Factorio Forums

One approach to solving the Belts vs Bots problem is to simply change what they're competing with.
Instead of competing with Belts, make them replace Inserters.

The easiest way to do this that i can see is instead of tying them to chests, tie them to factories. Give them a certain speed and range from the factory (farther and faster with upgrades) and let them grab from belts.

This not only simplifies the inserter tedium that complex belt setups run into, but creates interesting optimization possibilities with trying to stack different items in the same belt line in reliable patterns for early setups before you have bot range, or building some factories right next to rail lines for certain kinds of items

To go along with this, maybe instead of Roboports give Factories an Add-On section that you can put a bot module into. This would let you make other add-ons that could go there instead to create alternate choices for factories that already have optimized inserter inputs expanding options for interesting optimizations even further!

Some alternative Factory Add-On options might be

Inline Feed - causes the factory to stop accepting inserter inputs, but gives it a single belt pass through, picking up what it needs and passing the rest on. This way you trade the ease of bots for simplified multi-threading of production for trivial items, while taking less space (you can stack them right next to each other)

Second Assembler - Allows producing two items at once in a single factory, trading ease of bots for faster (or more complex) manufacturing. The factories modules would affect both assemblers adding another layer of efficiency and possible optimizations. Maybe allow them to make different items and even accept input from the other assembler allowing for interesting manufacturing optimization puzzles

I suspect the main reason people who prefer bots want to stick with them is the ease of effort in setting up new complex manufacturing. People who want to optimize for maximum throughput will end up retooling for whatever is indeed best whether that's belts or bots. By having bots replace inserters you can allow players to optimize for this ease of use, without destroying the ability to optimize for other constraints allowing personalization based on playstyle and player preference

The core idea here is that while Factorio is a game of optimizations, these let you optimize for different things (effort, complexity, production speed) by allowing trade offs instead of having one solution be optimal in all ways.