Tool belt improvements

[BenSeidel]

"When, exactly, are items automatically moved from character inventory slots to reserved toolbelt slots (because clearly it does happen)?"

That one is easy. They will go to the toolbar when their item prototype has the flag "goes-to-quickbar". As an additional overloaded behaviour, when control-clicking, they will be put into the auto-trash when the item prototype does NOT have this flag. Fun isn't it?

Actually, I think you're answering a different question than the one I mean: something like, "which I shift-click, which items go to trash slots and which go to the toolbelt?"

What I'm wondering above is stuff like, for example:

(note: since I can't remember for sure, I'm pretending below that ammo stacks to 50. I think maybe it's actually 100... maybe it changed recently, or something? But let's just pretend for a moment that it's 50, even if that's wrong, for purposes of discussion.)

• Let's say I have 50 ammo in my toolbelt, in a reserved toolbelt slot. And 1000 ammo in my inventory slots. And say I plunk down a turret and put a half stack (25) in there from my toolbelt. Now, I press "q". How many ammo are in my toolbelt, 25 or 50?
• Same scenario, but now let's say I empty out all 50 ammo from my toolbelt with a stack-transfer to a second turret. How many ammo are now in my toolbelt, 0 or 50?

Hmm. Then I am missing your point because knowing if it goes into you inventory or your belt is fairly easy as any automatic movement will always try to put things in your belt first, before putting it in your inventory.

There is no mechanism to automatically move things to your belt from your inventory, there must be some action to make it occur. Ctrl-clicking on an empty space is one such method, and really the only method I am aware of that goes directly from your inventory to your belt. Everything else involves having the item in some other storage (including your hand) and then "automatically" moving it into your inventory. This automatic movement can be a ctrl-click or shift-clicking on an item in another box or clearing your hand with a "Q".

or am I missing something?

If you want to suggest new mechanics that's fine but saying filters should work differently is the wrong suggestion as it would also change how cars work and how cargo wagons work and how anything with an inventory that has filters works.

Will it really? I am unaware of how to get my hand crafting requests to use items that are in my car.

[Engimage]

As it has been proposed multiple of multiples of times

Make the toolbelt a simple hotbar which does not contain items but contains only links to those items. It should display the total number of these items in your inventory.
To compensate resulting inventory loss you should expand inventory by 10 slots from the start and replace toolbelt expansion research with inventory expansion instead.
And make Esc key finally cancel item placement.
This will effectively remove the need of locking toolbelt slots as well as prevents item jumping between slots while you try to place them. Yhis is most annoying in the start of the game and is absolutely destructive for new player experience.

These suggestions are not born from nowhere. They are there cause people are so much used to it from other games that any other behaviour is 100% unclear for them. I am playing Factorio for 7 months already but I still find the local toolbelt absolutely unclear and annoying as hell.

Also this would open up an opportunity to introduce "skills" that could be placed on a toolbar instead of just items.

I am not trying to force Factorio into "average Joe" like thing. It is just an obvious thing that most players out there are used to.

[ssilk]