Stack inserter

Stack inserter

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Recipe
0.5 + 1 + 10 + 2 + 1 → 1
Total raw
45 + 32 + 55 + 2 + 1 + 2.5 + 2
Map color
Health	160 208 256 304 400
Resistances	Fire: 0/90%
Stack size	50
Rocket capacity	50
Dimensions	1×1
Energy consumption	337 438 539 639 841 kW (electric)
Drain	1 kW (electric)
Rotation speed	864°/s 1123°/s 1382°/s 1642°/s 2160°/s
Mining time	0.1
Prototype type	inserter
Internal name	stack-inserter
Required technologies
Boosting technologies
Produced by

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Space Age expansion exclusive feature.

This article is about the new inserter introduced in Space Age. For the base game inserter with large transfer abilities, see bulk inserter.

The stack inserter is an electric inserter that can move multiple items at the same time and build stacks on belts. It has a larger maximum hand size than the bulk inserter while turning at the same rate, giving it a 33% higher throughput.

Unlike other inserters, it will not insert into its target until it has collected a full hand size of items. While usually beneficial, this can be a problem if more materials from the source are not forthcoming. In particular, holding onto spoilable items can lead to reduced freshness or even completely spoiling into a less useful item.

To avoid getting stuck, if the item it is holding while waiting for more items spoils into a different item, then it will turn immediately to discard its hand.

This particular feature of the stack inserter means that it is not a complete upgrade to the bulk inserter; there will be cases where the latter is more appropriate.

Belt stacking

When a stack inserter inserts items onto a belt, it will stack them to the maximum belt stack size currently researched. The Stack inserter research increases the maximum belt stack to 2, with two further researches increasing it to 4.

The stack inserter will attempt to always build stacks of the maximum size currently researched. This has particular interactions with the inserter's hand size. When inserting onto a belt (and only when doing so), the hand size is always rounded down to the next multiple of the current maximum belt stack size. This means that it will generally built full stacks, even if this moves fewer items than the hand size.

There are two cases where the stack inserter will not build full stacks on belts. First, if the hand size is less than the current maximum belt stack size (so rounding down would result in a hand size of 0), then the stack inserter will respect the exact hand size and build partial stacks.

Second, as previously indicated, if the stack inserter is holding a spoilable item, and that item spoils, then the stack inserter will insert that item into its destination immediately, building whatever stacks it can when inserting onto a belt.

There is a very rare third case: if the research for maximum belt stacks changes while the inserter is moving to insert onto a belt, then it will build whatever stacks it can onto that belt using the new belt stack limit.

When inserting into containers or machines, the hand size will be exactly respected.

Stack size

The stack size is increased by the Inserter capacity bonus (research) technology. The stack size can be overridden to set how many items it picks up at one time, with the maximum being the highest research level currently unlocked.

Inserter capacity bonus	Stack size bonus	Total stack size
none	0	6
1	+1	7
2	+1	8
3	+1	9
4	+1	10
5	+2	12
6	+2	14
7	+2	16

Trivia

• When first mentioned in FFF #393, the stack inserter was instead called the "bulk inserter". However, in response to feedback from the audience, the developers announced in the following FFF that its name would be swapped with that of what was previously known as a "stack inserter", as this naming was deemed more appropiate.

History

• 2.0.18:
  • Bulk inserter no longer can be upgraded to a stack inserter.

• 2.0.7:
  • Introduced in Space Age expansion.

See also

• Bulk inserter
• Electric system
• Inserters