I like the factory connection tool and it seems to work well.
Is it possible to disconnect factories?
Any ideas on how best to cross connect?
No, as far as I know there is no way to disconnect factories. If you link two already connected factories nothing happens. I can imagine that it's not difficult to make such a function, but until now there apparently has been no need for it.
How to cross connect best? Hmm, I'm a minimalist, so I make as less connections as possible. If a factory is served well then no need to connect more producers to it. But if a factory is not served well then a new producer might be useful. In general I would connect the factory that can deliver the goods fastest (usually the most nearby), unless it has capacity problems already. The reason for that is that a consuming factory has a storage limit, e.g. the producing factory stops producing for that factory when that limit is reached. If the consuming factory gets below the storage limit, the producing factory starts producing again, and you want the goods to reach the consuming factory before storage is exhausted (e.g. 0). In this way you get the best balanced production of goods.
On the other hand, a long travelling distance for goods can raise profits considerably. If you can consistently stay below the storage limits of the factories then you are doing well. But this is quite difficult to manage. Usually long lines are vulnerable for delays etc.
Agree!
My solution: I remove the industry, create it again and make only the necessary connection(s) Gives you also the opportunity to adjust the capacity.
Gentlemen,
Thanks for the thoughts. I think I need to play around a bit more to get a better picture of what affects what.