[0.17.69 vanilla] Inserter mispick on rocket launch

[LDJ]

I think i found a bug with inserters on the rocket launcher.

I have several belts that transport items for the rocket and the satellite. Each side of the belt has different items and the inserters are picking from the required side for the satellite and rocket.

In the moment the rocket becomes ready for launch the inserters pick from the wrong side of the belts and block because they cannot drop the items into the locket launcher.

see the attached saves. one is before the bug occurs the second save shows the error state

[Rseding91]

Thanks for the report. This is currently how rocket silos are setup to operate: they allow any item(s) into the rocket inventory - not just satellites. You'll need to prevent the processing units from getting onto that belt if you don't want them to be launched into space

[LDJ]

Thanks for the reply, that explains it.

However the explanation is a bit counter intuitive. As i do not see any gain from sending anything else to space than a satellite, it requires some explanation to the player why this behavior is as it is. All other factories / buildings (at least as far as i know) in vanilla Factorio accept only items required for their recipe and my intuition was that the launcher would accept only the rocket parts and a satellite.

I assume you have something in mind for the launcher before the final release of the game? If that is so, then i hope it will clear things up for other players that may come across this pitfall.

[Inglonias]

Thanks for the reply, that explains it.

However the explanation is a bit counter intuitive. As i do not see any gain from sending anything else to space than a satellite, it requires some explanation to the player why this behavior is as it is. All other factories / buildings (at least as far as i know) in vanilla Factorio accept only items required for their recipe and my intuition was that the launcher would accept only the rocket parts and a satellite.

I assume you have something in mind for the launcher before the final release of the game? If that is so, then i hope it will clear things up for other players that may come across this pitfall.

Some minor spoilers for achievements/easter eggs below.

If you launch a fish into space, you get an achievement.

If you load a car into a rocket, you can ride the rocket as it launches (but as far as I can tell, cannot control it)

Apart from those two scenarios, I sort of agree with you. With the exception of mods, there's no good reason to allow you to load whatever you like into the rocket for launch.

[BlueTemplar]

Isn't there a (vanilla) scenario where you have to send items into space ?

[Ranger_Aurelien]

In the moment the rocket becomes ready for launch the inserters pick from the wrong side of the belts and block because they cannot drop the items into the locket launcher.

Perhaps use filter inserters to only put rocket parts or a satellite into the silo?