[0.17.68] Strange Inserter movement when low on power and non default configuration

[myricaulus]

Hello team,

Inserters have a strange moving pattern when low on power and on a non perfect circular swing as can be seen in the following video. As far as i can tell this happens only on extending/shortening (lateral?) movement. Could be also caused by Bob's inserted mod. The same inserter works totally normal when fully powered.
https://youtu.be/Wehhjp6SRu4
Might not be the worst bug currently, but still its there for your testers to increase coverage .

Btw: Your Team is as totally awesome as your game! Keep up the wonderful work. Cant wait for the next FFF. As a Software developer myself i really love your details about the development!

[posila]

Thank you for taking the time to post the bug report.

This is normal result of inserter simulation. It locks onto an item to pick up and tries to rotate and extend at its position at the same time, but because it doesn't have enough energy, it is slow and item moves out of the inserter's target belt, so it picks different one and tries to move to position to grab it, but it is slow ... and this repeats until finally manages to grab an item.

[myricaulus]

Thank you for the explanation. Just to clarify, when the arm extends to try to reach the moving item the arm does not rotate, because it cannot do both at once? At least it looks like this. Also it seem to prefer the slower lateral movement, which then looks so strange.

[posila]

Because it cannot do both at once?

Ah, you are right, it doesn't do both at once because it tries to extend first, consumes all energy it has and doesn't have any energy left to rotate. Maybe that could be improved. Moving to Minor issues then.