TL;DR
I would like clarification on why filter inserters are being removed and filter functionality added to all other inserters, but stacks aren't being added to those same inserters and instead require a different inserter. I feel both filtering and stacking could be a technology unlock, and the tiers of inserters would be preserved by fast inserters already being faster and bulk inserters being able to stack more.What ?
The tech tree for inserters is straightforward in all cases.Pre-2.0 Inserters Tiers (not necessarily research):
Burner->Electric/Long<Fast/Filter<Stack/Filter Stack
Possible Post-2.0 Inserters, as I understand it Tiers (not necessarily research), per FFF#393:
Burner<Electric/Long<Fast<Stack<Bulk
with Filtering on all types for free
I might be mistaken about the filtering being free and it might be a research, but that's irrelevant to the point I'm trying to make, as I'm less concerned with how the tech tree works than with how the inserters function after everything is researched.
My suggestion is this:
If filtering is able to be turned on or off for each inserter, why not also have stacking simply also be a toggle for each inserter instead of a new object. The FFF#393 mentions the stack size being unwieldy, but perhaps switching on stacking could reduce the maximum stack size while stacking is on.
Why ?
It seems strange to bake filtering into all inserters because it makes everything better and less bloated, and in the same FFF introduce a new inserter with a feature that itself would be useful as a feature on all inserters. In FFF#393, the post goes so far as to give reasons for giving all inserters filters as- "In the context of Space Age, it is common that you send both types of inserters to the space platform while now you'll be fine with just one. On top of that, some of the asteroid processing and related recipes were hitting the 1 filter maximum of the stack filter inserter.
- It can also be really convenient to be able to set filters on long handed inserters."[\list]
And in the very next sentence say "This frees up purple and white from inserter colors, so I could use the new inserter shapes and paint them white."
With the increased capacity of bulk inserters (16 vs. stack inserters at 12) but the increased functionality of stack inserters, wouldn't it still be the case that Space Age will still have us sending up both types of inserters? You stated earlier in the post, they have slightly different use cases. Also, would long inserters not still be useful if you could make them stack?