Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Increase bulk inserter's maximum hand size to 16 for Space Age

What?

There should be an ability to make bulk inserters to handle 16 items per swing through research. "Transport belt capacity 2" already increases hand size for noral inserters 3 -> 4, it should include bulk inserter too, or make it in separate upgrate like "Inserter capacity bonus 8" available after unlocking stack inserters.

Why?

• To balance stack and bulk inserters. Right now chest-to-chest (trains/assemblers) item transfer is more efficient with bulk inserters. It is unintuitive and doesn't fit stack inserter profile (to stack items on belt).
• It won't create backward compatibility issues, guaranteed through separate research, but updating "Transport belt capacity 2" probably won't either
• There are already a mechanic of upgrading hand size
• 16 is a power of 2

"Transport belt capacity 2" already increases hand size for noral inserters 3 -> 4

Note that this is mostly so that you don't have regular inserters leaving partial stacks all the time when taking from stacked belts.

Right now chest-to-chest (trains/assemblers) item transfer is more efficient with bulk inserters.

What do you mean by "more efficient" here? Stack inserters are faster due to being able to carry more items per swing. So how are bulk inserters more efficient?

It is unintuitive and doesn't fit stack inserter profile (to stack items on belt).

I don't think it's reasonable for this to be their only reason for existence.

I am not convinced by any argument provided. 12 or 16 are both reasonable numbers. Stack inserter is slightly harder to use due to behavior of waiting for more items so having higher hand makes the decision between bulk and stack inserter rougly balanced.