Factory Reservoirs

[TheDrizzle404]

TL;DR

Chest-like entities that attach to the side of your factories to expand internal storage of the factory.

What ?

I would like there to be multiple tiers of Factory Reservoirs that you can attach directly to any empty directly-adjacent side of your factories. These would expand the internal storage limit by an amount later to be determined. (Either multiples of the base storage amount or a set number per tier) Rather than pull items from this reservoir, inserters would continue to function normally; pulling items directly from the factory. Inserters would NOT be able to pull items from reservoirs directly, they would need to pull items from the factory. As many reservoirs could be attached as there is empty sides to attach to. They can NOT attach to each-other, they must be in direct contact with the factory to work. (Up to a max of 12, as that is the limit of potential attachment areas.) If multiple factories are within range of the same reservoir, you choose which factory it attaches to prior to placement via snap rotation. If a reservoir is removed and the items stored within the factory exceed the new storage limit, the items will be transferred into your inventory, else they fall to the ground.

These reservoirs would NOT be able to interact with a logistics network. They are essentially just a larger storage space within the factory itself.

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Why ?

This would allow compact and convenient storage options to each individual factory. It allows you to utilize all potentially empty areas around a factory to maximize storage potential without sacrificing space. Currently you must place a chest somewhere between your factory and your belt system to get this effect which costs quite a bit of space.

[Aeternus]

I see several problems with this:
- Deconstructing the factory while there are items in the "internal" buffer
- Placing factories with different products that connect to both "buffers".

If you're going to add this, why not do it with a module instead? That'd make it local to the factory and it would avoid the problems listed above.

[TheDrizzle404]

Both of those issues were covered in the original post. If you remove the factory then the contents will go into your inventory just as they do now and the reservoirs will sit idle. Reservoirs will only connect to one factory and that can only be designated when its placed via snap rotation. (As in it will only place if it has a factory to snap to, much like a Train Station to a track.) A module would also consume valuable space usually reserved for Productivity or Speed.

It does not function as a chest so much as it functions as a factory inventory extender. This is the number that would be increased by a Factory Reservoir. Hopefully this makes the desired function clear.

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[AileTheAlien]

This is entirely uneccesary. You've already got viable solutions with chests and inserters, logistics chests and robots, and the option to simply match your supply and demand so you don't need large buffers. If this was ever added to the game, the player would have no incentive to use it, since chests already provide so much buffer funtionality, and are an integral part of the game.

[leoch]

Factories can already store at least one whole stack. But most factories disable their inserters when the output buffer has just a few items in it; smelters seem to be the only "factories" which let inserters keep the supply up until their output buffer is full.

But as ATA says, there isn't much need for this (aside from as an alternative to output buffer chests in the early game).

[TheDrizzle404]

Indeed, its function would mostly only be useful for those who enjoy creating extremely compact factory networks. There's often not enough room to have buffer storage areas between factories.
There's no reason anyone with infinite space to build wouldn't just use a chest, but it's seldom an option for compact designs.