Belt/Underground/Splitter/Loader easier upgrading

[Lav]

Suggestion

When upgrading the belt system, I have to constantly switch between belts, underground belts, splitters and loaders.

It would be great if I could upgrade all placed logistic items with a belt - for as long as I have a matching replacement in my inventory.

So if I run along a belt line with a blue belt in hand, and there's a yellow splitter diverting part of the line's contents to the side, I'd like that splitter to be upgraded automatically, without need for me to stop, switch between items, click once and switch back to belts.

[JohnyDL]

Personally I think the mod upgrade planner should be part of the base game

[daniel34]

Belt upgrades will behave in a different way in the future:
https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-206

Your suggestion (while not bad) is mutually exclusive to that actually I can see it working by having it replacing (with blue belt in hand) blue splitter --> blue belt (same tier) and red splitter --> blue splitter (different tier).

[Lav]

Belt upgrades will behave in a different way in the future:
https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-206

Your suggestion (while not bad) is mutually exclusive to that actually I can see it working by having it replacing (with blue belt in hand) blue splitter --> blue belt (same tier) and red splitter --> blue splitter (different tier).

I've seen that FFF before. Replacing belts with splitters/UG belts without having to mine them first would be extremely cool. I'm however less than enthused about the reverse replacement of underground belts and splitters with belts. UG belts and splitters are usually placed where they are necessary to separate/join/merge/isolate different belts and resource feeds. A single finger's twitch when laying down belts of the same tier in an already existing belt knot can easily clog up your resource flows. Even with yellow belts a mixup of this kind can cause an incident that will take a couple of minutes manual picking and dropping to fix. With blue belts and a possibility to suddenly have an UG belt replaced with regular belt that will merge into another belt (which UG belt was going under in the first place)... Just no. Please no.

[bradicai]

TL;DR

When holding belt and replacing splitter or underground already placed, change the splitter or underground to the same tier as belt in hand.

What ?

When "upgrading" a chain of conveyor belts by holding a different tier of belt in hand and placing it on top of a belt, factorio swaps the items, so you get a different belt placed on the ground without altering the belt(other than rotation). There is an identical process for undergrounds and for splitters, however it requires a couple of itemswaps, if you have a chain of all 3 of the varients of belts. An older FFF hinted at reducing "wasted time" by being able to replace a splitter with a belt, but I think more people would benefit from being able to Upgrade whichever variant of belt that is on the ground with the same tier of belt they are holding/placing, without changing the belt layout on the ground.

Why ?

I was remembering a FFF which hinted at replacing spliters with belts when placing belts, I remember thinking that this would/could(so it will) cause me to screw my belts up unintentionally. I'm not one of those "Never change it" kinda guys, but for some reason I was thinking about it, and if you are "upgrading your belts", you most likely would also like to upgrade the undergrounds and splitters that make up the chain of belts, since if they are ignored, your throughput will not be improved, and your upgrade of only belts, is really just a waste of extra iron.

[JohnyDL]

See this thread which was still in the top 15 when you posted

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=53507

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged topics about fast-replacing UG belts & splitters whilst replicing belts
If and until this is added into vanilla, you may use https://mods.factorio.com/mods/Klonan/upgrade-planner.
I also hope upgrading a logistic line will be made easier in vanilla, whatever the solution (blueprints, intelligent switching, ...)