Bent Stacker: Useless?

[Grug]

I've yet to find a practical use for the Bent Stacker. It would be way more helpful if we could get a stacker where the upper input is rotated 90 degrees.

[Kyouko Tsukino]

It's a bad alpha choice (making stackers bent) that stayed in the game because "people" wanted it to stay. And obviously "people" also wanted it to be faster than the normal stacker to make it seem better than the proper stacker.

[NashEquil]

Aesthetics

[ciel]

Originally posted by Kyouko Tsukino:

It's a bad alpha choice (making stackers bent) that stayed in the game because "people" wanted it to stay. And obviously "people" also wanted it to be faster than the normal stacker to make it seem better than the proper stacker.

the hostility is completely unecessary, and your reactionary anger is probably part of why you haven't realized that bent stackers are capable of providing the same throughput in the same amount of space.

Bent stackers are faster because it makes them perfectly equivalent to straight stackers if you set them up in a 2x6 square configuration. 6 straight stackers or 4 bent stackers fit the same space and do the same amount of work, but each has their own niche where they fit better than the other. Rows of bent stackers even include gaps that let you slip a belt in to feed the top layer where the solid wall of linear stackers wouldn't.

[TheOrigin]

I actually used it in some blueprints...

[Grug]

Originally posted by TheOrigin:

I actually used it in some blueprints...

I'm curious how. Both inputs have to enter the same square, and the bent output means you need extra width to output the result.

[TheOrigin]

Originally posted by Grug:

Originally posted by TheOrigin:

I actually used it in some blueprints...

I'm curious how. Both inputs have to enter the same square, and the bent output means you need extra width to output the result.

In example here in my 1x1 3layer full size stacker where a 6th straight one wouldnt fit in. the corner stacker fits perfectly, giving me the last piece for the full throughput.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3311997209

Another good example would be this one. There are alot of shapes/tasks which need to be multiplied by themselfes. This setup allows you to multiply the shape by 4 times on minimal space, there is even leftover space for rotators if needed. All on a 1x1. You wouldnt do that with straight stackers in the same area.

SHAPEZ2-1-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$

[Hanover]

For making Stacker hubs. Gotta think outside the box sometimes....especially since we can now build vertically...I think they'd be more useful when you get the 3rd floor.

[MechBFP]

Originally posted by Hanover:

For making Stacker hubs. Gotta think outside the box sometimes....especially since we can now build vertically...I think they'd be more useful when you get the 3rd floor.

Stackers can’t be stacked since that would require a 4th floor, so no benefit with the 3rd floor.

[K]

If space to build wasn't effectively unlimited their very few niche use cases might actually matter.

But outside of some very limited uses they're an alternative at absolute best. Their input/output positioning in the vast majority of situations means they're often still going to take the same amount of space as the equivalent throughput of regular stackers anyway.

[b...]

Originally posted by K:

If space to build wasn't effectively unlimited their very few niche use cases might actually matter.

Well game doesn't limit it, but there is always some madman that tries to fit half the factory on single foundation tile

[Emmuss]

It has a smaller footprint cause you need less of them!

[Synical]

For a normal stacker row, it's not any better, but I've found some niche uses for it. I made a diagonal swap blueprint that can now fit in a 2x2 because of the 50% speed increase. There was plenty of space around the stacker at the end of each unit to accommodate routing for the bent version.

[WolfWings]

If you stop thinking in linear 'stripes' it's very easy to use the bent-stacker instead.

The real key is using them in pairs with the inputs AND outputs both pointing at matching squares, so in a single 2x2 space (including the belt-split and belt-merge) you get the equivalent of a 3x4 worth of 3 normal stackers.

Expanding to a 'full equal belt' capacity (4 vs 6) it's a 4x3 space to equal a 6x4 space of straight-through stackers including the routing belts for the outputs and inputs to merge, literally half the space taken.

[Brevven]

They're often handy with the cutter since both are the same speed. In operations where you have to cut, rotate one half, and then stack the halves together, it lets you use 4 cutters instead of 6. Definitely not useless.

[Hanover]

You can use it for any 1x2 cutter with one input/output without wasting any horizontal space.