trains, bridges and improvements to the rail system

[Ghoulish]

From the fact that no one has answered, I can assume that there is no mod bridge or subway...

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/beautiful_bridge_railway Gives you bridges.

[bootsam]

A level crossing would be nice. Ive been run over twice now and Ive only had the game a little over a week.

[vanatteveldt]

A level crossing would be nice. Ive been run over twice now and Ive only had the game a little over a week.

This is actually a problem you can solve within factorio using gates and wires, see e.g. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27952

(edit: powerarmor Mk2 and enough shields usually solve the problem as well, and get you the golem achievement to boot )

[bootsam]

A level crossing would be nice. Ive been run over twice now and Ive only had the game a little over a week.

This is actually a problem you can solve within factorio using gates and wires, see e.g. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27952

(edit: powerarmor Mk2 and enough shields usually solve the problem as well, and get you the golem achievement to boot )

Thanks vanatte, I havent gotten round to figuring out the wires yet. Ill look into those and see whats what. Cheers.

Im in the process of remodelling my factory as I started it all cramped up. (Only just moved to Lvl 4 lab research) Ive spread it all out now and made sure I have room for expansion. Ive rebuilt most of the systems and added a train to deliver from my ore smelting plants to my manufacturing area. Tonight I'll rebuild by labs. I think Im probably doing it all the hard way without blueprints or bots, figuring it all out as it goes. But I prefer to learn by my mistakes. Of which theres been many. Getting run over is just par for the course.

[Oktokolo]

From the fact that no one has answered, I can assume that there is no mod bridge or subway...

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/beautiful_bridge_railway Gives you bridges.

That mod, despite its name, does not add bridges. It adds rail that can be placed on water. But neither can anything be placed below them, nor allows it for collision-free rail crosses.

It does not look like it is possible to implement working bridges without altering the game binary as it is now.

[bootsam]

Ive been run over a further 2 times. Hehe. The trains are more dangerous than the biters.

[realm174]

I am no wiring expert, far from that.. is there a way to turn a signal red when a player is within proximity of said signal? That would cause havoc on some train traffic, but it should prevent you from being run over...

[vanatteveldt]

Look at the link posted above. The trick is to use a gate to detect the player. Set the gate to close when the signal is not green (so the player cannot enter if there is a train), and set the other signal red when the gate is opened (so trains stop if the player is near).

(and note that you don't connect the gate, but the wall next to the gate...)

[bootsam]

My problem is not the game. My problem is not paying attention. Im too busy thinking about how to get what to where and why im jamming up or running out. All whilst moving from one place to another. I often have to move up and down my main distribution line, which also has a train line delivering copper plate and wire. So I may sometimes stop whilst I hit E to select another craft etc. Thats when I usually get splattered. I am the architect of my own doom. Im thinking too much about processes and not watching what my character is doing or where he is.

I'll pause my blue manufactury creation and shove some crossings in as Vanatte suggested. As losing all my inventory is a nuisance. I died again last night as I thought I was onboard the train, I wasnt. I was alongside when I gave it new instructions. hehe. Im a numpty.

But crossings are now my no1 priority.

[steinio]

So the god mode is what you are looking for. It seperates the body from the mind so you are invulnerable against trains.

[Aeternus]

A tunnel, if it's a technical possibility, would be awesome. Aside from making more space on the maps, it'll allow for a truly deadlock-proof four way crossing (clover leaf style).

[Edit] As for rail safety - Power armor with 2 or 3 MK2 shields allows you to tank a train hit, at the very least at low speed. You can also wall off the tracks and create some dedicated railway crossings to prevent accidental straying onto the tracks. The crossings can block trains with gates controlled by the circuit network - if a player opens the walkway gate, the signals leading into the crossing can be set to red and for good measure you can add controlled gates onto the tracks themselves to take a hit from a train that isn't able to stop in time.

[MalcolmCooks]

One thing people always forget about is that trains (irl) are REALLY REALLY bad at handling gradients. Okay so the trains don't really obey real world physics especially turning corners, but to have any kind of elevated or underground track the gradient up/down to that part would have to be stupidly long. But rail underpasses would be really great for junctions on your mainline. My ideal rail system would work like this:

- trains have a speed limit around curves. You also have a few different grades of curve, which can be taken at higher speeds. So on your mainline, you want to use the shallowest curves so your trains keep up their speed.
- a rail underpass. This would need to take up a lot of space but it would mean that you can have high-speed junctions where the tracks never cross over each other

[impetus maximus]

One thing people always forget about is that trains (irl) are REALLY REALLY bad at handling gradients.

gears can take care of gradients.

Cog-Railroad-2013-06-15-06-6.png (429.85 KiB) Viewed 7326 times

[zytukin]

I would love, love, love some type of bridge or tunnel. It would certainly make designing my base a heck of a lot easier.

I have a rail based mega base. There are over 1000 trains running around in it. Even having it spread out over a 10,000 by 10,000 tile area still results in occasional issues. An intersection can be so well designed that it is deadlock free, but that doesn't help when you have dozens of trains trying to use it because they are all visiting the same location from many other locations. I may not have deadlocks, but that doesn't mean I don't have traffic backups that rival a major city during rush hour. Backups that could easily be alleviated by having a bridge or tunnel to avoid making trains cross paths.

As for process, I don't see how the devs couldn't do it the same way underground conveyors work.
Train enters tunnel entrance, vanishes, then after a set time based on speed and tunnel length, appears on the other side.
Even if they were forced to be straight it would be fine, would still have to design around this so it wouldn't take much away from the game.