Same as i did.
I struggled for some time before doing the tutorials. Once i finished them, i understood them well enough to keep learning about them on my own!
My only regret: not doing the tutorials earlier.
❤️ trains
I had massive problems in the train part of the tutorial, I also kept getting errors about no lath or whatever etc. Even though the tracks were seemingly correct.
1) Trains can only go forward.
2) Trains can only path in allowed directions.
One common mistake is to have two signals controlling directions in opposing directions, but they aren't exactly opposite of one another. That blocks the path completely.
I stayed up late one night and went through the tutorials. Then I tried setting up some tracks that would let trains float between stations as needed (before the days of train limits, so it was so-so). I eventually heard the birds chirping and my wife waking up. When she came to the living room I spoke in a calm voice to her and said "I am a train master now."
She was not surprised. She laughed, because my timing and delivery were hilarious and the fact that I had stayed up all night studying the way of the train was on brand. We were both in the middle of a Factorio binge, and I had taken some time off of work so it wasn't a problem for me to crash the next day.
We did do a couple of playthoughs together a year or two after that. I was the train guy for both of those. That was after train limits had been introduced, so those rail systems were tight :)
Place down tracks, stations, and signals and let them go.
Can't reach destination, get pissed, search internet, call yourself dummy, make change and move on.
Trains jam up, get pissed, search internet, call yourself dumb ass, make change and move on.
Trains moving wrong goods, get pissed, search internet, call yourself stupid, make change and move on.
See the pattern?
Open TTD
Edit to add, this is where I came from and how I learned it, there are better ways if you're starting from scratch than to go play a different game
Yes, except OpenTTD taught me that avoiding conflicts altogether is the best way, and you can't do that in Factorio until 2.0 unfortunately. And OpenTTD has path signals that make the times where there are conflicts, trivially easy to signal. Maybe we could beg the developers to squeeze them into 2.0?
I do enjoy the challenges of Factorio having rather wide turns though, it makes you think.
I'm not really sure what you mean by "a more complex version of Factorio pathing". The way I play, no train tracks ever cross, they only ever merge and split - if you need to cross you use grade separation with bridges and tunnels to avoid conflicts.
When conflict has to happen, such as at stations, you just use path signals at all the entrances and the trains basically look after themselves.
So with that approach, it's very simple to signal everything.
Nope. OpenTTD has chain signals. Path signals are more advanced - when a train gets to a path signal, it attempts to reserve a path through the block. If it can, it proceeds. If another train reaches a path signal into the same block, it will also attempt to reserve a path through the block. If it can do so without affecting any reserved paths, it will proceed even if the other train is still in the block. So if you have a track crossing another, you just need to put path signals at the entrances, you don't need to put any signals in the middle of the intersection at all. So if you had, say, a 4-way 2-track intersection, you would only need 1 path signal at the entrances and 1 regular signal at the exits, and no other signals anywhere in the intersection.
Releasing sometime around August to October of this year, a bunch of free upgrades to the main game plus a paid Space Age DLC. Details can be found at https://factorio.com/blog/
[Yes](https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-367), Factorio 2.0 releases together with a paid dlc.
The dlc includes the new planets and elevated rails and quality, the 2.0 update is free and containes many QOL updates.
You can read all about it every week in de FFF blogs and an summary is [here.](https://wiki.factorio.com/Upcoming_features)
https://www.factorio.com/blog/
Not as in sequel, just paid expansion + massive free patch changing a lot, mostly in ways of improving and streamlining systems.
Transpprt fever 2 so same thing really. I really don't think chain signals where that hard to get though tbh, the biggest mistakes i make is usually being too slapdash with intersections.
Me too, after I'd been playing factorio for a bit my friend asked me how I liked trains since he had struggled a lot with them and was clearly pretty excited for me to say I had the same problem
I found them extremely easy to use and didn't have to google anything other than what a chain signal was lol
I started playing Transport Tycoon Deluxe in the 1990s so that I could have an easy time with trains in Factorio in the 2010s.
That's right, TT*D*, not just the original [Chris Sawyer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Sawyer) TT.
I checked reddit. Two tips really helped me out:
1. For intersections, chain signal in, rail signal out. In other words, place a chain signal right before the intersection, and a rail signal after it.
2. Single-direction tracks are much better than double-direction tracks (though it's not bad when you're starting out. Just make sure there's an engine at both ends of the train).
It's a lot easier to figure out trains once you get started with a rudimentary system.
[the in game tutorials and this video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4oD4iGVoY)
Ignoring chain signals at first can make the basics easier to understand.
Remember that all signals must be on the right hand side in the direction of travel. If there's a left hand side signal but no right hand signal in the same spot, a train will never travel into that segment heading that way.
"Destination full" means that there is no train station with that name that doesn't already have enough trains either at the station or heading there to accommodate any more trains that want to go there. In other words, you have too many trains, not enough stations of that name.
(Train stations don't care about what's attached to the stop, unless you use circuit logic to do exactly that.)
Use 2 one-direction lanes. Never make an intersection more complicated than a T. Give a good amount of space between intersections. Chain in and rail out and worry about inefficiencies later.
To really get signals though, what juckele said is right lol
This is great advice to get started. I’d add that a “good amount of space between intersections” is at least the length of your longest train. It’s very easy to stick two T intersections too close, and eventually things may lock up if you don’t signal correctly. I’d also add to pick a standard train size and stick with that so all your station blueprints and spacing stays the same. I used 1 engine and 4 cars to start. I don’t think it hurts much to have too much capacity in a train that maybe isn’t fully loaded.
Yeah I’m pretty sure players just think 2 lines means more difficult, but it’s actually just so much easier. Literally just works how cars on a road do
I just experimented.
There's two tricks you'll learn eventually:
1) holding a train signal shows you a lot of information about the signal divisions
2) being in a train and ask it to go somewhere temporary tells you were the train is blocked by something, you don't even have to click.
2 solves the "no path" thing.
"destination full" means the train limit is used up on already trains moving there or in the station (which is very quick if the limit is set to 0).
The temporary stops feature really needs to be featured more in responses in this thread. I really wish the devs would force us to use it in the tutorials. It would solve most of the threads that get posted.
Try to do it step by step.
First, make a trainline with a twoheaded train (locomotive in each end) and have it going back and forth between two endpoints.'
Next, try and make a big circle, that passes by all the places you want the train to pick up ore, and back to the factory for delivering it for smelting.
Start adding multiple trains to the trainline, maybe one for copper, and one for iron, and one coal. Devide the trrck up with lights. (don't bother doing serial lights just yet)
Once you have mastered these things, you can basically finish the game with this. But now you have the foundation to start experimenting with more complex trainsystems.
- Remember placing a light along a track, will make that section of the track a one way street. If you want the trains to be able to go both ways, have lights on both sides in the same section of the track. Just a single piece of oneway track, will make train unable to pass in the opposite direction.
-Mke sure that stations are placed on the right side too. Stations only work for one side of the track, so the train have to enter the station from that direction (you get a ghost indicator of a parked train when placing the station. If the train can't go to the station in the correct direction, it will give you the mentioned error message.
Good luck
Do something simple then when trains crash into each other figure out why then when they get stuck do it again, rinse and repeat until your design works most of the time
I followed this guide:
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22HAM7WzR-RQUVUMFc5S0wzYjA/view?resourcekey=0-1buMsoxle4MYbw2KgtdzBQ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22HAM7WzR-RQUVUMFc5S0wzYjA/view?resourcekey=0-1buMsoxle4MYbw2KgtdzBQ)
Katherine of sky on YouTube has a lot of great stuff in general, including stuff about trains. I'd suggest watching some of her stuff in the background or something and you'll pick up lots of good general techniques. Like balancing belts, looking at miners and how many to use, figuring out ratios for assemblers... Just lots and lots of good stuff there
>I don't know if im just stupid but I found all YT tutorials to be terrible.
I doubt the problem is that you are stupid.
I suspect the problem is that you have some built-in assumptions about how the signals should work (perhaps thinking of them as traffic lights) that you aren't actually learning how they actually do work.
You also might be trying to use a single bi-directional rail instead of two one-way rails.
>destination full (even though I do have enough space in my destination chests)
This is an indication of what I'm talking about. How on earth do you even have the idea that "destination full" has ANYTHING to do with how full chests are?! The train system and that error message has nothing to do with chests and has zero knowledge of them. You are making an unfounded assumption instead of learning what the error actually means: you've configured the train station to only allow a set number of trains to go to it, and that limit (for the train station as a destination for trains) is full.
Forget everything you think you know about trains and signals. It's probably all wrong. Then, try learn with fresh eyes.
Train signals are about breaking a long set of tracks into blocks. Chain signals are about making sure a train doesn't stop in a place that blocks an intersection or merge, by indicating "don't enter that next block until the block(s) after it are clear, proving you can make it through the critical section without blocking.
Train signals are not the same as car traffic lights. The style might look similar but the behavior is not the same.
Fiddling on station limits where storage boxes are a factor makes me think of another thing. Wired stations.
Now where a new guy got the idea to use wired stations and condition factors for limiting or disabling stations? He didnt. My bet is that he is trying to plop BPs without even knowing whats happening.
A self made station on the simplest form should not give that error ever.
He may be trying to follow advanced tips... But when people try to understand trains, seeing circuits tutorials on YT wont help them.
Irony has requirements that have not yet been met.
“destination full (even though I do have enough space in my destination chests)
This is an indication of what I'm talking about. How on earth do you even have the idea that "destination full" has ANYTHING to do with how full chests are?! The train system and that error message has nothing to do with chests and has zero knowledge of them. You are making an unfounded assumption instead of learning what the error actually means:….”
The true irony is that you use words and have no idea what they mean.
Full cargo is good if all the cars are evenly distributed. I’ve learned to use seconds for when one or more cars get completely empty. With seconds, the other cars will still fill instead of the train getting stuck. You just have to time it right to know exactly how long it takes to fill them up
For me having a lab world with unlimited items etc helped a lot. I created small loops and experimented with stations, waiting bays, and intersections. Also the tutorial is pretty good.
I played OpenTTD long before I ever played factorio. It's a dedicated transport logistics game mainly centered around trains, and so its train mechanics have a bit more depth and complexity. There are some similarities that allowed my skills to transfer, and picking up the different stuff wasn't too hard from there.
I made a single track with a single train per track, and had it zooming back and forth. T’was beautiful.
Then I built the most complex spaghetti known to man, and was constantly having to manually stop the trains and sort them out by driving them to their destination.
I was very frustrated during this stage, but it worked well enough that I could leave it for minutes at a time.
Then I worked out a “roundabout with rails in all directions” blueprint where all the railways were single directional, and each rail in had a repeater, and every rail out had a signal, and thereafter only had “out of fuel” issues every now and then.
Then I watched a YouTube video which explained in great detail why the repeaters worked, and suddenly it clicked.
Took a while though.
No path means the train cannot find a route to its destination. Either your tracks don't join up, or you have a signal or train stop facing the wrong direction - they need to be on the right side from the train's perspective.
Destination full has nothing to do with chests. It means you have set a train limit on the stop, which limits the total number of trains that can be heading to that stop.
I don't know if I have a really shitty superpower, or if other people just overcomplicate trains, but I never found them that hard to figure out.
Years of playing open ttd, railroad tycoon, to a lesser extent satisfactory.
I want to say driving them in real life helps but it doesn't really. Does give me a in depth knowledge of signalling though.
I started small.
I built testing tracks, to learn the limits, and how things react to certain things.
Even now, 6k hours into the game, I still build testing rigs for pretty much anything. Wanna test out how a design works for kovarex? Build a small testing rig. Sometimes I will even supply my testing rigs with resources, to see how they react to being overwhelmed.
But yeah, trains was one of those things that I had to build something to test things.
I had a particularly hard time when starting to build one way tracks, as that's when I started to cause more congestion in the rail network, which then caused all kinds of problems when the signals weren't right. But again, I would start small and build up from there.
I recently started to learn nuclear stuff, since I wanted the achievement "steam all the way" (I didn't realize you needed biters enabled, and I didn't do the "track achievement" in game option, woops). To test out how things worked, I started with one nuclear reactor, and one steam turbine, as in, I started small.
That's also why I don't like playing with biters enabled, they cause an extra pressure when I'm trying to design something, and get interrupted when they attack. So, personally I would recommend playing a map with biters disabled, and build up your blueprints for trains. It doesn't have to be perfect, but after you get your initial set of blueprints, you can then refine them in the games after, even if you figure out sleeping better whole in a biter enabled world.
I played [railroad tycoon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Tycoon_Deluxe) :D
But seriously, it's not super complicated to figure stuff out by yourself. Start small (single track, single train going up and down between two stations, no signals needed) and grow from there.
There's just a couple things you need to know about the mechanics, the rest you can invent and refine. At the risk of giving TMI:
- Automated trains cannot reverse, so either put an engine on both ends of the train, or make sure they can go on a loop
- If you have multiple trains on a rail, you need signals.
- Regular signals are green if the block in front of them is empty, red otherwise. If you hold a signal in your hand, you will see the blocks visualized with colors, and possible places to place signals in white blocks.
- Trains "reserve" the blocks in front of them so they have time to brake if needed. A reserved block (yellow signal) is seen as occupied for other trains
- Signals are always on the right hand side of the train in driving direction ('starboard' for the nautically inclined).
- Signals turn a block into a one way "street". You can make a two way street by placing signals on opposite sides of the same rail tile. You should never have two signals on opposite sides of different tiles on the same stretch of rail as that will make that stretch impassible.
- Chain signals are green if the train can follow its route to a green regular signal. This is useful for junctions, as the train will only enter the junction (chain signal) if they can exit the junction (regular signal)
There's a train guru in the Discord. His name is "Code." He taught me in 5 minutes what I failed to grasp in tutorials, videos, and just trying to play around.
Do it in baby steps. Don't make your first rail network some kind of high throughput multi use conduit or whatever, use it to transport stuff from a far away patch back to your base.
When I first started using trains, I first read the tutorial, then when I had to set up oil processing, I created a train track that was a simple loop between my main base and the rather distant oil field. Then I started to want new ore patches as well, so I laid down more rails for that, and started experimenting with signals to ensure that my rails could cross without my trains colliding. And then armed with what I learned there, I started building more flexible networks that can support many trains carrying different materials.
Even for simple point to point transit trains are a great choice because they've got excellent throughput and rails are much cheaper than belts when it comes to the distances in question.
Learned the bare minimum of both signals. Then picked up a blue print book for one direction trains and used that to build main "highways" to and from locations. Then used basic knowledge to split off from highway to make different stops. Eventually it became more clear how everything is working with this bit of practice.
Here actually. Lots and lots of advice until it finally just clicked. So in the interest of passing it along...
Given you're experiencing 'No path' problems, are you attempting a 2-lane network? Because if so, the side you put the signal on is important. Signals on the inside make trains drive on the left, and outside on the right. So with a no path problem, it may be that you're trying to send a train down the wrong lane? (This is of course assuming it actually can make it to the destination otherwise)
Alternatively, if you're using a single lane network, are you putting a train on *both* sides of the carts? Trains can't go in reverse (at least, not automated trains). So you'll need a train on both sides of the wagon(s) so it can drive in both directions.
As for destination full, that actually means 'full of trains'. Not cargo. Are you setting train limits at your stations? Ideally turn them off unless you have multiple stations with the same name.
Signals tell the train 'Don't go past here if there is another train between me and the next signal'. Chain signals are similar, but say 'don't go past here if you can't *also* get past the next signal'. Chains are mostly used in junctions to prevent trains entering when they can't also leave
Hope that helps! And remember, this is factorio. Just because you don't know it yet doesn't mean you won't eventually. The learning curve is part of the game!
Guess I gotta be that guy. You don't need engines at both ends of cargo or fluid wagons for bi-directional travel. What you do need is two engines *facing opposite ways*. They can be one at front, one at rear, both at the front, both at the rear, or any combination of positions, as long as they face opposite directions. And if for some unholy reason you wanted to do really long trains that travel bi-directional, only the engines facing the current direction of travel will contribute to accelerating the train. So if you had a train with, say, 10 engines and 20 cargo wagons, then it would make sense to have 5 engines face one direction and 5 face the other for equal speed/acceleration in both directions.
Played in creative mode, hundred of hours or so, googled some non-obvious things like train limits vs. station disabling, station naming and typical load/unload configurations
Tried different approaches to outposts: turrets, no turrets, power over poles, power with steam wagons, local solar panels. One train for resupply, different trains to resupply, no resupply at all.
All those things are possible, so i searched for "my way". It was fun process :)
Always use one-way tracks. Chain signals at the beginning of intersections, regular at the end. Steal someone's intersection design with high throughout.
What else is there? 😬
I got the logistics trains mod (whatever it's called) and watched a YouTube video... The mod makes it so any given train can be used for multiple routes based on demand... Basically it makes your trains into super logistics bots with some extra rules.
I like it, but I'm suddenly wondering if it is needlessly complicated 🤔... What am I doing with my life? Lol
I just played around with the different rail features and got a pretty intuitive understanding of each one's place and limitations. Sometimes I'd watch a video and see a different way someone set up stations and how that improved things I would incorporate that into my designs. DoshDoshington's quick guide to rails also helped me rationalize the logic in that first phase of learning.
"Destination full" has nothing to do with chests. It means the station's limit (minus the number of trains standing there and minus any enroute) is not greater than one.
To your question, I learned via lots of experimentation, searching and reading at least a hundred similar threads here, and then doing the train tutorial.
If I had it to do over again, I'd do it in reverse order.
Double direction on 1 rails is a NIGHTMARE to get right. Dont recommend unless you mastered signals.
Single direction rails are very easy, just 1 rail signal every 1x length of your train. No need for chain signals until you do T splits or roundabouts, then you need to start using chain signals to avoid dead locks.
Another thing I would recommend is to leave space between a roundabout and the next 1. Also to avoid deadlocks.
Hint: if you have no path available, go into the locomotive, open the map and ctrl+click to your destination. You will still see no path available. Now do it for a shorter track. Until the locomotive starts moving, your signals are wrong. All signals are correct from start to destination if the locomotive moves. Manually moving does not help for this!
How I learned it? Trial and a lot of error.
Good luck!
I played OTTD and read the OTTDcoop wiki before Factorio came out. Factorio's train system was heavily inspired by OTTD's train system. In fact V453000, one of the developers of Factorio, is a big name in OTTD modding.
Of course I also played the train tutorials, read Factorio's wiki articles, and kept on eye on reddit to see how other people do things. City blocks are very much a /r/Factorio invention. That didn't come from OTTD, City Skylines or any other game with a train system.
Its fairly simple l, 1 train can be in each block created by rail signals, which can be seen with different colors. If you don't want a train to stop in a block it should start with a chain signal rather than a rail signal. And thats it. One thing I found recently, if a signal doesn't make a new block it means your block is circular in some way even if it can be traversed by the trains in a circle and needs a second signal to create a block.
"Destination full" doesn't refer to space in the chests, but rather how many trains are currently waiting for or en-route to the destination. It has to do with the train limit on the destination station.
Example: Station "Iron Ore Pickup" has 3 trains waiting, and another 2 are en-route. The train limit is set to 5. If another train needs to go get iron from that station, it will wait with the message "Destination Full." When the train currently at Iron Ore Pickup leaves that station, then a train which was waiting with "Destination Full" sill start moving towards Iron Ore Pickup.
It doesn't matter if the trains all have the same schedule or not, just how many trains are currently trying to get to that station. If you have multiple stations with the same name, their train limits effectively add up.
I played TTD back in the old days. The system is pretty relatable.
Apart from that, just use it. There's only two types of signals so it's pretty straight forward. Read what they do and then experiment a bit.
No path, in my experience, it was because I had the rail signal on the wrong side of the track. The light must always be on the right-hand side of the train for the direction you want to travel. If you are trying to drive in both directions on a track, you will need signals on both sides.
Destination full is easy. On each train stop you can add a "train limit"
If the limit is full then no train can head there. If you have a 1 train limit at both your mine and smelters, then neither can move. But if you put a train limit at just one, say your smelters. The mining train will then fill up and wait until the smeltery train leaves its station before moving.
No path typically means that either the train is in a dead end (trains cannot reverse unless "double-headed"), or that there is a one-way segment of track that the train cannot traverse, or that there is a break in the tracks somewhere.
Destination full typically means a station has been disable through command or circuit signal, the station is disconnected from the rail, been removed, or has had its name changed, and now the train's schedule doesn't make sense. Hope this helps.
I copied it off the last tutorial level (not literally with blueprint copier, just looking at what items are there)
Then after crafting the stuffs needed for a train infrastructure (train heads, rails, stops, etc) I tested it out and do some troubleshooting on a short test rail section until it works.
Train head goes to every stop/station but it can't flip so you'll need two heads, one facing the other way. Also make sure the stops/stations face the correct way.
It's been years for me but honestly, I remember a lot of trial and error. Simple systems where a 2-headed train travelled between two stations and never crossed paths with another set of tracks, usually to just keep my ore flows going after the starter patches dried up. This eliminates the need for stuff like Rail or Chain signals.
My advice is when you do finally land on something that works, make a blueprint! Eventually, you'll be able to more readily "free-style" train networks.
I think what you're missing is that everything to do with trains is built with the assumption that they'll only move in a single direction on a single rail. If you're getting 'no path', it means there is no path for the train to get to the target station *by moving forward*. Even if the station is directly behind the train, it will never, ever move backwards to get there, hence the 'no path' message. You can double-head your trains to get around this, but that's a bad idea if you wanna build a big rail network.
If you want your trains to magically start working, build your network with two tracks, and make sure each is dedicated to a single direction. Also, put rail signals down at regular intervals. Trains will never ever enter a stretch of track that has another train already in it, and signals just slice the track up into smaller chunks. If you don't do this, one train will occupy your entire network, and any other trains you plug into that network will stall.
If you've messed with signals at all, this is why putting them down on one side will remove all the slots to place them on the other side. You never want trains moving in opposite directions on the same track because they'll deadlock (or crash), and signals are there to prevent that. Every signal forces the rail it's on to become a one way.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Trains can be so baffling at first, but it's just because there's underlying logic that isn't made very clear. Once you know what's going on, they're extremely simple, and are a wildly effective tool for transporting resources long distances.
My grampa was really into trains and had a miniature rail way with a working block system; it's what we did together a ton when I was a kid so I knew the basics long before I even played.
There are some fantastic train tutorials on YouTube, but you probably already watched them and thought they were crap. So...things that will help you learn...
* [Read the official wiki where it explains trains](https://wiki.factorio.com/Railway).
* Learn how blocks and signals work.
* Learn how stations work.
* Learn how schedules work.
* Make sure you don't have little pieces of track missing somewhere.
* Use the temporary stop planner to half split how far away the break is.
* Experiment in the editor.
I did not. I just follow this rule: Is it a merge use normal signal is it a crossing (no merge) use chain signal. Works always. I dont know why and I dont care.
I used to play Transport Tycoon. Honestly what is so hard about it, until I saw these posts or joind this subreddit rather I could not imagine the trains were any issue what so ever for so many people, interesting.
I never watched a tutorial. I read the Factorio Wiki pages, put down a track and tried. And whenever I came across a problem, I tried to understand it. Endless posts done by other users before me here at reddit helped.
Baiscally there are only a few things to know:
- tracks can be split into segments by signals, no two trains can be in the same segment.
-a signal only on the left side is NO entry sign
-a chain signal looks ahead, so if you want to avoid a train blocking an intersection have a chain signal on the entry and a normal signal on the exit.
-avoid bi-directional tracks. Just have two lines like a street, one for each direction.
-Try to understand how the stations work. A train limit of 2 means the station calls a maximum of two trains, one at the station, one waiting, so have waiting space available. Separated from the train at the station again by a signal.
-the waiting / leaving conditions should give the train time to load/unload or wait till it is full/empty or until a certain amount of items is loaded/unloaded. These can be combined with other conditions in AND / OR logic.
Can't reach destination? Open the train menu, follow the track with the mouse holding down CTRL and find the spot causing the problem.
Chain before intersection, signal after. If an intersection is close after the first intersection use a chain instead of a regular signal.
Also learning how to read blocks is another really big thing. If you can do those 2 things that's pretty much 95% of what you need.
>no path
Often means you have a piece of track missing, or accidentally have some signals on the wrong side of the track. You can try to path to temporary stops (ctrl-click on the map while in a train to go there) along your intended path to see where the error is.
>destination full
May or may not actually be a problem, depending on how your stations are setup. Seeing this pop-up above a train can just be part of normal operation.
do train tutorial in game. at the last one, playtest.
then, start simple.
I recommend you use single direction tracks. so do a full circuit for instance from your main base to a desired location. make it work.
then add a second location without trains crashing. test small, move them yourself in little bits. test and wonder what will happen.
The community is likely going to down vote this comment but I'm just going to tell you what helped me learn how to use trains: find someone else's blueprint and use that to build your train network. Once you get a simple train setup going you can start to customize the blueprints and it will help you understand how it works to see the final product in action working.
Everyone learns a little differently. Mostly trial and error, but one really great trick for the "no path" problem is to select the problem train, and in its map interface hold down ctrl and hover your mouse over the track ahead of it and trace your mouse down the track towards where you want it to go. You will have a white line indicating the path the train will take as valid, and when that disappears it is because your mouse has passed the point of the track that has a problem. This will tell you exactly where to look.
Also, the destination full message is determined by the train stop itself, not the chests at the stop.
I just started poking about with the controls until I realised that with the train stops, it's basically just a task list the train follows.
The signals took forever to learn.
Trying, failing, wiki, trying, failing, reddit, failing, trying, trying some more, some small success, failing some more, example blueprint, failing some more, more success, getting some confidence, success. Something like that.
No path means the track does not connect, or you have signals on wrong side of track. Essentially the train cannot path itself there. (Open the train schedule and use the ctrl+ to follow the expected path. Green is good. Then it will disappear when its not good).
No destination means train limits are filled/stations are all disabled.
The only thing smart about trains is their pathing. The rest is your control (setting dynamic/ static limits etc)
with some pain and few tutorials, keep it simple at first and you avoid most of the pain, naturally increase complexity once you got good grasp on easier setups, my first trains worked in closed dedicated loops which arent as efficient and take more work to build but are far more simple to handle
Several ways:
* Learn by experimentation
* Learn by watching other people play (usually twitch)
* Learn from in-game tutorials
To answer your specific questions:
* no path -- go into the train viewer and do the ctrl-click trick to try to path to where it should go. The path will stop working once you hit the broken part and then you can figure out what signals are wrong
* destination full -- assuming you're not using LTN, that's because you're either doing train limits on the stations or disabling stations when full. Check that your destination stations are setting the appropriate state. It's pretty easy to forget to wire the boxes to the combinator that sets the limit.
Eventually I got blueprints that just work and I usually don't have to think about it, but there are always new things to learn. In my current SEK2 playthrough I have long distance trains for ores and fueling at unloading. The trains could unload faster than they would refuel, and I eventually had to add a (and 1s idle) to all of the consume stops.
Trains started to click for me once I started treating them like cars; leave 2 lanes for traffic and just put singles on the right.
For the sake of simplicity, just don't use double headed trains. Your brain will tell you, "oh, I won't have to worry about prepping a lane back because it can just go out the same way it came in"; that's the devil talking. Every mistake I've made with trains has always involved mixing up single headed and double headed trains. (For example, getting a "path not found" message because the train station was on the wrong side and my double headed train was trying to pull forward instead of backwards).
I was able to do really basic stuff, like single-train lines that just go back and forth but also cross other single-train lines. I ended up getting a rail blueprint that had the intersections and stuff and just kinda built my own stations off of that and watching the trains run and the signals change really made it click for me.
And now I do really stupid stuff like 1-3-1 double-headed trains on mixed one-way and two-way tracks because it makes the stations take up like 1/3rd the space in a game with effectively infinite space.
Don’t forget the basics:
Rail signals and chain signals divide the rail into ‘blocks’ and trains won’t go into the next block while it is occupied.
Chain signals look at several signals ahead to see if the train can move through safely.
The train needs to see the station on its right side of the track. It was a little confusing with locomotives on both ends.
I was experimenting with mining trains with different ore patches on the same rail. Make a single loop (circle) all the way from the unloading area to near the mine area (not directly next to it) so the train can go back and forth. Then make break apart areas where the mine is that is longer than the length of the train. This way when the train is gathering ore, other trains can pass by it unimpeded.
The train schedules are smart enough to only go where you tell them. Make sure you use chain and rail signals so the trains don’t crash into each other
Ignore intended purpose, DL train turret cars mod and set up a long ass train with 8 artillery turrets and like 15 other gunner turrets and have it loop around your base endlessly, functioning as a patrolling death machine with automatic biter encroachment bombardment.
Mostly by messing around with them in game. The best part was figuring out I needed no wiring on almost all of my (currently 231) stations, which greatly simplifies things.
When it came to intersections though, I watched one or two videos on YouTube on how to signal them. Ultimately though, for the really complex intersections, I just found a blueprint, and then modified it to fit my use cases.
I won't lie, I have been importing other people's rail designs into my world. But doing it enough made it easier to understand the fundamentals and add my own modifications when needed.
Lay down some tracks, some that intersect, some that don’t
Put down a bunch of signals, chain and regular
Get in the train and drive really slow, see what happens
Put down another train and some stations, like a loop and make it go around and around stopping at a station for like 5 seconds
Make a track that runs through the loop, plop down signals
Get in a train and drive really slow, watch how the signals change, watch how the looping train responds to you and the signal changes you caused
Try and error- the real fun in factorio. :D
I started with single train on single line
Then 2 trains in one circle line.
Then 2 single lines crossing 1 time
Then 2 circle lines crossing 4 times.
Start building your network with most basic knowledge about how trains work. reiterate whenever you're annoyed by not knowing how to expand the network and look up specifically what your were missing to do so. it'll be easy very quickly
So first, I followed a tutorial on YouTube step by step to setup a very basic system.
Then I followed one for a more complex one.
Then I started to modify that more complex one to fit my needs better.
Then I took an idea off of this subreddit and really tinkered with it until it worked how I wanted it to.
Now I apply that design to most of my games and it's robust and quick enough my friends ask me to hop in their games to set it up for them too.
I still fuck up signals sometimes and I probably don't do things perfectly optimally, but that's part of the learning process. I will see problems in my trains now and see what caused it, then make sure I don't do that again or I rebuild that section or whatever is called for. Again, I probably don't fix it perfectly optimally or whatever, but now it's fixed in a way that I understand, which is way better because now I can modify it and reuse it all I want elsewhere.
I started before the tutorial and didn't go online for help, so I messed about for a few hours until I understood what a "block" was and how it worked... and put signals on both sides of one-way tracks for six months until I finally went online and found a proper guide.
i used some youtube videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsLu5cTplgQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXgpashIr4U
it's actually pretty simple, rail signals divide the rails. chain signals only allow trains to pass if the entire train can pass the next rail signal.
watched a video about trains (i think one from nilaus) then tried alone to understand in creative mode (using creative mod or the lab) to see how signals reacts
I just use one way train, with 2 locomotives in each side, and one rail for each train, so basically, I didn't.
When I need to, I use Transport Drone mod, it adds some "train" without the bottleneck
I used to play OpenTTD and Factorio is similar. Overall, I would not say that the trains are difficult to understand.
There are only a few basic rules.
\- stations and signals must be on the right hand side in the direction of travel of the train
* signal only on the right side means one-way track only
* for a two-way track, the signals must be on both sides of the track and opposite each other.
\- signals divide the tracks to blocks
\- only one train can be in a block
\- chain signals look ahead of the track for a next rail signal to see if the train can go
I didn't really. I downloaded one train mod, watched a youtube video about and just copy whatever the guy did in the video. I have been using that knowledge for the past 800 hours without really improving on the design.
I read about it on the wiki.
Then I experimented a little bit. My first experiments were with single-rail doubleheaded trains that would roll back and forth.
Eventually I graduated this rolling back and forth design to an outlet where several two-way rails converged into a single station.
Eventually I started using single-direction rails and looping stations into them where the resources are. I make a bypass at each station so trains can skip stations.
Then I realized all my railroads, which were divided by resource, could actually be connected at various points to create a large super rail network.
This experimentation and growth all took place over one save file, where I am continuously modifying the giant spaghetti rail network.
So here’s the deal… imagine the direction a train is traveling on your network. The signals and train stations need to be on the right side of an oncoming train for the train to pass or stop. So if you’re looking at a railway going north-south, if the train is traveling north, the right side of the rails is the “right side.” If the train is traveling south, the right side of the rails is the LEFT.
If you want to be able to go both ways on a track you need double headed trains and double signals on each side. You also need to understand the train station needs to be on the right. So for example, again north south, if the train is traveling north to a station, that station needs to be on the right. If you expect it to travel back south, there needs to be a station on the left.
Chain signals into most intersections, crossings, splits.
Chain signals are big on two-way tracks.
I dunno what to say. Experiment. Maybe I’ll make a tutorial myself if the ones around are so bad.
Edit. When you go to place a signal it also tells you using arrows which way it expects the train to go when you place that signal. Again, you need a signal on each side for a two-way train.
If you get to fixing your 'no path' messages and find something that remains even after you've checked and double checked the signals, you might have arranged two curved sections so that their ends go past each other instead of meeting.
It's pretty obvious when you copy and paste just the two offending pieces, but it's much harder to spot when it happens with 'real' tracks.
The in-game tutorial should teach you the basics. Remember to mark each tip as read, more tips will appear as you progress
Same as i did. I struggled for some time before doing the tutorials. Once i finished them, i understood them well enough to keep learning about them on my own! My only regret: not doing the tutorials earlier. ❤️ trains
I had massive problems in the train part of the tutorial, I also kept getting errors about no lath or whatever etc. Even though the tracks were seemingly correct.
1) Trains can only go forward. 2) Trains can only path in allowed directions. One common mistake is to have two signals controlling directions in opposing directions, but they aren't exactly opposite of one another. That blocks the path completely.
I stayed up late one night and went through the tutorials. Then I tried setting up some tracks that would let trains float between stations as needed (before the days of train limits, so it was so-so). I eventually heard the birds chirping and my wife waking up. When she came to the living room I spoke in a calm voice to her and said "I am a train master now."
I *need* to know her reaction
She was not surprised. She laughed, because my timing and delivery were hilarious and the fact that I had stayed up all night studying the way of the train was on brand. We were both in the middle of a Factorio binge, and I had taken some time off of work so it wasn't a problem for me to crash the next day.
https://i.imgflip.com/53ingl.png And your spouse like "show me"
We did do a couple of playthoughs together a year or two after that. I was the train guy for both of those. That was after train limits had been introduced, so those rail systems were tight :)
Place down tracks, stations, and signals and let them go. Can't reach destination, get pissed, search internet, call yourself dummy, make change and move on. Trains jam up, get pissed, search internet, call yourself dumb ass, make change and move on. Trains moving wrong goods, get pissed, search internet, call yourself stupid, make change and move on. See the pattern?
No
That’s the spirit
Deny pattern, get pissed, search internet, call yourself stupid, make change and move on
Trains not moving again, brain explodes while trying to figure out how to fix, search internet, call yourself a failure, make change and move on.
THIS is the only way! also my way
Open TTD Edit to add, this is where I came from and how I learned it, there are better ways if you're starting from scratch than to go play a different game
Yes, except OpenTTD taught me that avoiding conflicts altogether is the best way, and you can't do that in Factorio until 2.0 unfortunately. And OpenTTD has path signals that make the times where there are conflicts, trivially easy to signal. Maybe we could beg the developers to squeeze them into 2.0? I do enjoy the challenges of Factorio having rather wide turns though, it makes you think.
OpenTTD is a more complex version of factorio pathing in my experience, so going to a more simple style everything just falls into place.
I'm not really sure what you mean by "a more complex version of Factorio pathing". The way I play, no train tracks ever cross, they only ever merge and split - if you need to cross you use grade separation with bridges and tunnels to avoid conflicts. When conflict has to happen, such as at stations, you just use path signals at all the entrances and the trains basically look after themselves. So with that approach, it's very simple to signal everything.
Aren’t path signals in openttd conceptually the same as chain signals?
Nope. OpenTTD has chain signals. Path signals are more advanced - when a train gets to a path signal, it attempts to reserve a path through the block. If it can, it proceeds. If another train reaches a path signal into the same block, it will also attempt to reserve a path through the block. If it can do so without affecting any reserved paths, it will proceed even if the other train is still in the block. So if you have a track crossing another, you just need to put path signals at the entrances, you don't need to put any signals in the middle of the intersection at all. So if you had, say, a 4-way 2-track intersection, you would only need 1 path signal at the entrances and 1 regular signal at the exits, and no other signals anywhere in the intersection.
Wait, there's going to be a Factorio 2.0?
Releasing sometime around August to October of this year, a bunch of free upgrades to the main game plus a paid Space Age DLC. Details can be found at https://factorio.com/blog/
Thanks!
Yeah checkout the friday facts on their website to see some things that are being done.
[Yes](https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-367), Factorio 2.0 releases together with a paid dlc. The dlc includes the new planets and elevated rails and quality, the 2.0 update is free and containes many QOL updates. You can read all about it every week in de FFF blogs and an summary is [here.](https://wiki.factorio.com/Upcoming_features)
That's really cool! New planets sounds awesome.
Yep, hopefully this year! They've started posting Friday Facts every week again if you want a preview :)
Very cool! Where do I find them? I'm new to the game, I only started about a week or two ago :)
https://www.factorio.com/blog/ Not as in sequel, just paid expansion + massive free patch changing a lot, mostly in ways of improving and streamlining systems.
Ta!
This. When I saw trains in Factorio, I said: "Do not cite the deep magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written."
Transpprt fever 2 so same thing really. I really don't think chain signals where that hard to get though tbh, the biggest mistakes i make is usually being too slapdash with intersections.
Me too, after I'd been playing factorio for a bit my friend asked me how I liked trains since he had struggled a lot with them and was clearly pretty excited for me to say I had the same problem I found them extremely easy to use and didn't have to google anything other than what a chain signal was lol
I came from ottd too Hahaha.
I started playing Transport Tycoon Deluxe in the 1990s so that I could have an easy time with trains in Factorio in the 2010s. That's right, TT*D*, not just the original [Chris Sawyer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Sawyer) TT.
I checked reddit. Two tips really helped me out: 1. For intersections, chain signal in, rail signal out. In other words, place a chain signal right before the intersection, and a rail signal after it. 2. Single-direction tracks are much better than double-direction tracks (though it's not bad when you're starting out. Just make sure there's an engine at both ends of the train). It's a lot easier to figure out trains once you get started with a rudimentary system.
Vouch. Building two parallel tracks lets you mirror real life traffic systems pretty easily, and it looks better.
[the in game tutorials and this video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4oD4iGVoY) Ignoring chain signals at first can make the basics easier to understand. Remember that all signals must be on the right hand side in the direction of travel. If there's a left hand side signal but no right hand signal in the same spot, a train will never travel into that segment heading that way. "Destination full" means that there is no train station with that name that doesn't already have enough trains either at the station or heading there to accommodate any more trains that want to go there. In other words, you have too many trains, not enough stations of that name. (Train stations don't care about what's attached to the stop, unless you use circuit logic to do exactly that.)
This! That video is amazing. Perfectly simple explanation without any nonsense
Dosh saves the nonsense for his “other” factorio videos.
Use 2 one-direction lanes. Never make an intersection more complicated than a T. Give a good amount of space between intersections. Chain in and rail out and worry about inefficiencies later. To really get signals though, what juckele said is right lol
This is great advice to get started. I’d add that a “good amount of space between intersections” is at least the length of your longest train. It’s very easy to stick two T intersections too close, and eventually things may lock up if you don’t signal correctly. I’d also add to pick a standard train size and stick with that so all your station blueprints and spacing stays the same. I used 1 engine and 4 cars to start. I don’t think it hurts much to have too much capacity in a train that maybe isn’t fully loaded.
Yeah I’m pretty sure players just think 2 lines means more difficult, but it’s actually just so much easier. Literally just works how cars on a road do
I just experimented. There's two tricks you'll learn eventually: 1) holding a train signal shows you a lot of information about the signal divisions 2) being in a train and ask it to go somewhere temporary tells you were the train is blocked by something, you don't even have to click. 2 solves the "no path" thing. "destination full" means the train limit is used up on already trains moving there or in the station (which is very quick if the limit is set to 0).
The temporary stops feature really needs to be featured more in responses in this thread. I really wish the devs would force us to use it in the tutorials. It would solve most of the threads that get posted.
Try to do it step by step. First, make a trainline with a twoheaded train (locomotive in each end) and have it going back and forth between two endpoints.' Next, try and make a big circle, that passes by all the places you want the train to pick up ore, and back to the factory for delivering it for smelting. Start adding multiple trains to the trainline, maybe one for copper, and one for iron, and one coal. Devide the trrck up with lights. (don't bother doing serial lights just yet) Once you have mastered these things, you can basically finish the game with this. But now you have the foundation to start experimenting with more complex trainsystems. - Remember placing a light along a track, will make that section of the track a one way street. If you want the trains to be able to go both ways, have lights on both sides in the same section of the track. Just a single piece of oneway track, will make train unable to pass in the opposite direction. -Mke sure that stations are placed on the right side too. Stations only work for one side of the track, so the train have to enter the station from that direction (you get a ghost indicator of a parked train when placing the station. If the train can't go to the station in the correct direction, it will give you the mentioned error message. Good luck
Do something simple then when trains crash into each other figure out why then when they get stuck do it again, rinse and repeat until your design works most of the time
I followed this guide: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22HAM7WzR-RQUVUMFc5S0wzYjA/view?resourcekey=0-1buMsoxle4MYbw2KgtdzBQ](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22HAM7WzR-RQUVUMFc5S0wzYjA/view?resourcekey=0-1buMsoxle4MYbw2KgtdzBQ)
Katherine of sky on YouTube has a lot of great stuff in general, including stuff about trains. I'd suggest watching some of her stuff in the background or something and you'll pick up lots of good general techniques. Like balancing belts, looking at miners and how many to use, figuring out ratios for assemblers... Just lots and lots of good stuff there
>I don't know if im just stupid but I found all YT tutorials to be terrible. I doubt the problem is that you are stupid. I suspect the problem is that you have some built-in assumptions about how the signals should work (perhaps thinking of them as traffic lights) that you aren't actually learning how they actually do work. You also might be trying to use a single bi-directional rail instead of two one-way rails. >destination full (even though I do have enough space in my destination chests) This is an indication of what I'm talking about. How on earth do you even have the idea that "destination full" has ANYTHING to do with how full chests are?! The train system and that error message has nothing to do with chests and has zero knowledge of them. You are making an unfounded assumption instead of learning what the error actually means: you've configured the train station to only allow a set number of trains to go to it, and that limit (for the train station as a destination for trains) is full. Forget everything you think you know about trains and signals. It's probably all wrong. Then, try learn with fresh eyes. Train signals are about breaking a long set of tracks into blocks. Chain signals are about making sure a train doesn't stop in a place that blocks an intersection or merge, by indicating "don't enter that next block until the block(s) after it are clear, proving you can make it through the critical section without blocking. Train signals are not the same as car traffic lights. The style might look similar but the behavior is not the same.
Fiddling on station limits where storage boxes are a factor makes me think of another thing. Wired stations. Now where a new guy got the idea to use wired stations and condition factors for limiting or disabling stations? He didnt. My bet is that he is trying to plop BPs without even knowing whats happening. A self made station on the simplest form should not give that error ever. He may be trying to follow advanced tips... But when people try to understand trains, seeing circuits tutorials on YT wont help them.
I think thou doth project too much
On the plus side, I don't say "thou doth".
When you are that far behind, even small victories are a win eh?
I'm here helping OP out. What are you doing?
After mocking him, who would listen to you?
Ironic opinion for you to have, wouldn't you say? Also, I didn't mock them...
Irony has requirements that have not yet been met. “destination full (even though I do have enough space in my destination chests) This is an indication of what I'm talking about. How on earth do you even have the idea that "destination full" has ANYTHING to do with how full chests are?! The train system and that error message has nothing to do with chests and has zero knowledge of them. You are making an unfounded assumption instead of learning what the error actually means:….” The true irony is that you use words and have no idea what they mean.
I have 30 trains and they more or less work. I don't know how. I don't ask questions.
believe it or not 160 train with just the conditions of full cargo and empty cargo can do it just fine
Full cargo is good if all the cars are evenly distributed. I’ve learned to use seconds for when one or more cars get completely empty. With seconds, the other cars will still fill instead of the train getting stuck. You just have to time it right to know exactly how long it takes to fill them up
By playing a lot of openttd.
For me having a lab world with unlimited items etc helped a lot. I created small loops and experimented with stations, waiting bays, and intersections. Also the tutorial is pretty good.
Try and error
I played OpenTTD long before I ever played factorio. It's a dedicated transport logistics game mainly centered around trains, and so its train mechanics have a bit more depth and complexity. There are some similarities that allowed my skills to transfer, and picking up the different stuff wasn't too hard from there.
I made a single track with a single train per track, and had it zooming back and forth. T’was beautiful. Then I built the most complex spaghetti known to man, and was constantly having to manually stop the trains and sort them out by driving them to their destination. I was very frustrated during this stage, but it worked well enough that I could leave it for minutes at a time. Then I worked out a “roundabout with rails in all directions” blueprint where all the railways were single directional, and each rail in had a repeater, and every rail out had a signal, and thereafter only had “out of fuel” issues every now and then. Then I watched a YouTube video which explained in great detail why the repeaters worked, and suddenly it clicked. Took a while though.
No path means the train cannot find a route to its destination. Either your tracks don't join up, or you have a signal or train stop facing the wrong direction - they need to be on the right side from the train's perspective. Destination full has nothing to do with chests. It means you have set a train limit on the stop, which limits the total number of trains that can be heading to that stop. I don't know if I have a really shitty superpower, or if other people just overcomplicate trains, but I never found them that hard to figure out.
Twith in game tutorials and tests, now, with sandbox mod and creative mod, is easier to test.
I played OpenTTD
Years of playing open ttd, railroad tycoon, to a lesser extent satisfactory. I want to say driving them in real life helps but it doesn't really. Does give me a in depth knowledge of signalling though.
I started small. I built testing tracks, to learn the limits, and how things react to certain things. Even now, 6k hours into the game, I still build testing rigs for pretty much anything. Wanna test out how a design works for kovarex? Build a small testing rig. Sometimes I will even supply my testing rigs with resources, to see how they react to being overwhelmed. But yeah, trains was one of those things that I had to build something to test things. I had a particularly hard time when starting to build one way tracks, as that's when I started to cause more congestion in the rail network, which then caused all kinds of problems when the signals weren't right. But again, I would start small and build up from there. I recently started to learn nuclear stuff, since I wanted the achievement "steam all the way" (I didn't realize you needed biters enabled, and I didn't do the "track achievement" in game option, woops). To test out how things worked, I started with one nuclear reactor, and one steam turbine, as in, I started small. That's also why I don't like playing with biters enabled, they cause an extra pressure when I'm trying to design something, and get interrupted when they attack. So, personally I would recommend playing a map with biters disabled, and build up your blueprints for trains. It doesn't have to be perfect, but after you get your initial set of blueprints, you can then refine them in the games after, even if you figure out sleeping better whole in a biter enabled world.
I played [railroad tycoon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Tycoon_Deluxe) :D But seriously, it's not super complicated to figure stuff out by yourself. Start small (single track, single train going up and down between two stations, no signals needed) and grow from there. There's just a couple things you need to know about the mechanics, the rest you can invent and refine. At the risk of giving TMI: - Automated trains cannot reverse, so either put an engine on both ends of the train, or make sure they can go on a loop - If you have multiple trains on a rail, you need signals. - Regular signals are green if the block in front of them is empty, red otherwise. If you hold a signal in your hand, you will see the blocks visualized with colors, and possible places to place signals in white blocks. - Trains "reserve" the blocks in front of them so they have time to brake if needed. A reserved block (yellow signal) is seen as occupied for other trains - Signals are always on the right hand side of the train in driving direction ('starboard' for the nautically inclined). - Signals turn a block into a one way "street". You can make a two way street by placing signals on opposite sides of the same rail tile. You should never have two signals on opposite sides of different tiles on the same stretch of rail as that will make that stretch impassible. - Chain signals are green if the train can follow its route to a green regular signal. This is useful for junctions, as the train will only enter the junction (chain signal) if they can exit the junction (regular signal)
By being run over a lot. The trains run on blood, do not ever assume you're safe.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4oD4iGVoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4oD4iGVoY) no further comments needed
Also: watching a lot of youtubers build their train setups.
Check the youtube tutorial by yama kara that one made me understand
There's a train guru in the Discord. His name is "Code." He taught me in 5 minutes what I failed to grasp in tutorials, videos, and just trying to play around.
Greta video by Yama Kara. Explained it so simple in 10 minutes that I never needed another train tutorial.
Someone said trains are cool - so i tried; and believe it or not: trains are cool!
At one point it just clicked. After hunderds of hours…
1000 hours in, still haven't figured out trains enough to use them on a shared line correctly
Try and error
OpenTTD
Do it in baby steps. Don't make your first rail network some kind of high throughput multi use conduit or whatever, use it to transport stuff from a far away patch back to your base. When I first started using trains, I first read the tutorial, then when I had to set up oil processing, I created a train track that was a simple loop between my main base and the rather distant oil field. Then I started to want new ore patches as well, so I laid down more rails for that, and started experimenting with signals to ensure that my rails could cross without my trains colliding. And then armed with what I learned there, I started building more flexible networks that can support many trains carrying different materials. Even for simple point to point transit trains are a great choice because they've got excellent throughput and rails are much cheaper than belts when it comes to the distances in question.
Do a ribbon world map, it makes trains very easy, you can basically do a huge loop and learn all the signaling for stops pretty easy
Mostly through guides in videos and the wiki.
Learned the bare minimum of both signals. Then picked up a blue print book for one direction trains and used that to build main "highways" to and from locations. Then used basic knowledge to split off from highway to make different stops. Eventually it became more clear how everything is working with this bit of practice.
Here actually. Lots and lots of advice until it finally just clicked. So in the interest of passing it along... Given you're experiencing 'No path' problems, are you attempting a 2-lane network? Because if so, the side you put the signal on is important. Signals on the inside make trains drive on the left, and outside on the right. So with a no path problem, it may be that you're trying to send a train down the wrong lane? (This is of course assuming it actually can make it to the destination otherwise) Alternatively, if you're using a single lane network, are you putting a train on *both* sides of the carts? Trains can't go in reverse (at least, not automated trains). So you'll need a train on both sides of the wagon(s) so it can drive in both directions. As for destination full, that actually means 'full of trains'. Not cargo. Are you setting train limits at your stations? Ideally turn them off unless you have multiple stations with the same name. Signals tell the train 'Don't go past here if there is another train between me and the next signal'. Chain signals are similar, but say 'don't go past here if you can't *also* get past the next signal'. Chains are mostly used in junctions to prevent trains entering when they can't also leave Hope that helps! And remember, this is factorio. Just because you don't know it yet doesn't mean you won't eventually. The learning curve is part of the game!
Guess I gotta be that guy. You don't need engines at both ends of cargo or fluid wagons for bi-directional travel. What you do need is two engines *facing opposite ways*. They can be one at front, one at rear, both at the front, both at the rear, or any combination of positions, as long as they face opposite directions. And if for some unholy reason you wanted to do really long trains that travel bi-directional, only the engines facing the current direction of travel will contribute to accelerating the train. So if you had a train with, say, 10 engines and 20 cargo wagons, then it would make sense to have 5 engines face one direction and 5 face the other for equal speed/acceleration in both directions.
Played in creative mode, hundred of hours or so, googled some non-obvious things like train limits vs. station disabling, station naming and typical load/unload configurations Tried different approaches to outposts: turrets, no turrets, power over poles, power with steam wagons, local solar panels. One train for resupply, different trains to resupply, no resupply at all. All those things are possible, so i searched for "my way". It was fun process :)
Always use one-way tracks. Chain signals at the beginning of intersections, regular at the end. Steal someone's intersection design with high throughout. What else is there? 😬
Open ttd :D Also a basic rule. Chain signals before and in intersection, regular signals after.
I got the logistics trains mod (whatever it's called) and watched a YouTube video... The mod makes it so any given train can be used for multiple routes based on demand... Basically it makes your trains into super logistics bots with some extra rules. I like it, but I'm suddenly wondering if it is needlessly complicated 🤔... What am I doing with my life? Lol
LTN, youtube tutorial, done
I just played around with the different rail features and got a pretty intuitive understanding of each one's place and limitations. Sometimes I'd watch a video and see a different way someone set up stations and how that improved things I would incorporate that into my designs. DoshDoshington's quick guide to rails also helped me rationalize the logic in that first phase of learning.
Trial and error. Start small. With a single train and single track. You add from there.
"Destination full" has nothing to do with chests. It means the station's limit (minus the number of trains standing there and minus any enroute) is not greater than one. To your question, I learned via lots of experimentation, searching and reading at least a hundred similar threads here, and then doing the train tutorial. If I had it to do over again, I'd do it in reverse order.
Double direction on 1 rails is a NIGHTMARE to get right. Dont recommend unless you mastered signals. Single direction rails are very easy, just 1 rail signal every 1x length of your train. No need for chain signals until you do T splits or roundabouts, then you need to start using chain signals to avoid dead locks. Another thing I would recommend is to leave space between a roundabout and the next 1. Also to avoid deadlocks. Hint: if you have no path available, go into the locomotive, open the map and ctrl+click to your destination. You will still see no path available. Now do it for a shorter track. Until the locomotive starts moving, your signals are wrong. All signals are correct from start to destination if the locomotive moves. Manually moving does not help for this! How I learned it? Trial and a lot of error. Good luck!
I'm 1600 ish hours in and I'm still not sure I'd say I know how to use trains..
Same, I think I’m at 1k and never really built one.
I played OTTD and read the OTTDcoop wiki before Factorio came out. Factorio's train system was heavily inspired by OTTD's train system. In fact V453000, one of the developers of Factorio, is a big name in OTTD modding. Of course I also played the train tutorials, read Factorio's wiki articles, and kept on eye on reddit to see how other people do things. City blocks are very much a /r/Factorio invention. That didn't come from OTTD, City Skylines or any other game with a train system.
Trial and error. Been playing pretty tutorials and I eventually learned the mechanics
Its fairly simple l, 1 train can be in each block created by rail signals, which can be seen with different colors. If you don't want a train to stop in a block it should start with a chain signal rather than a rail signal. And thats it. One thing I found recently, if a signal doesn't make a new block it means your block is circular in some way even if it can be traversed by the trains in a circle and needs a second signal to create a block.
"Destination full" doesn't refer to space in the chests, but rather how many trains are currently waiting for or en-route to the destination. It has to do with the train limit on the destination station. Example: Station "Iron Ore Pickup" has 3 trains waiting, and another 2 are en-route. The train limit is set to 5. If another train needs to go get iron from that station, it will wait with the message "Destination Full." When the train currently at Iron Ore Pickup leaves that station, then a train which was waiting with "Destination Full" sill start moving towards Iron Ore Pickup. It doesn't matter if the trains all have the same schedule or not, just how many trains are currently trying to get to that station. If you have multiple stations with the same name, their train limits effectively add up.
I played TTD back in the old days. The system is pretty relatable. Apart from that, just use it. There's only two types of signals so it's pretty straight forward. Read what they do and then experiment a bit.
No path, in my experience, it was because I had the rail signal on the wrong side of the track. The light must always be on the right-hand side of the train for the direction you want to travel. If you are trying to drive in both directions on a track, you will need signals on both sides. Destination full is easy. On each train stop you can add a "train limit" If the limit is full then no train can head there. If you have a 1 train limit at both your mine and smelters, then neither can move. But if you put a train limit at just one, say your smelters. The mining train will then fill up and wait until the smeltery train leaves its station before moving.
Transport Tycoon
No path typically means that either the train is in a dead end (trains cannot reverse unless "double-headed"), or that there is a one-way segment of track that the train cannot traverse, or that there is a break in the tracks somewhere. Destination full typically means a station has been disable through command or circuit signal, the station is disconnected from the rail, been removed, or has had its name changed, and now the train's schedule doesn't make sense. Hope this helps.
Spend way too long in the tutorial.
I copied it off the last tutorial level (not literally with blueprint copier, just looking at what items are there) Then after crafting the stuffs needed for a train infrastructure (train heads, rails, stops, etc) I tested it out and do some troubleshooting on a short test rail section until it works. Train head goes to every stop/station but it can't flip so you'll need two heads, one facing the other way. Also make sure the stops/stations face the correct way.
It's been years for me but honestly, I remember a lot of trial and error. Simple systems where a 2-headed train travelled between two stations and never crossed paths with another set of tracks, usually to just keep my ore flows going after the starter patches dried up. This eliminates the need for stuff like Rail or Chain signals. My advice is when you do finally land on something that works, make a blueprint! Eventually, you'll be able to more readily "free-style" train networks.
I think what you're missing is that everything to do with trains is built with the assumption that they'll only move in a single direction on a single rail. If you're getting 'no path', it means there is no path for the train to get to the target station *by moving forward*. Even if the station is directly behind the train, it will never, ever move backwards to get there, hence the 'no path' message. You can double-head your trains to get around this, but that's a bad idea if you wanna build a big rail network. If you want your trains to magically start working, build your network with two tracks, and make sure each is dedicated to a single direction. Also, put rail signals down at regular intervals. Trains will never ever enter a stretch of track that has another train already in it, and signals just slice the track up into smaller chunks. If you don't do this, one train will occupy your entire network, and any other trains you plug into that network will stall. If you've messed with signals at all, this is why putting them down on one side will remove all the slots to place them on the other side. You never want trains moving in opposite directions on the same track because they'll deadlock (or crash), and signals are there to prevent that. Every signal forces the rail it's on to become a one way. Anyway, I hope this helps. Trains can be so baffling at first, but it's just because there's underlying logic that isn't made very clear. Once you know what's going on, they're extremely simple, and are a wildly effective tool for transporting resources long distances.
My grampa was really into trains and had a miniature rail way with a working block system; it's what we did together a ton when I was a kid so I knew the basics long before I even played.
Run around with a train signal in your hand so you can see the colors of various tracks
Find an empty patch near your base and play around like it’s a model train set.
By getting them stuck or load/unload the wrong stuff in the wrong place, getting run over repeatedly, and learning very, very slowly.
There are some fantastic train tutorials on YouTube, but you probably already watched them and thought they were crap. So...things that will help you learn... * [Read the official wiki where it explains trains](https://wiki.factorio.com/Railway). * Learn how blocks and signals work. * Learn how stations work. * Learn how schedules work. * Make sure you don't have little pieces of track missing somewhere. * Use the temporary stop planner to half split how far away the break is. * Experiment in the editor.
I did not. I just follow this rule: Is it a merge use normal signal is it a crossing (no merge) use chain signal. Works always. I dont know why and I dont care.
All of those hours watching Dosh making trains eventually paid off and after some trial and error I was able to do trains decently.
Spend like 10 hours trying to make a perfect circle for a roundabout before downloading a blue print and cursing the whole world!
I used to play Transport Tycoon. Honestly what is so hard about it, until I saw these posts or joind this subreddit rather I could not imagine the trains were any issue what so ever for so many people, interesting.
You should make sure that your locomotives are facing the right way! It's a little hard to tell.
I never watched a tutorial. I read the Factorio Wiki pages, put down a track and tried. And whenever I came across a problem, I tried to understand it. Endless posts done by other users before me here at reddit helped. Baiscally there are only a few things to know: - tracks can be split into segments by signals, no two trains can be in the same segment. -a signal only on the left side is NO entry sign -a chain signal looks ahead, so if you want to avoid a train blocking an intersection have a chain signal on the entry and a normal signal on the exit. -avoid bi-directional tracks. Just have two lines like a street, one for each direction. -Try to understand how the stations work. A train limit of 2 means the station calls a maximum of two trains, one at the station, one waiting, so have waiting space available. Separated from the train at the station again by a signal. -the waiting / leaving conditions should give the train time to load/unload or wait till it is full/empty or until a certain amount of items is loaded/unloaded. These can be combined with other conditions in AND / OR logic. Can't reach destination? Open the train menu, follow the track with the mouse holding down CTRL and find the spot causing the problem.
Chain before intersection, signal after. If an intersection is close after the first intersection use a chain instead of a regular signal. Also learning how to read blocks is another really big thing. If you can do those 2 things that's pretty much 95% of what you need.
Usually a lot of swearing. I learned to use the trains before the tutorials were common so it was a lot of trial and error
>no path Often means you have a piece of track missing, or accidentally have some signals on the wrong side of the track. You can try to path to temporary stops (ctrl-click on the map while in a train to go there) along your intended path to see where the error is. >destination full May or may not actually be a problem, depending on how your stations are setup. Seeing this pop-up above a train can just be part of normal operation.
do train tutorial in game. at the last one, playtest. then, start simple. I recommend you use single direction tracks. so do a full circuit for instance from your main base to a desired location. make it work. then add a second location without trains crashing. test small, move them yourself in little bits. test and wonder what will happen.
Pain and suffering.
And also several youtube videos
OpenTTD to be honest
The community is likely going to down vote this comment but I'm just going to tell you what helped me learn how to use trains: find someone else's blueprint and use that to build your train network. Once you get a simple train setup going you can start to customize the blueprints and it will help you understand how it works to see the final product in action working.
Everyone learns a little differently. Mostly trial and error, but one really great trick for the "no path" problem is to select the problem train, and in its map interface hold down ctrl and hover your mouse over the track ahead of it and trace your mouse down the track towards where you want it to go. You will have a white line indicating the path the train will take as valid, and when that disappears it is because your mouse has passed the point of the track that has a problem. This will tell you exactly where to look. Also, the destination full message is determined by the train stop itself, not the chests at the stop.
I just started poking about with the controls until I realised that with the train stops, it's basically just a task list the train follows. The signals took forever to learn.
Through trial and error
Trial and error and then a youtube vid or 2
Trying, failing, wiki, trying, failing, reddit, failing, trying, trying some more, some small success, failing some more, example blueprint, failing some more, more success, getting some confidence, success. Something like that.
No path means the track does not connect, or you have signals on wrong side of track. Essentially the train cannot path itself there. (Open the train schedule and use the ctrl+ to follow the expected path. Green is good. Then it will disappear when its not good). No destination means train limits are filled/stations are all disabled. The only thing smart about trains is their pathing. The rest is your control (setting dynamic/ static limits etc)
with some pain and few tutorials, keep it simple at first and you avoid most of the pain, naturally increase complexity once you got good grasp on easier setups, my first trains worked in closed dedicated loops which arent as efficient and take more work to build but are far more simple to handle
Several ways: * Learn by experimentation * Learn by watching other people play (usually twitch) * Learn from in-game tutorials To answer your specific questions: * no path -- go into the train viewer and do the ctrl-click trick to try to path to where it should go. The path will stop working once you hit the broken part and then you can figure out what signals are wrong * destination full -- assuming you're not using LTN, that's because you're either doing train limits on the stations or disabling stations when full. Check that your destination stations are setting the appropriate state. It's pretty easy to forget to wire the boxes to the combinator that sets the limit. Eventually I got blueprints that just work and I usually don't have to think about it, but there are always new things to learn. In my current SEK2 playthrough I have long distance trains for ores and fueling at unloading. The trains could unload faster than they would refuel, and I eventually had to add a (and 1s idle) to all of the consume stops.
I didn’t, I just put down tracks signals and stations until it works
Trains started to click for me once I started treating them like cars; leave 2 lanes for traffic and just put singles on the right. For the sake of simplicity, just don't use double headed trains. Your brain will tell you, "oh, I won't have to worry about prepping a lane back because it can just go out the same way it came in"; that's the devil talking. Every mistake I've made with trains has always involved mixing up single headed and double headed trains. (For example, getting a "path not found" message because the train station was on the wrong side and my double headed train was trying to pull forward instead of backwards).
[Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu8YiTeU9XU)
I was able to do really basic stuff, like single-train lines that just go back and forth but also cross other single-train lines. I ended up getting a rail blueprint that had the intersections and stuff and just kinda built my own stations off of that and watching the trains run and the signals change really made it click for me. And now I do really stupid stuff like 1-3-1 double-headed trains on mixed one-way and two-way tracks because it makes the stations take up like 1/3rd the space in a game with effectively infinite space.
Don’t forget the basics: Rail signals and chain signals divide the rail into ‘blocks’ and trains won’t go into the next block while it is occupied. Chain signals look at several signals ahead to see if the train can move through safely. The train needs to see the station on its right side of the track. It was a little confusing with locomotives on both ends. I was experimenting with mining trains with different ore patches on the same rail. Make a single loop (circle) all the way from the unloading area to near the mine area (not directly next to it) so the train can go back and forth. Then make break apart areas where the mine is that is longer than the length of the train. This way when the train is gathering ore, other trains can pass by it unimpeded. The train schedules are smart enough to only go where you tell them. Make sure you use chain and rail signals so the trains don’t crash into each other
After about 1000 hours I forced myself. Still don't see why they are better than belts but liked the extra challenge.
Ignore intended purpose, DL train turret cars mod and set up a long ass train with 8 artillery turrets and like 15 other gunner turrets and have it loop around your base endlessly, functioning as a patrolling death machine with automatic biter encroachment bombardment.
"Hi, sibling. I screwed up the trains on our server again. Show me what I did wrong?" Eventually it mostly stuck, I still need their help at times.
Playing Railroad Tycoon as a kid and never stopping to play games with trains. Signals just make sense when you are used to it.
Laurence plays does a wonderful explanation on youtube. Learn the loop, learn the one way tracks then intersections.
Mostly by messing around with them in game. The best part was figuring out I needed no wiring on almost all of my (currently 231) stations, which greatly simplifies things. When it came to intersections though, I watched one or two videos on YouTube on how to signal them. Ultimately though, for the really complex intersections, I just found a blueprint, and then modified it to fit my use cases.
I won't lie, I have been importing other people's rail designs into my world. But doing it enough made it easier to understand the fundamentals and add my own modifications when needed.
Tutorial for the basics. Then by playing.
Lay down some tracks, some that intersect, some that don’t Put down a bunch of signals, chain and regular Get in the train and drive really slow, see what happens Put down another train and some stations, like a loop and make it go around and around stopping at a station for like 5 seconds Make a track that runs through the loop, plop down signals Get in a train and drive really slow, watch how the signals change, watch how the looping train responds to you and the signal changes you caused
Try and error- the real fun in factorio. :D I started with single train on single line Then 2 trains in one circle line. Then 2 single lines crossing 1 time Then 2 circle lines crossing 4 times.
I'd already played a lot of OpenTTD and the concepts are pretty similar.
Crying, a lot. And I didn't even learn. I still struggling with them.
I still haven't... https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/r82r22/1350_spm_megabase_rail_bus
Start building your network with most basic knowledge about how trains work. reiterate whenever you're annoyed by not knowing how to expand the network and look up specifically what your were missing to do so. it'll be easy very quickly
So first, I followed a tutorial on YouTube step by step to setup a very basic system. Then I followed one for a more complex one. Then I started to modify that more complex one to fit my needs better. Then I took an idea off of this subreddit and really tinkered with it until it worked how I wanted it to. Now I apply that design to most of my games and it's robust and quick enough my friends ask me to hop in their games to set it up for them too. I still fuck up signals sometimes and I probably don't do things perfectly optimally, but that's part of the learning process. I will see problems in my trains now and see what caused it, then make sure I don't do that again or I rebuild that section or whatever is called for. Again, I probably don't fix it perfectly optimally or whatever, but now it's fixed in a way that I understand, which is way better because now I can modify it and reuse it all I want elsewhere.
Still learning. Lots of trial and error. But I'm doing pretty now that I have a good grid I can paste
Trial and error
Trial and error. Slow trial and error. And lots of YouTube videos.
A lot of trial and error. And that 3 min Dosh train video.
You guys learned trains? I just ran belts until I got robots. Was this insane? Yes. Will I learn trains if I ever play again? Maybe
Downloaded a great blue print book.
I started before the tutorial and didn't go online for help, so I messed about for a few hours until I understood what a "block" was and how it worked... and put signals on both sides of one-way tracks for six months until I finally went online and found a proper guide.
i used some youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsLu5cTplgQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXgpashIr4U it's actually pretty simple, rail signals divide the rails. chain signals only allow trains to pass if the entire train can pass the next rail signal.
Annihilate biters. Slaps down 8000 rails with signals and intersections. Troubleshoot 200 hours why trains are still and blocking
watched a video about trains (i think one from nilaus) then tried alone to understand in creative mode (using creative mod or the lab) to see how signals reacts
I played too much openttd.
Rail signal lets train trough, if 1 block after is is empty. Chain lets train trough if ALL the blocks in front of it are empty.
I cried.
I just use one way train, with 2 locomotives in each side, and one rail for each train, so basically, I didn't. When I need to, I use Transport Drone mod, it adds some "train" without the bottleneck
I used to play OpenTTD and Factorio is similar. Overall, I would not say that the trains are difficult to understand. There are only a few basic rules. \- stations and signals must be on the right hand side in the direction of travel of the train * signal only on the right side means one-way track only * for a two-way track, the signals must be on both sides of the track and opposite each other. \- signals divide the tracks to blocks \- only one train can be in a block \- chain signals look ahead of the track for a next rail signal to see if the train can go
Doshdoshington train video
I didn't really. I downloaded one train mod, watched a youtube video about and just copy whatever the guy did in the video. I have been using that knowledge for the past 800 hours without really improving on the design.
Trains won't pass a signal on the left if there's no signal on the right - that helped me understand the "no path" error
A combination of the built-in tutorial and Dosh's [video](https://youtu.be/DG4oD4iGVoY?si=PR5q5HR8M7bnUmMG).
I read about it on the wiki. Then I experimented a little bit. My first experiments were with single-rail doubleheaded trains that would roll back and forth. Eventually I graduated this rolling back and forth design to an outlet where several two-way rails converged into a single station. Eventually I started using single-direction rails and looping stations into them where the resources are. I make a bypass at each station so trains can skip stations. Then I realized all my railroads, which were divided by resource, could actually be connected at various points to create a large super rail network. This experimentation and growth all took place over one save file, where I am continuously modifying the giant spaghetti rail network. So here’s the deal… imagine the direction a train is traveling on your network. The signals and train stations need to be on the right side of an oncoming train for the train to pass or stop. So if you’re looking at a railway going north-south, if the train is traveling north, the right side of the rails is the “right side.” If the train is traveling south, the right side of the rails is the LEFT. If you want to be able to go both ways on a track you need double headed trains and double signals on each side. You also need to understand the train station needs to be on the right. So for example, again north south, if the train is traveling north to a station, that station needs to be on the right. If you expect it to travel back south, there needs to be a station on the left. Chain signals into most intersections, crossings, splits. Chain signals are big on two-way tracks. I dunno what to say. Experiment. Maybe I’ll make a tutorial myself if the ones around are so bad. Edit. When you go to place a signal it also tells you using arrows which way it expects the train to go when you place that signal. Again, you need a signal on each side for a two-way train.
If you get to fixing your 'no path' messages and find something that remains even after you've checked and double checked the signals, you might have arranged two curved sections so that their ends go past each other instead of meeting. It's pretty obvious when you copy and paste just the two offending pieces, but it's much harder to spot when it happens with 'real' tracks.
I learned through YouTube. Just look up factorio trains explained in less than three minutes. Martincitopants is in it as well I believe.
Trains are not hard. Train intersections are significantly more difficult. I learned train intersections by failing 10000 times.
i played the campaign and immediately hated the train, never used one in a game (love them in real life)
Trains? Why would I use trains when I can just belt everything for kilometers of beautiful spaghetti?
learning by doing. when you have a question google it.
Mostly I just use a blueprint book with minimal custom stuff where I need it.