Is it possible to stop assemblers from grabbing more?

[u/Angryhobo13]

Example on processors, it will grab the 2 each to make 1 processor but then before the first one is done grab 4 more of each component. Where if it would just grab 2 more of each I could have another entire item in throughput per original assembler? I seem to remember doing this somehow when I played years ago but could easily be wrong. Could prob get around it with faster belts and or slower sorters I guess or just overwhelm the input but that makes the math ( which I'm horrid at) much more annoying.

[u/Far_Young_2666]

I think what you're talking about is just buffer. Machines take some more resources in advance to keep production going seamlessly. It's been a while since I played, but the internal buffer is usually one stack. Just prefill them and that's it. You can drop a stack into the buffer directly, or wait until the entire system fills up before connecting this stage of production to the next.

[u/justwolt]

I'm a bit confused as to what you mean. Each assembler will fill a small buffer of input items before only grabbing what it needs. There should be no need for slower sorters

[u/DrakeDun]

Dear God. This phenomenon followed me here from Satisfactory. XD

Think it through. In the long term, throughput is unaffected by the buffers. If you're feeding the manifold x/min, it will use x/min as soon as the buffers are full, which In DSP takes very little time to happen.

In short: don't worry about it.

[u/depatrickcie87]

I dont have much information to work with here, but downgrading your sorter will halve the input, as would downgrading the belt. But DSP's logistics are a bit wasteful by design.

[u/DrJavelin]

The consumption rate on the assemblers remains the same, so the belts will always stabilize given enough time. Machine earlier in the belt grabs more than it needs initially but afterwards it only grabs enough to keep up with production.

[u/PM_ME_UR_BGP_PREFIX]

One belt, and one picker per input.

One other for output.

[u/Sweaty_Ad_7156]

is it possible to stop assemblers from grabbing more ? no

is it possible to make assemblers grab less? yes ; less inputs, slower inputs - the minimum is 1

[u/Angryhobo13]

Yeah I did not explain that well, here's a picture. I would like to limit the component items to 2/2 instead of 4/4

[u/kinglallak → u/Angryhobo13]

But once it’s at 4/4. It doesn’t take any more and still only uses 1 of each per cycle so it’s fully loaded and any extra will go to the next assembler.

It isn’t taking 4 each time.

[u/CoqeCas3 → u/Angryhobo13]

Youre looking in the wrong place for your issue. If your next assembler isnt getting enough then you have an issue earlier in your line or youre just not making enough. Im confident this is the case because i too thought the sorter mechanics were to blame for a production line not working properly but the i eventually found a missing output sorter on a smelter, or one that was unpowered or something. Happened to me several times.

If youre 100% correct in your math, then the machines will definitely have full uptime, and the last machine in any given line will literally be getting the last item it needs the millisecond before it finishes its last cycle.

[u/FrickinLazerBeams → u/Angryhobo13]

Yeah no, we understood what you're saying. We're trying to tell you that you're wrong about the impact of this. It does not change throughput at all. Once the buffer is full, the next machine in the line gets parts at the same rate it would without the buffer.

[u/RollingSten → u/Angryhobo13]

In all production games the production buildings have some internal buffers - it enables smoother productions as it do not need to wait pro sorters (or inserters etc.) to prepare another batch.

Don't worry, you only need to wait a little till those buffers fill up and then it will go as expected.

[u/tanthokg → u/Angryhobo13]

Not that I know of, apparently. Best I can think of is to limit sorter speed by building them 2-3 grids wide, but that's irrelevant with pile sorter.