Upgrade planner

The upgrade planner is a tool for the mass updating of entities to alternative items of the same size and type. It can be used both on buildings that have already been placed and also to modify the contents of a blueprint. It is most commonly used to upgrade entities to their higher tier equivalents. For example to replace transport belts with fast transport belts and later to express transport belts. In addition it is also able to convert belts to underground belts and pipes to underground pipes, as well as being able to replace several other categories of items. Using an upgrade planner in the game world is similar to the operation of a deconstruction planner and a blueprint, in that the player selects a rectangular area in which the upgrade planner will function and this results in orders being queued for construction robots. Upgrade planners can be used blank, without a filter, to automatically apply a limited set of common upgrades. It can also be configured to apply specific upgrades, and when edited in this way it can operate on a large range of items than it will in automatic, unfiltered mode.

Basic operation

Getting an upgrade planner

A blank planner can be obtained by:

• Clicking the green upgrade planner icon on the shortcut bar (available once construction robotics has been researched in at least one game.)
• Opening the blueprint library and clicking New Upgrade planner.

Either of these methods will result in a blank upgrade planner appearing in the hand. It can be used immediately or placed in the inventory. It must be placed in the inventory before a filter can be applied and before it can be pinned to a quickbar slot.

Using the planner in the game world

With a planner held in the hand the player can drag it over structures in the game world to mark them for upgrade. A tooltip appears indicating which items will be changed and what to. Once placed, yellow circles will appear over items queued for update. These update operations will be performed by construction robots.

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  Dragging an upgrade planner

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  The tooltip shows which upgrades will occur

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  Pending upgrade planner operations indicated by yellow circles

Cancelling upgrade operations

Pending upgrade operations can be cancelled by holding Shift while dragging any upgrade planner over the affected area.

Using the planner to update a blueprint

Upgrade planners can also be used to change the contents of blueprints. This allows the player to keep using the same blueprints as they research progressively better items. As upgrade planners can also downgrade items this also provides a way for a player to adjust late-game blueprints to make them suitable for use earlier in their future games.

• The blueprint to be updated must reside in an inventory. It is not currently possible to use an upgrade planner in the blueprint library.
• With a planner held in the hand, the edit window for a blueprint should be opened by clicking Right mouse button on it.
• The upgrade planner can be applied by clicking Left mouse button on the grey upgrade planner slot, visible in the top right corner of the blueprint.
• The entities in the blueprint will immediately update according to the filters in the planner. If an unfiltered planner is used an automatic set of common upgrades is applied, as described in the next section.
• The update is immediate and cannot be undone, except by applying another upgrade planner with filters set to revert the updates.

Filtered vs Unfiltered planners

When an upgrade planner is first picked up it is blank and unfiltered. It can optionally be edited to provide a list of item filters which control which items will be updated and to what.

Using a blank upgrade planner (unfiltered)

When a blank upgrade planner is used it will update to the next highest tier any items considered automatically upgradable. The list of item types eligible for this are as follows:

• Belts
• Undergrounds
• Splitters
• Inserters
• Assembling machines
• Furnaces

Any items of the above types will be upgraded to the next highest tier, where one exists. For example a transport belt will change to a fast transport belt; a fast splitter will change to an express splitter; an assembling machine 2 will change to an assembling machine 3. The full list can be found at #Items eligible for upgrade.

Filtering an upgrade planner

The edit window for the planner can be accessed by clicking Right mouse button on an upgrade planner. The planner must be in an inventory in order for it to be editable. If a quickbar link is made to a planner in the inventory, this link can also accept a Right mouse button.

Items eligible for upgrade

The upgrade planner can operate on the items listed below. A planner can swap any item in a given category to any other item in the same category. For example a transport belt can be changed to a fast or express transport belt and also to any kind of underground, but not to a splitter or a chest.

The Blank upgrade planner column indicates entities which will be automatically upgraded when a blank (unfiltered) upgrade planner is used. These items will upgrade to the entity immediately after them in the table.

Category	Item	Blank upgrade planner
Belts and undergrounds	Transport belt	Yes
Belts and undergrounds	Fast transport belt	Yes
Belts and undergrounds	Express transport belt	No
Belts and undergrounds	Underground belt	Yes
Belts and undergrounds	Fast underground belt	Yes
Belts and undergrounds	Express underground belt	No
Splitters	Splitter	Yes
Splitters	Fast splitter	Yes
Splitters	Express splitter	No
Inserters	Burner inserter	No
Inserters	Inserter	Yes
Inserters	Fast inserter	Yes
Inserters	Stack inserter	No
Inserters	Filter inserter	No
Inserters	Stack filter inserter	No
Pipes	Pipe	No
Pipes	Underground pipe	No
Chests	Wooden chest	No
Chests	Iron chest	No
Chests	Steel chest	No
Chests	Active provider chest	No
Chests	Passive provider chest	No
Chests	Storage chest	No
Chests	Buffer chest	No
Chests	Requester chest	No
Power poles	Small electric pole	No
Power poles	Medium electric pole	No
Steam Engine/Turbine	Steam engine	No
Steam Engine/Turbine	Steam turbine	No
Furnaces	Stone furnace	Yes
Furnaces	Steel furnace	No
Assembling machines	Assembling machine 1	Yes
Assembling machines	Assembling machine 2	Yes
Assembling machines	Assembling machine 3	No
Modules	Speed module	No
Modules	Speed module 2	No
Modules	Speed module 3	No
Modules	Productivity module	No
Modules	Productivity module 2	No
Modules	Productivity module 3	No
Modules	Efficiency module	No
Modules	Efficiency module 2	No
Modules	Efficiency module 3	No
Walls/Gates	Wall	No
Walls/Gates	Gate	No

This list can be added to by mods.

History

• 0.17.0:
  • Introduced

See also

• Construction robot