Inserters ignores belt end items if saturated

Bugs that are actually features.
bluewilson
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Inserters ignores belt end items if saturated

Post by bluewilson »

Though it could be an optimization feature of the inserter more than a bug, I report it as it in this case makes my OCD go a bit nuts.

Sorry about only providing one image, instead of a video clip. Can supply it on request.
11-01-2024, 08-40-10.png
11-01-2024, 08-40-10.png (762.3 KiB) Viewed 675 times
Inserters are only disable/enable limited by amount of ore/carbon/ice in the hub. No filters are set. (alt mode is on)

On the space platform, regular crushing occurs, and a belt is saturated with ore, carbon and ice, and a 20% amount of asteroid biproducts. As illustrated on the image, exactly 3 small asteroid pieces are lingering under the inserters' arms, waiting for pickup. As long as the ore, the ice, or the carbon is available for pickup, behind the three first items, those are the ones getting picked, leaving the tip of the belt untouched.

This is not a problem for most belts, containing one and only one item, and is mostly an annoyance for this case. But what about spoiled items? A belt of a 2:10 ratio of two items, where the 20% is spoilables. It could end in disaster!
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boskid
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Re: Inserters ignores belt end items if saturated

Post by boskid »

Thanks for the report however i am not considering this to be a bug. Inserters look for valid item pickup starting from the incoming end of the transport line which in case of item chasing gives the inserter the largest amount of time to chase the item before it leaves given transport belt piece. This logic is not guarded by any end belt piece checks.
MrGergoth
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Re: Inserters ignores belt end items if saturated

Post by MrGergoth »

This should be changed for the function *Spoiled first* because fighting spoilage becomes impossible when the line is full :the change will allow spoilage items consumed first, but without this feature the player cannot fight the spoilage completely, just because player can build blueprint for this but game desing not allow this spoilage grab. Please, change this.
viewtopic.php?t=121912
Loewchen
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Re: Inserters ignores belt end items if saturated

Post by Loewchen »

MrGergoth wrote: Thu Aug 21, 2025 3:42 pm
This is not a bug, if you want to make a suggestion make it here: viewforum.php?f=6.
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