There's a spliter for transport belts, why not a Sorter?

[frostman64]

So as I said I would be posting more suggestions and ideas. Well this one is simple and sweet. It's a fully thought out suggestion rather than a long forgotten wish like the raised transportation systems, which makes me wonder why I didn't put trains in that post. Well that's aside from the topic I have for this post. My next idea for a neat addition is rather simple for transportation belts.

Have you ever just wanted to take two fully engorged belts and combine them without adding a new belt? Yeah it would be pretty nifty to just combine two full belts into one belt or two belts. This item actually goes outside the realm of just combining things; Rather, its more of a sorter for up to two belts and output to two belts but can be just as easily used as a combiner.

Essentially the item would have a placement like a spliter, directional output and input. The difference is you can program how it outputs to either side. The GUI would be similar to the smart inserter, where an item is selected for it to pick and place( or multiple of you like). So why not have a sorter/combiner/smart spliter? I don't really know what the best name for it would be. At this point, I think combiner is actually outside the realm of the suggestion(this is the point I edit the subject to read Sorter instead of combiner). This sorter would essentially have four outputs two for each belt and one for each side of each belt. From the same menu as the smart inserter, the player can choose what item should output on what belts on what sides through this simple UI. Of course if incorrect items are put on the belt the sorter would simply treat the item as if it was going through a normal spliter. Yes, this would mean you could swap the sides of two belts or combine two items onto two belts equally or even just sort two replica belts into one belt. It would equally take the input from both sides and sort it equally to the output as long as the selected materials are being input.

The possibilities would be fantastic! The best part about this suggestion is the idea already exists in the form of the smart inserter but sorting items on a belt without removing them would truly be spectacular.

This is a more plausible idea for factorio considering the applications and might even make for a simple addition based on the GUI for the smart inserter. The most difficult part i think would be having the sorter output the correct way through that GUI.

More suggestions to come from frostman64!
Thanks for taking a minute to read!

(Please excuse my spelling it was late in Saudi Arabia and I was about ready for bed.)

[daniel34]

I think you are not the first one to come up with that idea: Smart Splitter (Ideas and Suggestions)

[Neotix]

Why no sorter? Because you can build it.

[ssilk]

This article describes the reasons why this is not such a good idea also very well: viewtopic.php?f=80&t=24061 New Types of Belts (NOT!)

[frostman64]

Totally understandable. Thanks for the responses.