcome as described.

Only downside to this setup is you can't send a train to different sources of goods.
To do so one would have to keep track of number of already filled trains with a said good, which ofc is doable since we can check which trains hold what when they are parked at "park", and before letting them out check if they will go to correct station which is harder as more than one request (and provide) signals could be received at same time, to make it work one would need to set up a buffer of orders and remake provider stations to send signal once only.

Ofc it is doable and now that I think about it I might change it to be so.

PS. share ur design so I can have a look too Do you set waiting area so trains for one set of goods go to specific place? What does scheduling look like in this setup?

PS2. I might have misunderstood.

[CyberZe]

I thought about it for some time now, and I simply cant see how you can make many to many system without trains waiting to fulfill orders one by one. No information can be sent to train about which station he is to go to so the only way to limit it would be to not send more than one train at a time. unless different groups of trains will be set up in which case u would need to wait within only said group to send a train.

[CyberZe]

Ok I made it Many to Many improvement. Heres really easy setup https://imgur.com/a/7AGA5Zs and BP https://pastebin.com/Ybr8hjNq

[willmax]

I thought about it for some time now, and I simply cant see how you can make many to many system without trains waiting to fulfill orders one by one. No information can be sent to train about which station he is to go to so the only way to limit it would be to not send more than one train at a time. unless different groups of trains will be set up in which case u would need to wait within only said group to send a train.

I am using a Bill system. It is rather confusing to explain but it is simple in pratice.

So let say for a Copper Plate circulation system I have :
- 5 remote stations that need Copper Plate, lets call them CP_In_1, CP_In_2, ... , CP_In_5
- 3 Waiting Bay stations, where my 3 trains standing by, lets call the stations CP_WB_1, CP_WB_2, CP_WB_3
- 3 Copper Plate filling Stations, where the trains refill its Copper Plate, CP_Out_1, CP_Out_2, CP_Out_3
- 2 Wire Signals, "C" -> indicates how many CP_In is requesting Copper Plate that act as a Bill, and "T" -> how many trains are on the way (outside of CP_WB) that fulfill the Bill.

At first, "C" and "T" are both zero, but when, lest say CP_In_1 is requesting Copper Plate, than it goes to a counter that adds 1 to the "C" signal.
In every CP_WB, I have train signals (don't get confused with wire signal) in front of every CP_WB stations, that only goes green if "C" > "T", so as long as "C" <= "T", no trains will be deployed. Lets call these train signals TS_Stopper.
But now with "C" equals 1 and "T" equals 0, the train signals go green, and a train will be deployed to CP_In_1.

The trick is, I put another train signal behind every CP_WB to read a moving train, thus every train that go from CP_WB will add 1 to the "T" signal. Lets call these train signals TS_Counter.

Now, the "C" = 1 and the "T" = 1 and the TS_Stopper go red again, thus preventing any additional train to be deployed from CP_WB.

[CyberZe]

It sound complicated Have a look at this system I created. Setup is EZ like hell.
All stations that require certain goods need to be called the same. Also all the ones that provide certain goods need to be called the same. On any station all u have to set is trigger amount of staff and signal with what the station provides as +1 or if it requires it then -1.
Waiting area has a small clock to split the signal so everything can go on one wire.

Logic behind is goes like that. Trigger set the station enable (as they are disabled by default) and send a signal +1(channel 2 - Providers station) or -1(channel 3 Requester station). Train has a circuit condition to only go when such signal is coming with a loading condition included. As soon as train arrives at a station that station is switched off. There is an option to have a train wait at provider station if there are no places in Waiting area but its not mandatory train can wait for a green light signal as condition at those stations.

Its easier to see how it works really. hence I added a save file.

[burninghey]

please repost the save file. can't get it to work ..