Ah I was wondering about the red names! I thought you'd colour coded white as outputs and red as inputs but that makes sense!
I think figuring it out so the trains go where they're needed is smarter long term.
Took me 49h to launch first rocket in this game (some mistake probably, I think I may have left the game running overnight) then rather swifter launched 7 more. Ran out of stone now though so I'm out of purple science until I can hook up a new stone farm, was running with just my original one until now. Before I start a new game I'm trying to figure out train mechanics better and continue with this one.
Lasers are powerful. Much better for creeping on enemy bases (besides the need to get power poles to the base) because robots can plant the lasers then they just annihilate the enemy. Personal lasers are powerful too, not sure if they'll cope when enemy is more evolved but before bed last night I went around my map and cleared all the biter bases anywhere close to me at all just by walking in to the base and my personal lasers destroying everything automatically. Had about 4 exoskeletons, 6 personal lasers and 4 shields with 4 mk 2 batteries and it just destroyed everything.