Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/1tf7xto/help_me_understand_how_machines_are_smarter_than/

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The original was posted on /r/factorio by /u/HaikuHighDude on 2026-05-16 22:46:55+00:00.

New guy, first playthrough this weekend.

My question: Things like inserters are way smarter than I would have assumed. I didn't know I can put a bunch of different stuff in a box and the inserter will only pull out the exact thing the target assembler needs. The inserter only pulls the right amounts too to not "starve" downline stuff. SO, I'm wondering if there's other stuff like this in the game unexplained and unintuitive.

Just now finding out I can have multiple inserters pulling from a box with several items to put into different assemblers was kind of mind blowing. I'm trying to avoid tutorials or how to vids too much, but I think I would have assumed the inserter wasn't so smart and never utilized this on my own