When you start expanding your factories in Factorio 2.0, you’ll eventually start creating them far away from each other. Some of the production factories you create might be extremely far from your main base, especially when you start needing water or oil. The quick solution to dealing with the logistics of these products is through a train system. Building and creating a whole train setup from multiple bases will take some time, and here’s everything you need to know about setting that up in this complete train guide for Factorio: Space Age.
Complete Train Guide in Factorio Space Age
How to Set Up a Train System
To set up a train system, you at least must have the following:
- Train stop
- Locomotive
- Rails
You’ll want to automate the Rails production as you will need hundreds of these if you want to continuously create a train system with every new factory. Rails are also needed for the production science pack (purple potion), so it is almost mandatory to automate Rails production.
Once you have your rails set up from point A to point B, you want to put two train stops to literally mark your point A and point B. Once you have the train stops, place a Locomotive on one train stop.
To set up the delivery process, you can add cargo wagons behind the locomotive. Tap on the Locomotive, and it’ll open up a remote view of your train schedule. Go to the schedule tab and look at your train station names. You can rename these to your preference so you don’t get confused.
Related: How to Automate Steel Beams Production in Factorio 2.0
How to Refuel Your Trains
Before we get to the conditions, you should add an automated fuel source to one of your stations first. You can bring a whole transport belt of Coal and place an inserter from the belt into the Locomotive next to the train stop.
At this specific station, you’ll want to add the condition “Full Fuel” to the specific station. This means that the train will not continue if its fuel isn’t full when stopping at this station. This should fully automate your train’s roundtrips from station A to station B. You can also add more stations as long as the train circles back to a refueling station. As long as you have a refueling method like this, you can switch your train to “automatic,” which is above the two tabs in the remote view.
Related: Best Mods for Factorio 2.0 | Factorio Space Age
How Does Each Condition Work in the Train Settings
As for the other conditions, the list is quite long and complicated, but you’ll only use a few of these anyway. Here’s a table regarding all the wait conditions for the train stations and their purpose:
| Train Wait Conditions | Description |
|---|---|
| Circuit Condition | Waits until a specific condition based on circuit network signals is met. Allows trains to wait based on custom, player-defined signals (e.g., item count or fluid level). |
| Empty Cargo | Waits until the train’s cargo inventory is completely empty. Useful for unloading stations to ensure all items have been removed before departing. |
| Fluid Count | Waits until a specified amount of fluid is in the cargo. Useful for fluid transport, ensuring a minimum or maximum amount before leaving. |
| Fuel (All Locomotives) | Waits until all locomotives on the train have a specified amount of fuel. Ensures the entire train is fully fueled for long-distance travel. |
| Fuel (Any Locomotives) | Waits until at least one locomotive on the train has a specified amount of fuel. Ensures that the train can run, even if not fully fueled. |
| Full Cargo | Waits until the train’s cargo inventory is completely full. Useful for loading stations to maximize payload before the train departs. |
| Full Fuel | Waits until the train’s fuel inventory is completely full. Ensures maximum fuel level before departure. |
| Has Cargo | Waits until there is at least one item in the train’s cargo inventory. Useful for making sure the train doesn’t leave empty after loading. |
| Inactivity | Waits until the train has been inactive for a specific period. Can help in situations where loading/unloading is sporadic or not immediate. |
| Item Count | Waits until a specific item count in the train’s cargo is reached. Helps maintain certain stock levels per trip. |
| Passenger Not Present | Waits until there are no passengers in the train. Useful for automatic train control when no player is on board. |
| Passenger Present | Waits until there are no passengers on the train. Useful for automatic train control when no player is on board. |
| Station is Full | Waits until the destination station is fully occupied by other trains. Useful in preventing traffic congestion. |
| Station is Not Full | Waits until there is space available at the destination station. Useful for avoiding trains queuing up unnecessarily. |
| Time Passed | Waits until a specific amount of time has passed. Useful for timing departures regardless of cargo status or conditions. |
To help you better understand these conditions, you just have to think of the train station you are implementing the condition and its purpose. For example, if you have a train stop or station that brings items like Stone or Iron Ore to another station, you want to put the wait condition as “Full Cargo” on this loading station and put a wait condition as “Empty Cargo” on the unloading station. This ensures that the train will efficiently run only when it has a lot of resources to deliver.
To fix some future resource traffic, you’ll also want to add some inserters that unload the resources into a chest so that you can compensate for the time it takes to get another load of resources to the unloading station.
In the same example, if you are dealing with intermediate products rather than raw resources, you might need to use some “Item Count” conditions for occasions when you cannot actually fill the whole Cargo Wagon with your products.
If you are copying some Factorio blueprints from content creators, there are blueprints that have a train system built into the blueprint to help players not think of the logistics anymore.
Published: Oct 27, 2024 03:55 pm