Filtered 9×9 Steel Chest

Adds a 9×9 filtered steel chest designed as a lightweight replacement for using Rocket Silos as storage buffers in large quality-processing and ore-voiding builds.

Rocket Silos are sometimes used because their 9×9 footprint provides enough perimeter space for many inserters and their inventory size works well as a central buffer. However, a Rocket Silo also carries functionality related to rocket and orbital-delivery behaviour that is unnecessary when the entity is being used purely as storage.

This mod replaces that use case with a much simpler entity:

A standard chest with the same 9×9 footprint and comparable base storage capacity, without the extra Rocket Silo functionality.

The goal is improved simplicity and potentially better UPS efficiency in large megabases where many Rocket Silos would otherwise be used only as storage buffers.

Features

• 9×9 footprint, matching the practical size of a Rocket Silo
• Comparable base storage capacity for use as a drop-in storage-buffer replacement
• Player-filterable inventory slots
• Configurable base inventory size
• Inventory capacity increases with entity quality
• Red and green circuit-network support
• Unlocked alongside Rocket Silo technology
• Supports existing saves where Rocket Silo research is already complete
• Optional Upgrade Planner support
• Large perimeter for many inserters and recyclers
• Designed for quality-processing, recycling, ore-voiding, and megabase builds
• Uses standard Factorio container behaviour with no continuous on_tick processing

Upgrade Planner Support

The mod includes an optional startup setting that allows a configured Upgrade Planner to replace Rocket Silos with Filtered 9×9 Steel Chests.

The setting is enabled by default and can be disabled under:

Settings → Mod settings → Startup → Allow Rocket Silo replacement with Upgrade Planner

Why This Mod?

The mod is intentionally focused on one specific problem:

Replacing Rocket Silos that are being used only as oversized 9×9 chests.

For ore-voiding and quality-processing strategies, the 9×9 footprint is useful because many inserters can interact with the same inventory while recyclers process unwanted items.

Instead of using a fully functional Rocket Silo for that role, this mod provides the equivalent of a large 9×9 steel chest with filtered inventory support and similar storage capacity.

The result is a simpler storage entity intended to retain the practical benefits of the Rocket Silo layout while avoiding unnecessary silo-specific functionality.

Typical Uses

• Quality-processing hubs
• Recycler arrays
• Ore-voiding strategies
• Unwanted-quality recycling
• High-throughput inserter layouts
• Large centralized storage buffers
• Megabases where UPS efficiency matters