Because it makes sense. I'm not suggesting every single possible function have its own object. But in a game that has a rather huge number of options (even just for inserters alone) it seems like an oversight to not include these extremely rudimentary and helpful organizational tools which are pretty much the bread and butter of any production line.ssilk wrote:For the rest: Tell me a good reason. Currently I see no reason to have for every function an extra item, cause you need to produce that item, which cludders then your inventory. And all you need is to think and place some belts/splitters/undergrounds. I see a need for having this knowledge better shared, but not in the alpha-version.Hyena Grin wrote:I also like the idea of the funnel to switch and combine lanes onto one side. I'd use the heck out of that also, for example, when you have mining drills dumping onto both sides of a belt, and you want to shift all the ore to one lane so that you can start dumping coal onto the second lane. Or you have a line of assembly machines dumping products onto an inconvenient side of the belt. Yes there are ways to do this using perpendicular belts, but for those of us looking for more elegant, less space-intensive designs, these kinds of VERY BASIC production line mechanisms would be wonderful.
As for 'cluttering inventory,' what is this inventory clutter your speak of? Do you regularly walk around with multiple stacks of splitters? I know I don't. When I need one I make one. When I've used it, it's gone. Not to mention there's a huge amount of inventory space anyway, and creating huge amounts of additional storage is a mouse-click away. I'm not concerned about that.
What I am concerned about is having to twist the arm of the game mechanics in order to accomplish something which every factory in existence can pull off with a solitary piece of metal. I consider things like conveyor splitting and funneling to be fundamental to the design of a functional production line. You have made it clear you don't think so. I'm not sure we will come to an agreement on the matter.