Factorio Forums

Pros:
Faster/more items per inserter move
No 1-item per action due to belts.

Cons:
Required research
Extra cost for inserts/chests
For longer lines you end up with alot of buffer which might be unwanted
Requires specific spacing between in/output
No underground belts/crossovers, could be fixed by "junction" chests and using smart inserters to continue out from there...

This ended up having way more cons then i had thought at first...
Am i the only one who's had this idea? Once you start researching inserter stack size this get's really efficient compared to the normal insert->belt->inserter, but it has it's obvious drawbacks... It'd be useful for high-volume things that would be really slow to put onto belts, like cables.

Take a look into this thread: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=8&t=8551

also: long arm-inserter spans 5 tiles instead of 3. In that case it is a useful alternative for middle sized belt lines (50 tiles or so), cause I think it can transport about or a bit more than basic belt, when you researched inserter stack size. An interesting alternative for your furnaces - instead of putting it directly on belts.

ssilk wrote:Take a look into this thread: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=8&t=8551

also: long arm-inserter spans 5 tiles instead of 3. In that case it is a useful alternative for middle sized belt lines (50 tiles or so), cause I think it can transport about or a bit more than basic belt, when you researched inserter stack size. An interesting alternative for your furnaces - instead of putting it directly on belts.

I had completely forgotten about using the long inserters actually, which would have helped me in alot of tight spots for my current factories. Thanks for that. i have seen that thread already aswell, but am a bit of research away from trains on my current game.

At first, i was under the impression that inserter stack bonus would apply to pick up and deposit into a belt. If that is not the case, how does one maximise the benefit of the stack bonus?

It seems it's only really useful if you have trains unloading into chests since the stack bonus can be used to unload the trains into chests and then allow the chests to unload unto the belts at a slower pace.

I believe if you have an inserter which takes items from an assembly machine, and puts them into another, then stack bonus also matters there.

One more cons: more power conpsumption.