[boskid][2.0.23] inserter can't insert spoilage into captive biter spawner

[damiendier]

a inserter can't insert spoilage If the waste slot does not "exist" (And it doesn't make the waste slot apear)
it can put it in the egg exit slot If it's not already full of them
This is a problem because the bioflux can rot inside the inserter (inserter don't try to put spoilage in when there's no slot)

12-11-2024, 13-07-19.png (233.6 KiB) Viewed 256 times

[damiendier]

I did more testing even when the slot exists it cannot insert spoilage into captive biter spawner

12-11-2024, 13-14-21.png (171.24 KiB) Viewed 247 times

[IsaacOscar]

Interestingly, you can insert spoilage into an assembling machine, even if the recipe doesn't have any ingredients or outputs that can spoil.

[IsaacOscar]

Actually, I did some testing, and an inserter can always insert spoilage, if you either:

• Manually put spoilage in it's hand
• It has something else in it's hand that spoils.

This seems to apply to all machines with slots (except rocket silos), including biter spawners:

12-11-2024, 22-22-26.png (161.79 KiB) Viewed 225 times

[IsaacOscar]

So this is not a bug, and you don't have to worry about your bioflux spoiling in the inserters hand. You still need to worry about it spoiling though before the inserter picks it up. Or spoiling whilst in the biter spawner (you'll need to have an inserter remove spoilage, so it doesn't overfill).

[Nemoricus]

you don't have to worry about your bioflux spoiling in the inserters hand.

Only true if the spawner is kept empty of eggs.

[IsaacOscar]

Only true if the spawner is kept empty of eggs.

Oh, because it puts the spoilage in the output slot, stupid me misread the post.
This is not specific to biter spawners though, and the dev's will probably say it's not a bug, but yes it would make more sense to put spoilage in a trash slot and not the output slot.

[atomizer]

viewtopic.php?p=642832#p642832

[FactorioPony]

Yeah it seems like an awkward interaction more than a bug. At least personally, it seems like having extra spoilage sent to the 'spoiled fuel' slot feels like a fitting solution that would be in line with the expected behavior, without really changing any balance other than in this case. But there's probably other weird edge cases where that's worse or need special handling, like recipes that require spoilage, machines that accept spoilables but don't need fuel(assemblers), and people using stack inserters to add spoilage then being confused that their biochamber always voids some of it back immediately.

If the tradeoff between eggs being kept in the spawner or not is a truly desired feature though, or the alternatives are worse for ^ those reasons, perhaps just adding a Spoilage tip along the lines of:

"Items spoiling inside a machine or inserter will be moved to the machine's output, if available. Keep your outputs open to make sure spoilage is handled properly!"

Would be a really elegant way to let observant players understand that it's something to look out for, without spoiling(hah!) the specific points in the production chain where it might matter most, and most importantly without requiring players to test this interaction obsessively with every new machine they feed spoilables(The current state of things afaik).

[damiendier]

You're right it can't go in waste slot
It's not a bug but it still needs to be fixed because otherwise the mechanic of keeping eggs inside so they don't rot becomes strictly worse
Because even if it has little chance of happening with enough time and enough machines it will happen eventually.