All Master Class Blueprints are available on FactorioBin Overview and direct links to all Blueprints: nilaus.atlassian.net/l/cp/HBEUm524 (Pastebin links no longer work)
@@monstersaint some items like iron sticks are produced and consumed in bigger numbers but still take the same space on belts as other low volume items . So instead of adding a bus line for it, it's sometimes better to just produce those type of items on site.
Just start playing and also get some blueprint strings especially his base in a book on Factorio prints dot org I think. I didn’t know much how to play but playing the game and building these blueprints helped me figure out how these factories work and I built my own speed and productivity 3 module setup myself with the correct ratios. Also try and use the creative mod in another save and try to just automate all science to get an idea on how you want to build a base.
Just started playing I'm at 11hrs of playtime and ngl thought i was kicking ass, watched some of these videos and realized I have no idea what I am doing
@rogerwilco99 the Dunning Kreuger phenomenon, i believe. But be that as it may, I have to say I don't see what there is to "get" about Factorio. Everything logically follows on from previous technology. All the buildings clearly display the required materials. Material costs make sense (ie you don't need wood for concrete walls or anything) and the way the game starts is pretty clever at teaching you the fundamentals of gathering materials. It took me a little while to figure out logistics bots, I suppose, but its not a _complicated_ game, it's just a _complex_ game. I think a lot of people dismiss it as too confusing because of how chaotic and intricate it looks, but if they played Factorio they'd discover its a bit like your work flow at your job: it takes time to work out how you want it to go, there's the occasional unexpected situation, but after a few years you have a system that is tailored and efficient for you, and nobody really knows how it works aside from you, but you would say your work day is "pretty straightforward" because you've build it all up over time, with everything having a purpose. So it is with Factorio. You have 100s of building and arms and you're producing all sorts of stuff, but you remember putting most of them there, and what they were supposed to do.
To put the bus size recommendations in writing: Minimum size: 4 iron 4 copper 2 green circuits 2 plastic 1 steel 1 red circuits Recommend bus size: 8 iron 8 copper 2 -> 4 green circuits 2 plastic 1 steel 1 -> 2 reds circuits Max size: 16 iron 16 copper 6 green circuits 4 plastic 2 steel 2 red circuits
and still look at most main bus factories, and you see none of the belts fully saturated. And people running 8 belts down the whole factory while they tap a full belt of iron right at the start to make green circuits....
I just installed this game cus I thought it looked cool. Realized it was harder than i expected. Looked up “beginners guide”. I feel like I showed up for my first day of kindergarten and just walked into a college calculus class. Lord… what have I gotten myself involved with
*OR Scratch that!* you can simply install the *Belt Layer* mod and forget all about what a main Bus is and create your sphagetti mess underground inside the belt layer where you don't have to look at it just like me and plop smelting crafting and production modules of ur base EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE you desire literally doesnt matter in any non sensical order and connect them underground as for belt balancing and throughput problem you can simply again install 2 more mods called Belt Balancer mod which simply gives u this neat block which fixes your belt item transfer (items dont get dilluted on belt lanes) and the Deadlock Crating mod which puts stacks of items inside a single item form called a create boxes and u can uncrate them at the designated location for item consumption ,crafting,production needs on any part of ur base that its needed...
@@skashed I've found that joke a good one :) I've catched myself a few times ignoring some good advice while playing some game (probably Satisfactory) :)
Quick Reference (doing this for myself as I'm sure I'll reference some part of it later) 00:00 Welcome 01:03 Intro 01:09 Where can I get more info or provide feedback? 01:56 Why this video? 02:20 What is a main bus? 03:03 What are the components of a bus? 04:30 How do I get started using a bus? 06:16 How big should my bus be? 08:31 What should I put on the bus? 11:34 How do I split components off the bus? 15:09 How can I support Nilaus? 15:49 Advantages/Disadvantages 18:28 Conclusion 18:50 Join the Order of the Path 18:59 Outro
**Jonesy's Guide to Railways:** The best way to avoid collisions and maximize throughput using railways is to use multiple parallel tracks. If you limit it to two, which is very sensible, then you want one rail for each direction. I recommend using your locale's preferred driver side. If you only drive on the right hand side, then place your trains with that same orientation. So now we get to signals. Signals must be places with the same orientation you've decided on for your trains, but signals have to be placed on each individual tracks, so what then? Easy, just place them on only the right hand or left hand side of each track. So, always inbetween tracks for left hand driving and always on the outside for right hand driving. Why use Rail Signals? Rail signals separate tracks into segments. If a train is in a segment, then other trains will stop at the signal where the segment starts, and they will wait. Where to use Rail Signals? Rail signals should separate train stops, they should break up large stretches of rail, and they should be used to make intersections and loops their own segment. This does not remove all threat of crash. This will at most reduce crashes to a near 1% chance for each train currently moving in the same nearby system of tracks. Meaning more trains equals more chance of crashing. Advanced use of rails and Signals. I mentioned loops and intersections. but how do we make them? First of all, with the exception of T-Intersections you generally want the rails to go straight as they normally would. In intersections they cross right over each other as if they don't exist. Next, you simply step back a bit and add a new segment of rail connecting right side to right and left side to left at 90 degree angles. Spacing might take a couple tries but don't sweat it. In Loops You have just the left and right rail, a good distance away from any intersections unless you're feeling particularly adventurous. I cannot stress enough how dangerous it can be for trains to be turning around in the middle of a busy intersection. The first step is to pick which side you want your loop facing, it really doesn't matter which. Then, you want your loop to branch off from the track on the far side. Now just slap down four consecutive right turns. Cool, you have a loop, but only one side can use it and that's dreadfully inefficient isn't it? No worries,just connect the other side outward to the loop at 45 degree angles. The trains will never cross over to the wrong side of the tracks as long as they're only connected to one opposite side of the loop, each. Stations best practices. A station is best placed on a third or other disconnected track with it's own signals separating it from the main tracks. The be clear, the station should not be a part of the segment it is directly connected to, and also it should not be on the main tracks. Rail Chain Signals. As a general rule, don't use Rail Chain Signals. If you really want to use Rail Chain Signals, you should also try to understand Signal Blocks as a prerequisite. The basic mechanic of a Rail Chain Signal is to: never allow a train to enter a segment unless all exits are also clear to use. What does this mean, practically speaking? It can stop long trains from clogging intersections too close to each other. It can tell a train to wait at an intersection and give other non-chain tracks priority, which also helps decrease chances of a wreck. Yaay~! Why avoid using Rail Chain Signals? As I said before, if every exit isn't clear, the chain signal will never allow anything through. This can send your entire factory into an impasse that needs manual remediation. For those of us who build our stations directly off the main track or even those of us who build stations directly on the tracks, Rail Chain Signals will stop trains from even driving past in some cases. It can be a huge headache. If you place these then just make sure to place them before intersection segments and never after segments. Finally, Train Automation. Stations must be placed with the same orientation as signals. By clicking on a train, you can add things to it's schedule. Selecting a stop for the train to go to and setting the train to automatic instead of manual will immediately send it to that stop, where it will wait until its condition for that stop on the schedule is fulfilled. E.G. Inventory Full (of iron). Then, it will head to the next stop on the schedule, without stopping unless the signals warn it of a potential collision. Disclaimer: The above information might not be consistent across all versions.
@@JonesCrimson Generally good advice, except for the paragraph about Rail Chain Signals. Specifically, they don't require all exits to be clear, only the exit the train approaching the signal wants to exit through. Also, unless you are placing signals incorrectly, a base with only Rail Signals will require more manual interventions than a base with Rail Chain Signals. Rail Signals have just 2 states: green (let trains through) and red (don't let trains through). Rail Chain Signals have 3: green (all exits are clear, let ALL trains through), red (no exit is clear, let NO trains through), and blue (some exits are clear while others aren't, let SOME trains through). Trains approaching a blue Rail Chain Signal will stop or continue based on the closest Rail Signal they are heading towards. In general, Rail Signals are for preventing crashes, Rail Chain Signals are for preventing deadlocks. Deadlocks are when 2+ trains are stuck and are preventing each other from ever getting unstuck. Rail Chain Signals prevent this by only letting one train enter an intersection at a time, thus you cannot have two trains blocking each other. Perhaps the simplest example of deadlock is a roundabout with two entry/exits points A and B. Train X enters the roundabout from A and wants to exit through B. While Train X is in the roundabout, Train Y enters from B and wants to exit through A. Train X then gets blocked waiting for Train Y's tail end to stop blocking exit B, but Train Y also cannot exit the roundabout because Train X's tail end is still blocking A. This will never resolve itself and requires manual intervention. Example image here: i.redd.it/z9v975oxq3dz.jpg With Rail Chain Signals at the entry points of the roundabout, Train Y would have waited outside the roundabout until Train X was out of the way entirely. A simple rule of thumb is anytime you have a segment of track smaller than your largest train, you should have a Rail Chain Signal in front of it to ensure every train that enters that block can exit. If no train ever stops with their back end blocking an intersection deadlock should (barring any weird edge cases) be impossible.
Good explanation - it is helpful to hear the why and not just the mechanics of building. I particularly liked being able to see the different bus styles and configurations you have used during different season. On the presentation side, another great job! It is really helpful that you list the objectives in the beginning to clearly state what the video is about. I would suggest adding those points as graphics on the screen so they are clear, or if you think that would trigger a "PTSD" from your corporate life, maybe add them to the description of the video. It is a really well done facet of your class and may help people as they begin to create their Factorio how-to library
As impressive as this is, I've never really felt the appeal of making a mega-base. I'm much more interested in getting more and more efficient and only making just the right amount to launch the rocket as quickly as possible.
I have a feeling my favourite part of the process is finding ways to make things work without tearing it all up and replacing it. It's like a puzzle game for me and I end up with ultra dense areas where every available square is being used for something, but good luck figuring out what 😅
there is a lot of technology that comes after the launching of your first rocket you may want to research, since launching your first rocket unlocks space research
And that's completely valid. One of the many nice things about games like Factorio, wide range of buildstyles and decision making is viable in different ways.
wouldn't say this is meant to turn into a megabase. if anything you will have scalability issues with the bus method compared to using trains or logistics for more flexible material transfer for a megabase the bus itself creates a bottleneck. the bus is simply a good way to finish the base game and it is a canonical organization idea
Really helpful tutorial. I keep seeing advice to avoid looking up how to do things, which I've been trying to stick to because half the fun is figuring out how to build, but I like having the option of watching a short tutorial for a specific technique so I can fill in the gaps in my knowledge without spoiling too much.
The only thing i think this was missing was perhaps a quick address of the issue of which items should be produced at which point along the bus to reduce the amount of belts needed and minimize the belts made going back the opposite way. Looking at your zoomed out map of the bases does help with this somewhat (excellent tagging by the way), but hearing an explanation of why you position certain production along the bus the way you do would be a huge help for players learning to be more efficient with base planning. Smelting at the beginning is relatively obvious, but say putting certain chemical products or red circuits at what point on the bus and what should be around them or on the opposite side of the bus from them to minimize belts and branches is one of those big head-scratchers for me. It's an issue that makes my bases bigger and harder to manage and get around than they should be.
Another idea: In addition to the sacred walking path, I've often left room for a shuttle train line running the length of the bus with stops at each build. Toss down a pocket train, select "Solid Fuel" station, and go. :) If I lay this down, it is one lane each side of the bus forming a loop. I arbitrarily use clockwise out of habit. This works well for double-sided busses and it means I don't need to install two stations for each stop as I would for a bi-directional track. You could always manually drive your shuttle I suppose.
That last pointer is so true, the amount of times I have forgotten (normally too eager to start producing) to space my production back from the main bus and I can no longer fit a path or train through there. It is also good to leave a decent gap for things like merging two materials onto half of a belt, if you leave things so tight with no space it can get very messy.
3:24 Looks like you built an airport and the belts are a complex luggage handling system. Looks really cool 😊 Factorio is so fun. First time I played, it was about 12 hours straight.
one solution I have tried for expanding the main bus is to restock it part way down the line. I build a train station at some point where the belts look a bit slim and funnel that iron and/ or copper into the buss just before a belt balancer. I also have an off site smelter so my trains don't carry raw ore only finished plate. I started doing that because the ore stacks at 50 while the plates stack at 100 giving double capacity for the train cars.
Oh, its called a main bus... Here i am just calling it my "massive rod" schematic. And I thought I was such a genius for figuring it out but it turns out it's a well known thing lol RIP
Enjoying these Masterclass videos. At this point I've developed some decent concepts and blueprints. I've adopted your city block concept, and have made some really good blueprints for oil and uranium processing. I've also made some train blueprints that I think are the best I've seen done. Quite a bit of what I've done is due to inspiration from you, so thanks N!
These videos are unbelievably helpful to a noob like myself! Really appreciate the time and effort you put into your videos and the way you explain in so much detail without it needing to be several hours long. Thank you!
Excellent, excellent tutorial. I upvoted, subscribed, etc. about 5 min in. I am about 20-30 hours into my first game and quickly realized it was a giant spaghetti mess that simply would not scale, so decided to stop and look for strategies. Makes 100% sense to me. This was the first that I found in what looks to be deep into the series so I will definitely be checking out your other tutorials.
Nice guide! When I first started playing I intentionally avoided looking up any kind of strategy to see what I would come up with on my own. I ended up building what I call the spaghetti bus, where you have the general concept of a main bus in mind, but you try to put every single product on the bus and severely underestimate the amount of space and materials you'll need.
Been playing factorio for years (almost 3000 hours total) and just saw this video. Some good points i will be trying to implement. And others i already do. Always put science on one end of the main bus. Always connect science to labs away from main bus. Never stop feeding green red and blue circuits.
i like your explanation for not putting gears on the bus, because it basically puts into words what i realized through intuition but couldn't articulate the reasoning for
This has helped me a lot with the gears brainteaser because I tried building lots of gears on a belt branching out instead of building it next the building requiring it. You saved me lots of hours because I might not have thought of it.
17:50 I'd argue that disadvantage is rather irrelevant as you can make another production line and combine it in with the main bus at the point the bus runs dry on resources. Not all the bus' supply needs to come from it's start.
One thing I've done in my current base: At the end of the bus, there is one lane of every material on the bus looping back to the start of the bus. I've found that if input goods come in irregularly in large batches (such as when you just have one mining outpost of every kind), it's rather the production at the start rather than the end of the bus that gets starved. Stuff piles up at the end of the bus (and is slowly drained by the production hooked up to the end), while the start of it is starved. By having a single return lane, stuff that gets through the whole bus without being grabbed off it gets another go at it, and the supply is more evenly divided between consumers at different parts of it.
Thanks a bunch, this has really helped me to wrap my head around the idea of a main bus and how to better use it, I've checked out a few videos and so far you've not only explained it much better but also provided some decent tips and examples!
6:37 Minimum bus: 4 iron, 4 copper, 2 green, 2 plastic, 1 steel, 1 red (these are not the only materials on bus) 6:51 Maximum bus: 16 iron, 16 copper, 6 green, 4 plastic, 2 steel, 2 red (split iron and copper; 8 iron one side and 8 iron other side) 7:43 Recommended bus: 8 iron, 8 copper, 2 green with room to expand to 4, 2 plastic, 1 steel, 1 red with room to expand to 2
8:35 can we take a moment and look at that genius design for the copper and iron plate 8 lane semi balancer, that takes 2 lanes of each 4 lane way and balances them with the other 2 lanes of the other 4 lane way? This is fucking genius. I have thought so many times of doing this, but never got a decent idea on how to re-balance the 8 copper/iron plate lanes without a massive 8 lane balancer. Thank you so much!
On a smaller base, I like to run the bus well past the production lines then have 3 lanes in one direction and one going back the other way. Anything that makes it past the last production line doesn't just sit there, it circles back around on the return line to be available for all production again.
I learned to appreciate the Transport Drones mod. They simplify transportation greatly. If you find managing a bus to be tedious and don't want a train grid where you can get run over every once in a while, they are worth a shot.
Excellent video! I've been struggling to properly build my main bus and your examples have really helped me think up new ideas for my current playthrough.
14:30 i prefer the [inverse] waterfall(prioritize to main lane) to evenly spreading, keep the prefered pick off lanes full and see possibly empty lanes which yell in your face to be refilled ^^
Thank you!! I have been playing on and off for years, but could never quite break out of spaghetti. It's always a plate of spaghetti throw at a wall. This tutorial might finally give me the necessary structure, that is both firm yet also extendable.
I like your walkways. Without something crossing the bus, it's a little harder to orient yourself. Your "city blocks" break it up in an appealing way. Thanks!
I use a science bus. I bring lines of produced science packs on the opposite side of their respective production li es from the main bus and then just bus them into my science research facility. I am by no means a "pro" player, but this just makes sense to me
A great tutorial. I think it's good that you took the advice to speak more slowly. You're a lot easier to understand. At least for people like me whose English isn't the best. A tutorial about the scalability / extensibility of the individual production sections would be very interesting.
who the fuck can dislike this. like seriously. ive known the bus before, kinda came up with it myself, because i use Bus systems at work itself and it makes sense ! Good video ! nicely structured and clear.
I've only been playing the game for about 60 hours and have realized my base is just a giant clusterfuck of spaghetti thrown into a rats nest and I can't get certain materials to the other side of my base where they are needed.. this bus idea is great, but it will be difficult to tear down my base or even expand it with the multitude of biter nests all around. I'm spending all my time just trying to figure out how to get some copper or steel across the base and destroying nests that keep respawning that I haven't been able to focus on anything else. It makes me want to quit and start over...
What confuses me about your bus size recommendations is that you didn't mention Stone/Oils/Coal which I have seen you add to the main bus for explosives and blue science (I've not got further than blue science myself so if used in later recipes I don't know) by not talking about these it makes it more difficult to plan out the width of your bus. Should they be added or not?
if you want to see the natural transition from the Jump Start base to a Bus Base, then I would recommend checking out one of my Lets Plays like "Lets Start Automating" or the latest one "Base in a Book"
I hate moving slow so I always mass produce refined concrete and coat my entire factory in it. It causes a little more pollution but it's just so convenient.
One advantage of building on one side is that it is a lot easier to bring in trains on the unbuilt side to top-off resource lines particularly after ultra hungry production modules sucks resource lines dry.
Very good advice in this video. Finally getting around to a mega-base on v1.0 and was looking for something on properly organising smelting - never done them as columns before, but now so obvious how the rest of production is usually done
Can you make an episode about transitioning into a megabase? I always struggled transitioning into a megabase and ended up abandoning my factories after finishing up my main bus-based base.
the reason we call it a bus... is because it acts like a school bus, taking passengers (materials) and bringing them to a designed destination. this was a thing in many factories way before computers got involved. after all we had been having mass production factories way before computers existed. and before computers we were using mechanics to produce the same effects. computer actually only added the concept of logistics, which back then were only done by engineered hardware that had mechanical way of defining what was going where, such a holes big enough for 1 certain type of materials or net like stuff for liquids and filtrings... so the term bus definitely existed way before computers were a thing. its really much simpler then computer analogy... it really simply means the concept of taking multiple things at once and bringing them to another place all together. and then going back to the starting point and doing it again. much like school bus does !
This video was informative, well paced, and in the Nilaus spirit. Felt bad about the not so positive feedback on the previous video but this feels like you enjoyed yourself more making this video and that's the most important thing when it comes to your content.
Of course, players could build a sub-bus for things like cogs which would follow a split, so they could organise their production of that item but also follow the local production tip presented here at the same time. The aim would be to have a smaller total unused buffer of that item at the end of the sub-bus.
My mainbus are trains and a center storage station. This is the greate thing in factorio - every body can play like he want and motstly it work. Like goes out for the video.
This looks amazing. I've only just discovered steam power and can't imagine a day when I'll have evolved to this size factory but consider my mind blown.
I use a back bus for science packs so I don't need to move my science labs forward periodically. I also use a mini bus within science pack production and make the engines for both blue and yellow science in one location, reducing the overall branches to build engines twice.
Arguably, one-sided bus doesn't have to be twice as long. You can leave a bit of space alongside the production line for branching belts (or under-belt right through it, depending on the design) and place the secondary production areas below (or above) the first one.
I would like to defend the dynamic bus. You start out with a narrow bus (just iron and copper for example) then let the bus grow wider as you add more things, you still use both sides (one mainly for science probably). It is a much less intimidating design for newer players, featuring less planning and no need to know the entire game ahead of time. (And so also good for complex mods). It saves a lot of space and resources in the early slow parts of the game. And I think it looks much better than having vast empty space at the start of the bus in my opinion. The main downside is that it doesn't fit as well into a citygrid style of base.
@@Nilaus If you by any change read this now Kholto or Nilaus I'm just starting this game. About 6 hours in. I am near blue science stage. My factory is Spegetti so I am trying to start a bus. I don't want to look up everything that comes a head. I'm not using mods... well QoL mods nothing fancy. Should I still attempt a BUS like your Nilaus not knowing really what kind of production comes in the future? Or would you both recommend Kholto's idea if I don't want to look up future recipes. Also I hear about adding a Robo Port? Whatever that is into the bus? Is it needed I don't think it was mentioned in this video? P.S I am using the mod that doubles and triples the size of underground belts which may favor a certain kind of bus setup? But I imagine I just still follow a general standard bus formula. Thanks.
Great video! It really digs into the fundamentals of buses without being too long. I would like to see some more tips and tricks for pull-offs from the bus.
Nilaus, I did the math on the rebalancing section. And I believe you don't need the two splitters at the exit. I am new to Factorio, so it is possible I am making a mistake, but with the assumption that a splitter evenly distributes two inputs to two outputs I believe I am correct.
Any experience with duplex / bi-directional busses? The idea sounds charming to be able to "refill" the bus at any point and send resources both ways, so your production can be anywhere. Of course, it takes much more managing to split and turn....
that is easy for things such as copper, green circuits use so much copper that you end up taking out whole lanes and you have spare space. You can then just insert copper from anywhere on the bus from trains etc. and have them run either way.
I got an idea solving many disadvantages sacrificing some of the advantages. I'll try making a single side main bus with a second buffer bus. The idea behind this is to allow for extreme megabase expansion while keeping everything saturated without the chance of any shortages unless there's not enough train demand.
I use priority splitter to take from the bus, and just after it 3 more splitters to shift everything to the belt line that had items taken from. This way I know if the item needs more production, and sidefeed it to refill the 4 lanes. The sidefeed may be more furnaces, etc. I use one-sided bus. I think balancers are bad for control. After prioritizing, if you see an empty lane, just sidefeed it.
I've got sort of a looped bus; it goes around my main base and a few outposts, branching a bit before going back to the beginning. The advantage is, I can input and output any bus materials anywhere along the line, and there is considerable storage on the belts. Also, since the bus has consistent width everywhere, I've got a blueprint I can just paste everywhere I need to expand the thing. Disadvantage is, I'm only now realizing I made the bus too thin to start with, and changing it now will be a huge undertaking...
All Master Class Blueprints are available on FactorioBin
Overview and direct links to all Blueprints: nilaus.atlassian.net/l/cp/HBEUm524
(Pastebin links no longer work)
my base is all robot's and the tps is go low im so sad
What do you mean by "high compression" items"? Or the term "compression" in general? Thanks.
@@monstersaint some items like iron sticks are produced and consumed in bigger numbers but still take the same space on belts as other low volume items . So instead of adding a bus line for it, it's sometimes better to just produce those type of items on site.
no bus blueprint?
Every time I feel like I understand whats going on. I quickly realize I have no idea what is going on.
Just start playing and also get some blueprint strings especially his base in a book on Factorio prints dot org I think. I didn’t know much how to play but playing the game and building these blueprints helped me figure out how these factories work and I built my own speed and productivity 3 module setup myself with the correct ratios.
Also try and use the creative mod in another save and try to just automate all science to get an idea on how you want to build a base.
Same I build stuff and hope it runs while I'm off doing other things I hope run
Just started playing I'm at 11hrs of playtime and ngl thought i was kicking ass, watched some of these videos and realized I have no idea what I am doing
@rogerwilco99 the Dunning Kreuger phenomenon, i believe.
But be that as it may, I have to say I don't see what there is to "get" about Factorio. Everything logically follows on from previous technology. All the buildings clearly display the required materials. Material costs make sense (ie you don't need wood for concrete walls or anything) and the way the game starts is pretty clever at teaching you the fundamentals of gathering materials.
It took me a little while to figure out logistics bots, I suppose, but its not a _complicated_ game, it's just a _complex_ game. I think a lot of people dismiss it as too confusing because of how chaotic and intricate it looks, but if they played Factorio they'd discover its a bit like your work flow at your job: it takes time to work out how you want it to go, there's the occasional unexpected situation, but after a few years you have a system that is tailored and efficient for you, and nobody really knows how it works aside from you, but you would say your work day is "pretty straightforward" because you've build it all up over time, with everything having a purpose.
So it is with Factorio. You have 100s of building and arms and you're producing all sorts of stuff, but you remember putting most of them there, and what they were supposed to do.
The more knowledge you gain on a subject, the more you realize how little you know.
To put the bus size recommendations in writing:
Minimum size:
4 iron
4 copper
2 green circuits
2 plastic
1 steel
1 red circuits
Recommend bus size:
8 iron
8 copper
2 -> 4 green circuits
2 plastic
1 steel
1 -> 2 reds circuits
Max size:
16 iron
16 copper
6 green circuits
4 plastic
2 steel
2 red circuits
That is far to big numbers for my brain to handle at my level of skill
Not all heros wear capes
and still look at most main bus factories, and you see none of the belts fully saturated. And people running 8 belts down the whole factory while they tap a full belt of iron right at the start to make green circuits....
No stone?
Thank you, I always come back to this video because I’m completely uncapable of remembering this.
I just installed this game cus I thought it looked cool. Realized it was harder than i expected. Looked up “beginners guide”.
I feel like I showed up for my first day of kindergarten and just walked into a college calculus class. Lord… what have I gotten myself involved with
"time to learn this whole mainbus strategy"
*10 minutes later*
Spaghetti it is.
lmao I agree
*OR Scratch that!* you can simply install the *Belt Layer* mod and forget all about what a main Bus is and create your sphagetti mess underground inside the belt layer where you don't have to look at it just like me and plop smelting crafting and production modules of ur base EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE you desire literally doesnt matter in any non sensical order and connect them underground as for belt balancing and throughput problem you can simply again install 2 more mods called Belt Balancer mod which simply gives u this neat block which fixes your belt item transfer (items dont get dilluted on belt lanes) and the Deadlock Crating mod which puts stacks of items inside a single item form called a create boxes and u can uncrate them at the designated location for item consumption ,crafting,production needs on any part of ur base that its needed...
@@AyVaZzZ4o0 Nice! You save me from create a new world xD
Im usually to sleep deprived and hungry while playing this game to make something other than spaghetti
Loud laughter from me in real life. Factorio newbie here. This hits home.
This is incredibly useful, I will begin ignoring this advise immediately!
(please keep these masterclass videos coming, I really do appreciate them)
Ignoring?
@@mateovazquez6685 It's a bad joke, meaning; "Even though I acknowledge the quality of the information, I will still do my own thing"
At least you're being honest.
@@skashed I've found that joke a good one :)
I've catched myself a few times ignoring some good advice while playing some game (probably Satisfactory) :)
For me, it’s more about forgetting than it is ignoring.
This is amazing! Meanwhile my base looks like a toddler threw up their spaghetti dinner all over the map...
Mine looks like a war zone. And I don't even play with biters...
My last base (returned after a break) looked like I asked a blind preschooler to organize things.
Honestly I respect spaghetti more than main bus bases, it's extremely easy to get to late game with a main bus.
Haha so as mine :)
Spaghetti looks cooler and more interesting imo. Especially a high density spaghetti megabase.
Quick Reference (doing this for myself as I'm sure I'll reference some part of it later)
00:00 Welcome
01:03 Intro
01:09 Where can I get more info or provide feedback?
01:56 Why this video?
02:20 What is a main bus?
03:03 What are the components of a bus?
04:30 How do I get started using a bus?
06:16 How big should my bus be?
08:31 What should I put on the bus?
11:34 How do I split components off the bus?
15:09 How can I support Nilaus?
15:49 Advantages/Disadvantages
18:28 Conclusion
18:50 Join the Order of the Path
18:59 Outro
it's already in the description
@@mxdanger oh cool and lmao didn't know other people still watched this
Thank you
Guides on "modular-ization" and long range transportation would be greatly appreciated! Always love your work.
**Jonesy's Guide to Railways:**
The best way to avoid collisions and maximize throughput using railways is to use multiple parallel tracks. If you limit it to two, which is very sensible, then you want one rail for each direction. I recommend using your locale's preferred driver side. If you only drive on the right hand side, then place your trains with that same orientation.
So now we get to signals. Signals must be places with the same orientation you've decided on for your trains, but signals have to be placed on each individual tracks, so what then? Easy, just place them on only the right hand or left hand side of each track. So, always inbetween tracks for left hand driving and always on the outside for right hand driving.
Why use Rail Signals? Rail signals separate tracks into segments. If a train is in a segment, then other trains will stop at the signal where the segment starts, and they will wait.
Where to use Rail Signals? Rail signals should separate train stops, they should break up large stretches of rail, and they should be used to make intersections and loops their own segment. This does not remove all threat of crash. This will at most reduce crashes to a near 1% chance for each train currently moving in the same nearby system of tracks. Meaning more trains equals more chance of crashing.
Advanced use of rails and Signals.
I mentioned loops and intersections. but how do we make them? First of all, with the exception of T-Intersections you generally want the rails to go straight as they normally would.
In intersections they cross right over each other as if they don't exist. Next, you simply step back a bit and add a new segment of rail connecting right side to right and left side to left at 90 degree angles. Spacing might take a couple tries but don't sweat it.
In Loops You have just the left and right rail, a good distance away from any intersections unless you're feeling particularly adventurous. I cannot stress enough how dangerous it can be for trains to be turning around in the middle of a busy intersection. The first step is to pick which side you want your loop facing, it really doesn't matter which. Then, you want your loop to branch off from the track on the far side. Now just slap down four consecutive right turns. Cool, you have a loop, but only one side can use it and that's dreadfully inefficient isn't it? No worries,just connect the other side outward to the loop at 45 degree angles. The trains will never cross over to the wrong side of the tracks as long as they're only connected to one opposite side of the loop, each.
Stations best practices. A station is best placed on a third or other disconnected track with it's own signals separating it from the main tracks. The be clear, the station should not be a part of the segment it is directly connected to, and also it should not be on the main tracks.
Rail Chain Signals. As a general rule, don't use Rail Chain Signals. If you really want to use Rail Chain Signals, you should also try to understand Signal Blocks as a prerequisite. The basic mechanic of a Rail Chain Signal is to: never allow a train to enter a segment unless all exits are also clear to use. What does this mean, practically speaking? It can stop long trains from clogging intersections too close to each other. It can tell a train to wait at an intersection and give other non-chain tracks priority, which also helps decrease chances of a wreck. Yaay~! Why avoid using Rail Chain Signals? As I said before, if every exit isn't clear, the chain signal will never allow anything through. This can send your entire factory into an impasse that needs manual remediation. For those of us who build our stations directly off the main track or even those of us who build stations directly on the tracks, Rail Chain Signals will stop trains from even driving past in some cases. It can be a huge headache. If you place these then just make sure to place them before intersection segments and never after segments.
Finally, Train Automation. Stations must be placed with the same orientation as signals. By clicking on a train, you can add things to it's schedule. Selecting a stop for the train to go to and setting the train to automatic instead of manual will immediately send it to that stop, where it will wait until its condition for that stop on the schedule is fulfilled. E.G. Inventory Full (of iron). Then, it will head to the next stop on the schedule, without stopping unless the signals warn it of a potential collision.
Disclaimer: The above information might not be consistent across all versions.
@@JonesCrimson Wow, great comment! You could post this to the factorio subreddit, it's really good.
@@JonesCrimson Generally good advice, except for the paragraph about Rail Chain Signals. Specifically, they don't require all exits to be clear, only the exit the train approaching the signal wants to exit through. Also, unless you are placing signals incorrectly, a base with only Rail Signals will require more manual interventions than a base with Rail Chain Signals.
Rail Signals have just 2 states: green (let trains through) and red (don't let trains through). Rail Chain Signals have 3: green (all exits are clear, let ALL trains through), red (no exit is clear, let NO trains through), and blue (some exits are clear while others aren't, let SOME trains through). Trains approaching a blue Rail Chain Signal will stop or continue based on the closest Rail Signal they are heading towards.
In general, Rail Signals are for preventing crashes, Rail Chain Signals are for preventing deadlocks. Deadlocks are when 2+ trains are stuck and are preventing each other from ever getting unstuck. Rail Chain Signals prevent this by only letting one train enter an intersection at a time, thus you cannot have two trains blocking each other.
Perhaps the simplest example of deadlock is a roundabout with two entry/exits points A and B. Train X enters the roundabout from A and wants to exit through B. While Train X is in the roundabout, Train Y enters from B and wants to exit through A. Train X then gets blocked waiting for Train Y's tail end to stop blocking exit B, but Train Y also cannot exit the roundabout because Train X's tail end is still blocking A. This will never resolve itself and requires manual intervention. Example image here: i.redd.it/z9v975oxq3dz.jpg
With Rail Chain Signals at the entry points of the roundabout, Train Y would have waited outside the roundabout until Train X was out of the way entirely. A simple rule of thumb is anytime you have a segment of track smaller than your largest train, you should have a Rail Chain Signal in front of it to ensure every train that enters that block can exit. If no train ever stops with their back end blocking an intersection deadlock should (barring any weird edge cases) be impossible.
This is the video I've been looking for. I don't want blueprints, I want KNOWLEDGE.
Well explained, well visualized, just fantastic work.
I would love an advanced tutorial on city blocks, specifically with trains and loading/unloading stations. Awesome work, man!
10 months late but just making sure you know he made a city block tutorial. 👍
@@americankid7782 you da real mvp
Good explanation - it is helpful to hear the why and not just the mechanics of building. I particularly liked being able to see the different bus styles and configurations you have used during different season. On the presentation side, another great job! It is really helpful that you list the objectives in the beginning to clearly state what the video is about. I would suggest adding those points as graphics on the screen so they are clear, or if you think that would trigger a "PTSD" from your corporate life, maybe add them to the description of the video. It is a really well done facet of your class and may help people as they begin to create their Factorio how-to library
As impressive as this is, I've never really felt the appeal of making a mega-base. I'm much more interested in getting more and more efficient and only making just the right amount to launch the rocket as quickly as possible.
I have a feeling my favourite part of the process is finding ways to make things work without tearing it all up and replacing it. It's like a puzzle game for me and I end up with ultra dense areas where every available square is being used for something, but good luck figuring out what 😅
there is a lot of technology that comes after the launching of your first rocket you may want to research, since launching your first rocket unlocks space research
I have like 10 saves with minimum 20 hours and I go squirrell brained.. never launched a rocket 😅
And that's completely valid. One of the many nice things about games like Factorio, wide range of buildstyles and decision making is viable in different ways.
wouldn't say this is meant to turn into a megabase. if anything you will have scalability issues with the bus method compared to using trains or logistics for more flexible material transfer for a megabase the bus itself creates a bottleneck. the bus is simply a good way to finish the base game and it is a canonical organization idea
Really helpful tutorial. I keep seeing advice to avoid looking up how to do things, which I've been trying to stick to because half the fun is figuring out how to build, but I like having the option of watching a short tutorial for a specific technique so I can fill in the gaps in my knowledge without spoiling too much.
The only thing i think this was missing was perhaps a quick address of the issue of which items should be produced at which point along the bus to reduce the amount of belts needed and minimize the belts made going back the opposite way. Looking at your zoomed out map of the bases does help with this somewhat (excellent tagging by the way), but hearing an explanation of why you position certain production along the bus the way you do would be a huge help for players learning to be more efficient with base planning. Smelting at the beginning is relatively obvious, but say putting certain chemical products or red circuits at what point on the bus and what should be around them or on the opposite side of the bus from them to minimize belts and branches is one of those big head-scratchers for me. It's an issue that makes my bases bigger and harder to manage and get around than they should be.
Another idea: In addition to the sacred walking path, I've often left room for a shuttle train line running the length of the bus with stops at each build. Toss down a pocket train, select "Solid Fuel" station, and go. :)
If I lay this down, it is one lane each side of the bus forming a loop. I arbitrarily use clockwise out of habit. This works well for double-sided busses and it means I don't need to install two stations for each stop as I would for a bi-directional track. You could always manually drive your shuttle I suppose.
That last pointer is so true, the amount of times I have forgotten (normally too eager to start producing) to space my production back from the main bus and I can no longer fit a path or train through there. It is also good to leave a decent gap for things like merging two materials onto half of a belt, if you leave things so tight with no space it can get very messy.
Gears... raging remark!!!
Tbf, I agree with your thinking though
3:24 Looks like you built an airport and the belts are a complex luggage handling system. Looks really cool 😊
Factorio is so fun. First time I played, it was about 12 hours straight.
one solution I have tried for expanding the main bus is to restock it part way down the line.
I build a train station at some point where the belts look a bit slim and funnel that iron and/ or copper into the buss just before a belt balancer. I also have an off site smelter so my trains don't carry raw ore only finished plate. I started doing that because the ore stacks at 50 while the plates stack at 100 giving double capacity for the train cars.
Same. That's why between each production units, I give some wide separation so I can inject things as necessary. Even things such as Green Circuits.
This is a great explanation of a bus for people who already know what a bus is.
yeah way too many things were left unexplained
@@szymoniak75 I'm glad I wasn't alone in thinking this lol. ...I think I'm gonna have to find another video.
Oh, its called a main bus...
Here i am just calling it my "massive rod" schematic. And I thought I was such a genius for figuring it out but it turns out it's a well known thing lol RIP
Just means you found a way to be efficient is all. :)
You are genius to figure it out all by yourself! Just because it is a well known thing, doesn't mean the person who figured it out aren't a genius
Enjoying these Masterclass videos. At this point I've developed some decent concepts and blueprints. I've adopted your city block concept, and have made some really good blueprints for oil and uranium processing. I've also made some train blueprints that I think are the best I've seen done. Quite a bit of what I've done is due to inspiration from you, so thanks N!
Praise for the path!
Such a great argument about Iron Gears. I loathe having them on the bus.
These videos are unbelievably helpful to a noob like myself! Really appreciate the time and effort you put into your videos and the way you explain in so much detail without it needing to be several hours long. Thank you!
Excellent, excellent tutorial. I upvoted, subscribed, etc. about 5 min in. I am about 20-30 hours into my first game and quickly realized it was a giant spaghetti mess that simply would not scale, so decided to stop and look for strategies. Makes 100% sense to me. This was the first that I found in what looks to be deep into the series so I will definitely be checking out your other tutorials.
Nice guide! When I first started playing I intentionally avoided looking up any kind of strategy to see what I would come up with on my own. I ended up building what I call the spaghetti bus, where you have the general concept of a main bus in mind, but you try to put every single product on the bus and severely underestimate the amount of space and materials you'll need.
Me building 200 assembly machines all feeding off 2 yellow iron plate belts
Your guides and blueprints are beyond helpful. Thank you for all your efforts.
It was worth watching the whole video, now I know about keeping a certain space between bus and production it makes more sense now
Been playing factorio for years (almost 3000 hours total) and just saw this video.
Some good points i will be trying to implement. And others i already do.
Always put science on one end of the main bus. Always connect science to labs away from main bus. Never stop feeding green red and blue circuits.
i like your explanation for not putting gears on the bus, because it basically puts into words what i realized through intuition but couldn't articulate the reasoning for
This has helped me a lot with the gears brainteaser because I tried building lots of gears on a belt branching out instead of building it next the building requiring it. You saved me lots of hours because I might not have thought of it.
17:50 I'd argue that disadvantage is rather irrelevant as you can make another production line and combine it in with the main bus at the point the bus runs dry on resources. Not all the bus' supply needs to come from it's start.
Thanks Nilaus, I've watched this video a few times. I consider this video the most important of all your master class videos.
You're a god damned machine, well done man
One thing I've done in my current base: At the end of the bus, there is one lane of every material on the bus looping back to the start of the bus. I've found that if input goods come in irregularly in large batches (such as when you just have one mining outpost of every kind), it's rather the production at the start rather than the end of the bus that gets starved. Stuff piles up at the end of the bus (and is slowly drained by the production hooked up to the end), while the start of it is starved. By having a single return lane, stuff that gets through the whole bus without being grabbed off it gets another go at it, and the supply is more evenly divided between consumers at different parts of it.
Thanks a bunch, this has really helped me to wrap my head around the idea of a main bus and how to better use it, I've checked out a few videos and so far you've not only explained it much better but also provided some decent tips and examples!
Just taking the bus to the mall
bruh. im just getting into factorio and you sir just taught me more than most of the other stuff i've seen today. Thanks
6:37
Minimum bus: 4 iron, 4 copper, 2 green, 2 plastic, 1 steel, 1 red (these are not the only materials on bus)
6:51
Maximum bus: 16 iron, 16 copper, 6 green, 4 plastic, 2 steel, 2 red (split iron and copper; 8 iron one side and 8 iron other side)
7:43
Recommended bus: 8 iron, 8 copper, 2 green with room to expand to 4, 2 plastic, 1 steel, 1 red with room to expand to 2
Thanks! Came back to the video for this.
8:35 can we take a moment and look at that genius design for the copper and iron plate 8 lane semi balancer, that takes 2 lanes of each 4 lane way and balances them with the other 2 lanes of the other 4 lane way? This is fucking genius. I have thought so many times of doing this, but never got a decent idea on how to re-balance the 8 copper/iron plate lanes without a massive 8 lane balancer.
Thank you so much!
On a smaller base, I like to run the bus well past the production lines then have 3 lanes in one direction and one going back the other way. Anything that makes it past the last production line doesn't just sit there, it circles back around on the return line to be available for all production again.
I learned to appreciate the Transport Drones mod. They simplify transportation greatly. If you find managing a bus to be tedious and don't want a train grid where you can get run over every once in a while, they are worth a shot.
Excellent video! I've been struggling to properly build my main bus and your examples have really helped me think up new ideas for my current playthrough.
You are great at explaining certain concepts. If teachers explained like you school would be something different. Keep making vids !
Great job! I think these videos are going to be watched for a long time by new people.
Newbie here. Can confirm.
There are a few videos pf yours I've seen that caused me to restart my first playthrough. Love it.
14:30 i prefer the [inverse] waterfall(prioritize to main lane) to evenly spreading, keep the prefered pick off lanes full and see possibly empty lanes which yell in your face to be refilled ^^
Tak man!!
Den bedste Bus tutorial jeg har set!
Thank you!! I have been playing on and off for years, but could never quite break out of spaghetti. It's always a plate of spaghetti throw at a wall. This tutorial might finally give me the necessary structure, that is both firm yet also extendable.
I like your walkways. Without something crossing the bus, it's a little harder to orient yourself. Your "city blocks" break it up in an appealing way. Thanks!
This annotation is super useful in this style of tutorial. Thank you so much for that added touch.
I use a science bus. I bring lines of produced science packs on the opposite side of their respective production li es from the main bus and then just bus them into my science research facility. I am by no means a "pro" player, but this just makes sense to me
A great tutorial. I think it's good that you took the advice to speak more slowly. You're a lot easier to understand. At least for people like me whose English isn't the best.
A tutorial about the scalability / extensibility of the individual production sections would be very interesting.
who the fuck can dislike this. like seriously.
ive known the bus before, kinda came up with it myself, because i use Bus systems at work itself and it makes sense !
Good video ! nicely structured and clear.
I've only been playing the game for about 60 hours and have realized my base is just a giant clusterfuck of spaghetti thrown into a rats nest and I can't get certain materials to the other side of my base where they are needed.. this bus idea is great, but it will be difficult to tear down my base or even expand it with the multitude of biter nests all around. I'm spending all my time just trying to figure out how to get some copper or steel across the base and destroying nests that keep respawning that I haven't been able to focus on anything else. It makes me want to quit and start over...
I’ve started many bases over… in the pursuit of my dream base… something simple but chugging out materials
started this game and i love your videos
What confuses me about your bus size recommendations is that you didn't mention Stone/Oils/Coal which I have seen you add to the main bus for explosives and blue science (I've not got further than blue science myself so if used in later recipes I don't know) by not talking about these it makes it more difficult to plan out the width of your bus. Should they be added or not?
Really liking the thumbnails for these Nilaus! They look awesome!
Coming from your previous Jump Start Base guide to this... makes my head explode.
Much respect.
if you want to see the natural transition from the Jump Start base to a Bus Base, then I would recommend checking out one of my Lets Plays like "Lets Start Automating" or the latest one "Base in a Book"
@@Nilaus Thanks, just started watching the series!
The Path Lives!
The Sacred Path IMHO makes a base look more organized. And, of course, you run faster on it too.
I hate moving slow so I always mass produce refined concrete and coat my entire factory in it. It causes a little more pollution but it's just so convenient.
If this was a webinar from a sales engineer selling my company a product I needed I'd probably be onboard.
One advantage of building on one side is that it is a lot easier to bring in trains on the unbuilt side to top-off resource lines particularly after ultra hungry production modules sucks resource lines dry.
Used to play the spaghetti way. Switched to using a Main Bus. Its like playing the game on easy mode. 10/10 can recommend.
Very good advice in this video. Finally getting around to a mega-base on v1.0 and was looking for something on properly organising smelting - never done them as columns before, but now so obvious how the rest of production is usually done
I cant wait to start seeing videos like this about Dyson Sphere Program
Very well done, Professor Nilaus!
Can you make an episode about transitioning into a megabase? I always struggled transitioning into a megabase and ended up abandoning my factories after finishing up my main bus-based base.
ua-cam.com/video/etMx0sI4_Uo/v-deo.html
Hope this is what youre looking for
Thats lost of busses shown, nice examples of clear design. Like the master builder series so far.
Yep, I totally understood everything you said
the reason we call it a bus... is because it acts like a school bus, taking passengers (materials) and bringing them to a designed destination. this was a thing in many factories way before computers got involved. after all we had been having mass production factories way before computers existed. and before computers we were using mechanics to produce the same effects. computer actually only added the concept of logistics, which back then were only done by engineered hardware that had mechanical way of defining what was going where, such a holes big enough for 1 certain type of materials or net like stuff for liquids and filtrings... so the term bus definitely existed way before computers were a thing. its really much simpler then computer analogy... it really simply means the concept of taking multiple things at once and bringing them to another place all together. and then going back to the starting point and doing it again. much like school bus does !
Awesome serie, very helpful and short videos
This video was informative, well paced, and in the Nilaus spirit. Felt bad about the not so positive feedback on the previous video but this feels like you enjoyed yourself more making this video and that's the most important thing when it comes to your content.
Great advice at the end hah!
Great Video / Guide Nilaus, Thanks for what you do for the community!
Of course, players could build a sub-bus for things like cogs which would follow a split, so they could organise their production of that item but also follow the local production tip presented here at the same time. The aim would be to have a smaller total unused buffer of that item at the end of the sub-bus.
My mainbus are trains and a center storage station.
This is the greate thing in factorio - every body can play like he want and motstly it work.
Like goes out for the video.
CONGRATS ON 1K!!!
This looks amazing. I've only just discovered steam power and can't imagine a day when I'll have evolved to this size factory but consider my mind blown.
Thank for this. It felt much better pacing than the last one this time you were able to breathe. :-)
I personally like to include chemical intermediary like sulfur, batteries, explosive, often with lubricant and sulfuric acid pipelines
I use a back bus for science packs so I don't need to move my science labs forward periodically. I also use a mini bus within science pack production and make the engines for both blue and yellow science in one location, reducing the overall branches to build engines twice.
Of course the sacred path gets a mention XD
Arguably, one-sided bus doesn't have to be twice as long. You can leave a bit of space alongside the production line for branching belts (or under-belt right through it, depending on the design) and place the secondary production areas below (or above) the first one.
thank you for the in-depth topics. you and JD are my two reference builders
I would like to defend the dynamic bus.
You start out with a narrow bus (just iron and copper for example) then let the bus grow wider as you add more things, you still use both sides (one mainly for science probably).
It is a much less intimidating design for newer players, featuring less planning and no need to know the entire game ahead of time. (And so also good for complex mods).
It saves a lot of space and resources in the early slow parts of the game.
And I think it looks much better than having vast empty space at the start of the bus in my opinion.
The main downside is that it doesn't fit as well into a citygrid style of base.
No problem. I feel that a bus twice as long is too big of a disadvantage to outweigh the relatively small advantage of not needing to plan ahead
@@Nilaus If you by any change read this now Kholto or Nilaus I'm just starting this game. About 6 hours in. I am near blue science stage. My factory is Spegetti so I am trying to start a bus. I don't want to look up everything that comes a head. I'm not using mods... well QoL mods nothing fancy. Should I still attempt a BUS like your Nilaus not knowing really what kind of production comes in the future? Or would you both recommend Kholto's idea if I don't want to look up future recipes. Also I hear about adding a Robo Port? Whatever that is into the bus? Is it needed I don't think it was mentioned in this video?
P.S I am using the mod that doubles and triples the size of underground belts which may favor a certain kind of bus setup? But I imagine I just still follow a general standard bus formula. Thanks.
Great video! It really digs into the fundamentals of buses without being too long. I would like to see some more tips and tricks for pull-offs from the bus.
I didn't think to have a dedicated space to walk or drive before this. thanks .
not the hero we deserve but the hero we needed
Thanks Nilaus
Great pacing! Good complete information, nicely done.
Nilaus, I did the math on the rebalancing section. And I believe you don't need the two splitters at the exit.
I am new to Factorio, so it is possible I am making a mistake, but with the assumption that a splitter evenly distributes two inputs to two outputs I believe I am correct.
Such a super useful video! I love that you have a Sacred Path, it is your unique idea (as far as I have seen on UA-cam so far at least).
Any experience with duplex / bi-directional busses?
The idea sounds charming to be able to "refill" the bus at any point and send resources both ways, so your production can be anywhere.
Of course, it takes much more managing to split and turn....
that is easy for things such as copper, green circuits use so much copper that you end up taking out whole lanes and you have spare space. You can then just insert copper from anywhere on the bus from trains etc. and have them run either way.
I got an idea solving many disadvantages sacrificing some of the advantages. I'll try making a single side main bus with a second buffer bus. The idea behind this is to allow for extreme megabase expansion while keeping everything saturated without the chance of any shortages unless there's not enough train demand.
I use priority splitter to take from the bus, and just after it 3 more splitters to shift everything to the belt line that had items taken from. This way I know if the item needs more production, and sidefeed it to refill the 4 lanes. The sidefeed may be more furnaces, etc. I use one-sided bus. I think balancers are bad for control. After prioritizing, if you see an empty lane, just sidefeed it.
Estupenda explicación sobre la distribución y optimización de los recursos
ordenando la base con main bus
I've got sort of a looped bus; it goes around my main base and a few outposts, branching a bit before going back to the beginning. The advantage is, I can input and output any bus materials anywhere along the line, and there is considerable storage on the belts. Also, since the bus has consistent width everywhere, I've got a blueprint I can just paste everywhere I need to expand the thing. Disadvantage is, I'm only now realizing I made the bus too thin to start with, and changing it now will be a huge undertaking...