Welcome to General Solutions' outline of bulk transit issues and their solutions. This outline is for the individual seeking a clean, cutting edge generalized solution to all their transit needs. Please feel free to leave comments under this outline, we love to hear from the public and look forward to answering any questions posed.

Before starting, some explanation and clarification is required. A Bulk Transit System, or BTS is a set of loose rules that will allow large quantities of material to be transported in an organized way. A Generalized Bulk Transit System, or GBTS is a set of blueprints that when applied correctly will allow their applicator to have a solution to any bulk transportation requirement they may come across.

Notes: All graphics used in this outline will show half capacity belts as full capacity belts obfuscate direction (Fig. 1). All blueprints included in this outline will strive to take up the least amount of space, use the least amount of materials, be as simple as possible, and be as beautiful as possible, in that order. All blueprint prices are accurate as of 12/3/2020.

(Fig. 1)

A GBTS needs three types of blueprints. One for Straights, or situations where materials need to travel in a straight trajectory, one for Bends, or situations where materials need to make a 90 degree turn, and one for Intersections, or places where two Straights intersect.

A Basic Straight (Fig. 1.1) consists of an 8 wide area of belts facing the same direction. The Straight is 8 wide to accommodate the maximum underground travel distance of a Tier 2 Tunnel. The most resource minimal way for a Straight to cross another Straight is by using 8 Tier 2 Tunnels (Fig. 1.2). If a Straight needs to cross 2 Straights, a 2 unit gap is necessary between the 2 Straights to allow for the Tier 2 Tunnel to renew its maximum underground travel distance (Fig. 1.3). This means that a gap of two units should be left between all Straights to ensure that it is possible for any 2 Straights to cross at any point in the future. These 2 rules make up the Basic Intersection, a tile-able grid of Straights (Fig. 1.4). Lastly, Basic Bends are only limited by taking up as little space as possible, as illustrated in Fig 1.5.

(Fig. 1.1)
(Fig. 1.2)
(Fig. 1.3)
(Fig. 1.4)
(Fig 1.5)

With the fundamentals covered, we will move on to the more advanced version of the GBTS

8 wide Straights are great as learning devices but lack in efficiency. Carrying 8 belts worth of material in 8 units of space may seem like an efficient use of space, but it pales in comparison to the space efficiency of a Woven GBTS. "Woven" refers to the process of weaving belts, a technique of placing Tier 1 and 2 Tunnels such that two belts can go under and over one another (Fig. 2). This process is called Belt Weaving.

(Fig. 2)

WOVEN STRAIGHT

A Woven Straight (Fig 2) allows for 16 belts to fit into an 8 wide area, needs a minimum of 16 Tier 1 Tunnels and 16 Tier 2 Tunnels per 10 tiles placed, making the tileable blueprint 8X10 units and cost 600 blueprints. The Woven Straight can be shortened to fit the need (Fig. 2.1) and even converted into a 2 Way Woven Straight (Fig. 2.2). The 2 Way Woven Straight will be revisited in more detail later in the outline, so for know keep in mind that any of the blueprints can be converted into full or partial 2 Way Woven Straight by reversing the direction of any of the tunnels and belts.

(Fig. 2.1)
(Fig. 2.2)

WOVEN BEND

Woven Bends are somewhat more complex to achieve in a small form factor. Through the transfer of some Tier 1 Tunnels to Tier 2 Tunnels and vice versa, Woven Lines can turn in any direction necessary. This will scramble the lines, so make sure to take into account how many turns a belt makes when loading your GBTS. The blueprint is 10X10 units and costs 560 blueprints.

(Fig. 2.3)

WOVEN INTERSECTION

Woven Intersections (Fig. 2.4) area also achievable in a small form factor. At 12X12 units and at a cost of 820 blueprints. Keep in mind that because the Tier 1 Tunnels are staggered when entering and leaving a Woven Intersection. This means that when Woven Intersections are tiled, the center area must be rotated 90 degrees (Fig. 2.5).

(Fig. 2.4)
(Fig. 2.5)

WOVEN INTERSECTION BEND

Unfortunately, a regular Woven Bend is not compatible with a Woven Intersection. This is due to the stagnated nature of the Tier 1 Tunnels not matching up between both blueprints. You may also notice that the Tier 1 Tunnels in a Woven Intersection are staggered differently on different sides, This means that two slightly different Woven Intersection Bends (Fig. 2.6) are necessary. These Woven Intersection Bends can be used to connect two Woven Intersections or turn out of a Woven Intersection or Woven Straight. Both Woven Intersection Belts are 10X10 units and cost 600 blueprints.
Note: The reason Woven Bends are included even though they are made redundant by Woven Intersection Bends is due to their mirrored nature. Beauty is a characteristic we at General Solutions take very seriously.

(Fig. 2.6)

The Woven GBTS is a fantastic way to streamline the intake and output of materials, but there are some instances where a slightly different, exclusively 2 Way Woven GBTS would make for the more efficient choice. By taking advantage of the copy and paste tools unlocked at Level 12, two of the same tier tunnels facing different directions will not interact. This means that a Woven Straight can be made of exclusively Tier 2 Tunnels and conveyor belts. Tier 2 Tunnels, due to their higher maximum underground reach, are able to intake and output more materials in a smaller space (See 'Intake and Output' Section). This means that if the situation permits, an exclusively 2 Way Woven GBTS will be more convenient and open for future development than a Woven GBTS.

2 WAY WOVEN STRAIGHT

At a maximum expansion of 8X16 units and at a cost of 820 Blueprints, the 2 Way Woven Straight(Fig. 3) is the basis for the 2 Way Woven GBTS.

(Fig. 3)

2 WAY WOVEN BEND

Heavy use of the copy and paste tool will be necessary for the initial building of the 2 Way Woven GBTS (Fig. 3.1). Careful attention to direction and color of input and output Tier 2 Tunnels will help with this build. Due to the nature of the 2 Way Woven GBTS, no crossover between the two belt layers exists. There is however a mixing of the red and cyan dyes seen in Fig. 3.1. The design is 10X10 and costs 600 Blueprints.

(Fig. 3.1)

2 WAY WOVEN INTERSECTION

With the increased maximum underground reach of the Tier 2 Tunnels and a lack of reliance on Tier 1 tunnels, 2 Way Woven Intersections can be built into a variety of configurations. The simplest solution (Fig. 3.2) is easy to understand and implement but lacks grace in execution and uses an excess of Tier 2 Tunnels. The design seen in Fig. 3.3 is the most efficient in terms of use of Tunnels and space while also allowing a simple view of how all the layers of the intersection interact. For a more creative approach to this problem, see Fig. 3.4. The designs all measure 12X12 units and cost 820, 820, and 800 Blueprints respectively.

(Fig. 3.2)
(Fig. 3.3)
(Fig. 3.4)

Illustrations of how each of the 2 Way Woven Intersections tile together can be seen in Figures 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7.

(Fig. 3.5)
(Fig. 3.6)
(Fig. 3.7)

2 WAY WOVEN INTERSECTION BEND

When necessary to bend from and into an intersection it is recommended to use the less tunnel efficient intersection (Fig 3.2). This allows for the maximum reach of all Tier 2 Tunnels and reuse of the same bend design seen in Fig. 3.1.

(Fig 3.2)

There are even more specific cases where it may be more space efficient to use a 3 Way Woven GBTS, or a GBTS that uses three 'levels' of tunnels to achieve 24 belts worth of material transit in only 8 units of width. This system, while very space efficient, is increasingly difficult to use as intake and output channels and impossible to bend or intersect with itself or other systems in the prior dimensions. This is why we at GBTS recommend these blueprints only be used to transport large quantities of material long distances in a straight line.

3 WAY WOVEN STRAIGHT

There are three ways to make a 3 \Way Woven Straight. This is due to the nature of how tunnels interact with each other and the maximum underground reach of each type of tunnel. A 3 Way Woven Straight can be made with two opposing sets of Tier 1 Tunnels and one set of Tier 2 Tunnels (Fig. 4), two sets of opposing Tier 2 Tunnels and one set of Tier 1 Tunnels (Fig. 4.1), or a variation on two opposing sets of Tier 1 Tunnels and one set of Tier 2 Tunnels (Fig. 4.2). We recommend using the design seen in Fig 4.1 as it has the larges area of possible interaction with intake and output methodology, see 'Intake and Output'. The designs take up a maximum of 8X6, 8X10, and 8X7 units and cost 280, 420, and 320 Blueprints respectively.

(Fig. 4)
(Fig. 4.1)
(Fig. 4.2)

3 WAY WOVEN BEND AND INTERSECTION

As mentioned previously it is not currently possible to design a 3 Way Woven Bend or Intersection inside the size constraints set forth previously. GBTS sends its apologies and hopes for a future where all transit solutions are available and beautiful.

BELT CONVERSION

Because the 3 Way Woven GBTS is so dense in tunnels, there are not many efficient ways to intake and output from them. Below (Fig 4.3) is an example of one of the more efficient ways found thus far to convert a Woven Straight into a 3 Way Woven Straight.

(Fig 4.3)

INTAKE

Nature is, unfortunately, quite chaotic, and mostly requires the on site adaptation we here at GBTS frown upon. Fortunately, there are some raw material deposits large enough that a generalized blueprint can be made for extraction (Fig. 5). Cost: 1300 Blueprints. This blueprint, while quite space efficient, will not fit all resource nodes, and does not collect all resources in any given node due to the chaotic nature of the shape of nodes. Therefore, to ensure maximum resource efficiency, it is recommended to use a case by case methodology to extract raw resources.

(Fig. 5)

OUTPUT

Output is a more complex affair than intake, as there are more variables to consider when making the decisions associated. There are instances from where a single belt is needed to be directed into a factory to instances where more than one Woven Belt Straight are needed. There are also cases where transfer from one Woven Straight to another is necessary. These issues will likely have to be considered case by case, but there is one concept to keep in mind through that decision making process. Intake, output, and transfer are all simplified by using the largest possible belt area. This simply means that it is easier to output two belts from a Woven Straight if you have six units of belt to work with rather than two. From this it is easy to see that Tier 2 Tunnels are vastly more efficient at intake, output, and transfers.

The output of one layer of Woven or 2 Way Woven Straights can be achieved by condensing the 8 belts into a 4 Wide Woven Bend (Fig. 5.1)(Cost: 220 Blueprints), then flowing into a Straight, and finally onto the designated area/factory/etc. This blueprint can also be used to transfer 8 belts from one straight to another (Fig 5.2). Cost: 540 Blueprints.

(Fig 5.1)
(Fig 5.2)

MISC

Accessing the materials in a woven belt that are in the Tier 1 Tunnel layer can be difficult, as there is only 2 units of belt to use in intake, output, or transfer. The best solution is to simply swap the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Tunnel layers (Fig 5.3). Once completed, this design will make any Tier 1 Tunnel Layer as accessible as any Tier 2 Tunnel layer, as that is what it now is. Cost: 1000 Blueprints.

(Fig 5.3)

Thank you for exploring this outline and considering integrating a GBTS into your Shapez.io experience. If you find this guide helpful or would like to issue a complaint or correction please comment down below. We will get back to you shortly.