I have been looking for a way to simplify loading/unloading of trains, and I suspect that using your mod to make a 1xN chest next to the wagons might do the trick. It would beat the complex contraptions needed today to load/unload a train quickly and without unbalancing the content of the wagons (which could slow the load/unload process when some normal chests fill up while others are still fairly empty) .
This is an example of how I imagine using your mod for this:
- Imagine a 1-4 train.
- Now imagine a a 1x27 merged chest next to it (replacing the 24 normal chests you would otherwise have).
- 24 stack inserter, loading/unloading to the train.
- 16 stack inserters unloading from the merged chest onto belts and then merging them to achieve saturation. Or up to 24 stack inserters loading from the belt to the merged chest (with some or all working, depending on material distribution on the belt).
- The result - a very desirable one - would be max speed load/unload that keeps the wagons cargo perfectly balance and thus reducing the load/unload time to the theoretical minimum.
QUESTIONS/SUGGESTION:
- Is the example I describe doable with your mod? It looks like yes, but I would like to be sure.
- Most warehouse mods have a performance (UPS) problem, because inserters check each slot when adding removing to a chest.
--- So, merging 27 steel chests into one would normally create a big UPS hit.
--- A proposed solution to the UPS problem that discussed in the forums was to internally treat single-item chests as having just one slot that holds a stack as big as filling of all of the individual slots with normal stacks.
--- Does your mod already implement the single-item UPS-saving trick?
--- if it does not already implement the UPS-saving trick, could/would you do it?
Thanks. I hope your answers are all yes,. It would massively simplify train load/unload and make it much more compact.
