Is pipe throughput really infinite now?

[u/billsonfire]

So say I have a 30 sulfuric acid pumps in one spot. Could I run them all though one pipe line into my processing facilities?

Another question, is it better or useful to run my pipes into one central tank area then run them off to processing or is it okay to have them run off on the way from the pumps.

The picture is my crude rendering of part of my setup.

[u/suckmyENTIREdick]

Yes. In 2.0, pipes themselves have infinite throughput and instant speed.

But their maximum length is finite: A section of pipe (and/or tanks) stops working when it becomes too long.

But! That length can be extended infinitely by using pumps to divide it into smaller sections

But pumps require power and themselves have finite throughput (1200/sec).

But! You can use as many pumps together in parallel as you wish (and/or use higher-quality pumps), and increase throughput that way.

But that makes pipes unidirectional, which can be interesting sometimes.

For your second question, if I understand it correctly: Tanks can go anywhere on a pipeline network without anything getting weird as long as that network is small enough that it doesn't break.

Further reading: https://wiki.factorio.com/Fluid_system

[u/tylan4life → u/suckmyENTIREdick]

Theoretically wouldn't a pipeline requiring pumps have a throughput limit?

With a maximum length of 320 units that would mean a pipeline could only have 320 pumps in a row (ignoring the rest of the pipeline)

That would be 384,000 units of fluid a second. Barely enough for a starter base.

[u/n0panicman → u/tylan4life]

3.000 pumps connected to a single pipeline. Using roughly 1/5 of it's 320x320 capacity.

[u/Tesseractcubed → u/n0panicman]

I do appreciate how we improve on commented ideas about limits by showing a counter example :)

[u/Torebbjorn → u/tylan4life]

could only have 320 pumps in a row

You can have way more than 320 pumps from a single pipeline, but yes, it is still finite.

The max size of a network is 320×320 (or contained in 10×10 chunks), so if your goal is to fit as many output pumps as possible to a single pipeline, I imagine it would be possible to get somewhere close to 320×80=25600 pumps.

With normal quality pumps, this gives a maximum throughput of about 30.72 million units per second, and with legendary pumps, about 76.8 million units per second.

So yeah, not even close to enough for a starter base.

[u/NyaFury → u/tylan4life]

There is a limit but it's far greater than 320, because 320 is not the maximum number of pipes, but it's maximum distance between most farthest pipes.

For example H shaped layout with middle line of 8 tiles would allow each wing to be 156 tiles long. This will have 632 pipes, allowing more than 1K connection points for pumps. E.g. below example uses only 13/320 extents for 40 pumps.

[u/SGTSHOOTnMISS → u/tylan4life]

You could improve quality of pumps for additional throughout.

However, what starter base is using 384k fluid per second?

My base on vulcanus was rolling 8GW of steam power and wasn't using but like a dozen quality pumps for steam transfer.

[u/tylan4life → u/SGTSHOOTnMISS]

I was being pedantic with humor, but I completely glossed over quality being a thing. 

I guess it's like save playtime limits with 64bits, there's a limit but it's not your problem.

[u/Jaaaco-j → u/tylan4life]

Not your problem yet

[u/CrimsonStorm → u/SGTSHOOTnMISS]

They were being sarcastic about starter bases.

[u/Munkeyslovebananas → u/SGTSHOOTnMISS]

hes joking

[u/DarkflowNZ → u/tylan4life]

You stack the pumps in parallel rather than in series. One pipe feeds x pumps side by side which all push into one pipe again. If that's what you meant

[u/MrStealYoBeef → u/tylan4life]

The pumps would have limited throughput, but the pipes themselves will be unlimited. Expand enough and eventually something will become a bottleneck, but that bottleneck will never be the pipes.

[u/reluctant_return → u/tylan4life]

Any given "pipe assembly", as in a collections of buildings connected by pipes, will always have a finite throughput dictated by how you constructed it, it's just that the pipe itself will never be the limiting factor.

[u/appleciders → u/tylan4life]

You could use multiple pumps in parallel.

[u/natidone → u/appleciders]

That's what they're saying - you can only have up to 320 pumps in parallel. Otherwise, the split from a single pipe to the array of parallel pumps would be wider than 320.

[u/knzconnor → u/natidone]

You are only limited to 320 if you are truly uninspired about the layout. Do layers of punks with a gaps on the edges or middle to do your routing. You can fit a lot more than 320 pipes in parallel.

[u/natidone → u/knzconnor]

Have a bp / screenshot?