Trekkertech Inc. Competition time!

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    Hello and welcome to Trekkertech Inc! Here at Trekkertech Inc, we try to produce a wide range of ship designs that combine practicality, technology, and robustness. Although, we also like to throw it all out of the window and go overboard every now and then.

    Current Completed Ships:
    ver2.0 Currently
    Harbinger: Harbinger -Fighter Craft

    C-Class variant: Harbinger MKIIc
    Prototype:
    Link: Trobe- Carrier
    MKI currently:

    Scrounger

    Current Mecha:
    MKI Currently:

    MechaplatformMKI
    Current Crazy Logic Builds:
    MKI Currently:

    Logic_Scanner

    WIP Projects:
    The recent update gave me an exciting new idea! Mothership-launched salvage drones. And I thought of a particularly neat way to deploy them too. So I had to make a new ship that was fitting of the name Trekkertech to host them. I noticed that my most popular craft was the Harbinger, and the one thing that sets it apart for my other designs(and many others) is that it is asymmetrical. So, I decided that that would be my thing, making asymmetrical ships. Without further ado:

    Might not look like much, but what you see before you is the interior of my ship. Yes, I am building a ship around the interior this time around. It gives me more freedom to make an awesome interior. So long as I get the larger rooms in the appropriate places, this technique should not screw up my exterior one bit, when I start on it. I am planning to build some salvager drones so that I can test different deployment methods. Hopefully I can get them to land on docked roofed platforms that recess into the hull when not in use.

    Anyway, I mentioned interior, so let's talk about interior:

    The core room. While a little cramped, it is fully featured, asymmetrical design. Not too much more to mention. It is two decks tall, so it has an elevator on one end of the upper platform to assist in getting to the core. There are four doors leading into the core, two on each deck. Quite proud of it, but feel free to offer up suggestions.

    There is also a cargo/shuttlebay:

    There is room for one shuttle. The rest of the space is devoted to storage. Roughly 55k storage, in fact. Plus an extra deposit for pulling cargo out of the runabout. Yes, I am going to make a runabout just for this ship.

    I was going to make this a smaller, sealed in room when it occurred to me that it made no sense to put all your storage in a sealed room, with no easy way to get anything large in or out the ship. So I chose to make it also function as a small shuttlebay.

    The hazard blocks foretell the second coming of my extending docking strut. I improved it using inspiration from Bench 's spire. It is now automatic, and thus far, far better than my last design. Of course, that made a huge protrusion in the bottom of the ship, so I improvised and used it as an opportunity to make an engine pod. Quite satisfied with it. And it is the perfect place to hide the rail logic. Surprised I didn't start using ice a lot sooner.

    Among the things not pictured, it has room for eight crew quarters. Already have the doors laid out for them. It also has two elevators in the outer hallway.

    They are simple. They use a T-flip flop as memory, since there are only two decks on the ship. They also have a safety feature to prevent people from trapping someone in the elevator by spamming the call button.

    It is possible for them to break, however, as a result of the safety feature. If for some reason it does not actually move, or if the reset signal is lost due to lag or something, it may lock up. Has not happened yet though. I will be sure to make an escape hatch in the elevators. Players will also be able to access the mechanism from the shaft. I will be sure to include display blocks with instructions on how to fix it from there.

    A bit of a doozy of an update. Tell me what you think!

    Mechanized Automated Robotic Computer. You know what this means!
    Components:
    To be populated
    Mech platform. The cat's out of the bag. It's for a giant robot.

    Update 0.3:
    The MKI version is working! It can move in all four directions and will actually change directions when you input another direction whilst moving! The last one didn't do that. It would just keep going in the same direction forever until you stopped it.

    GIF demonstrating it changing directions:


    It does warrant a picture and explanation of how it works.


    Basically, I have the circuitry divided up into regions. The left-bottom region is dedicated to all the motor controllers. The right bottom region is dedicated to providing feedback from the rails(only exception is the feedback from the top rail, it is in the top right).

    Now to the more complicated circuitry. In the top right is the direction control system. It's job is to accept input. It has a buffer that stores the direction that the walker is currently going, and compares that with the direction you have set, if any. If it is a different direction or empty, it tells the animation controller to stop, which then resets the buffer. This refreshes the buffer with the direction you have set.

    The top left is the circuitry dedicated to animations, thus, the animation controller. This uses an event based system. It tells the motor controllers to move, and then waits for the corresponding feedback before telling the motor controllers to move again. This system is nifty because the only speed limiters are the rails themselves. In retrospect, I could have made this much smaller, if I had forgone the discrete inputs and outputs.


    Smaller than the protoype, and perfectly symmetrical, hopefully the MechaplatformMKI turns out better than the last one. The motor controllers and feedback signals are done, as well as the frame. Just need to put in the feet and simplified logic


    The circuits are almost complete. Just need to add the height balancing system and wire up the rest of the animations. Then it is just a matter of giving it power and making it look nice.

    Update 0.1: Had to scrap the original design. Turns out that it had two fatal flaws. First off, the self balancing system was too unreliable. Going back to a static mechanism fixed this, but it was a pain to disable the circuits. At this point it works, I would have to remove the extraneous logic before release.
    However, here was the second flaw. Probably the most important. The rear legs were off...by...one...block. It may seem silly, but that drives me crazy. Thankfully I have learned quite a bit from the first prototype, so it will be simple to make a second prototype Radially symmetrical this time. Hopefully the second iteration will be eligible for release.

    The Solomon-Class is hopefully going to serve as the backbone for any fleet.

    Update 0.1:
    The hangar bay:

    At first I didn't know for sure how it would turn out, but I think it is definitely like the CIS hanger bays. You may see some rings of hazard blocks. There will be adjustable pylons that you can toggle with your core to change the height and rotate them, allowing the ship to accommodate a variety of ship designs.
    Update 0.1cont.
    Due to the server hosting problems yesterday I only go to show off one tiny aspect of the ship before I was forced off. Here is the rest of the update:
    The Engines, Weapons apertures, and the Bridge.
    Engines:

    Probably one of my most aesthetic engine designs, I personally feel the rear is over-greebled. I have chosen not to act on this instinct until I work out the interior, which will have some influence on the rest of the greebling.
    Bridge:

    Accidently forgot to deselect the Red Alert System. Did I mention that this ship will feature a 100% functional Red Alert System? Now you guys know. The toggles are all over the ship, the unlabeled activators that starkly stand out from the walls. On to the subject matter, the bridge!

    It is actually quite spacious compared with my earlier attempts at bridges. This bridge includes some of the computers, predominately the effect computers. The Plasma Particle Projectors(Main cannons) also have computers in the bridge. The AI is located between the two lower sections. Access to the bridge is accomplished using a two-floor elevator, and should the elevator fail, there is a backup gravity tube network, highlighted in hazard blocks that allow access to the many levels. Plans include two additional seven-floor elevators. for general deck access.

    Weapons:
    While I did describe the Particle Projectors, the ship will not likely be able to maneuver properly to use them in some cases. I already have a plan for this. There are eight mounts in the front of the ship for ball turrets. These will serve as primary DPS. The Projectors are merely for the Alpha damage, and finishing off enemies. I may or may not choose to add some rear-facing cannons to add coverage. The ship also has plenty of hardpoints for PD and anti-personnel turrets, as well as hardpoints for small anti-fighter defenses.

    NOTES: Any suggestions/comments are welcome.[/SPOILER]
     
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    That hand...
    There is a reason why I marked it crazy logic builds. Hard to stay sane while connecting every individual connections, and the scale of the logic is enormous compared to my original.

    EDIT: This post is marked for reuse. A little bit of a reminder for myself.
     
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    Reilly Reese

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    Your fighter is pretty neat as well though your build scales go from tiny straight to huge with no median in between.
     
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    Yep, when I finish my battleship, I will be sure to include some mid-range ships. Fighters all the way up to frigates, with perhaps a few cruisers mixed in at the end. I am still working up an aesthetic for my ships, so any suggestions to make my builds more spectacular?

    Also, glad you like my fighter. When the battleship is finished I might rebuild it from the ground up to fit better with the style I am developing, but I will keep the basic asymmetrical shape/design.

    Also, Update for the Solomon:
    The hangar bay:

    At first I didn't know for sure how it would turn out, but I think it is definitely like the CIS hanger bays. You may see some rings of hazard blocks. There will be adjustable pylons that you can toggle with your core to change the height and rotate them, allowing the ship to accommodate a variety of ship designs.
     
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    Due to the server hosting problems yesterday I only go to show off one tiny aspect of the ship before I was forced off. Here is the rest of the update:
    The Engines, Weapons apertures, and the Bridge.
    Engines:

    Probably one of my most aesthetic engine designs, I personally feel the rear is over-greebled. I have chosen not to act on this instinct until I work out the interior, which will have some influence on the rest of the greebling.
    Bridge:

    Accidently forgot to deselect the Red Alert System. Did I mention that this ship will feature a 100% functional Red Alert System? Now you guys know. The toggles are all over the ship, the unlabeled activators that starkly stand out from the walls. On to the subject matter, the bridge!

    It is actually quite spacious compared with my earlier attempts at bridges. This bridge includes some of the computers, predominately the effect computers. The Plasma Particle Projectors(Main cannons) also have computers in the bridge. The AI is located between the two lower sections. Access to the bridge is accomplished using a two-floor elevator, and should the elevator fail, there is a backup gravity tube network, highlighted in hazard blocks that allow access to the many levels. Plans include two additional seven-floor elevators. for general deck access.

    Weapons:
    While I did describe the Particle Projectors, the ship will not likely be able to maneuver properly to use them in some cases. I already have a plan for this. There are eight mounts in the front of the ship for ball turrets. These will serve as primary DPS. The Projectors are merely for the Alpha damage, and finishing off enemies. I may or may not choose to add some rear-facing cannons to add coverage. The ship also has plenty of hardpoints for PD and anti-personnel turrets, as well as hardpoints for small anti-fighter defenses.
     
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    Unfortunately, I am discontinuing development for the time being. I am not the one who is burnt out, trust me, it is my computer's cooling system that is burnt out. My plans for the near future is to replace this toaster with a proper rig. It will be glorious, just glorious... I am going to transfer my blueprints over, and begin development promptly afterward. The Solomon shall be completed!
     

    MrFURB

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    Unfortunately, I am discontinuing development for the time being. I am not the one who is burnt out, trust me, it is my computer's cooling system that is burnt out. My plans for the near future is to replace this toaster with a proper rig. It will be glorious, just glorious... I am going to transfer my blueprints over, and begin development promptly afterward. The Solomon shall be completed!
    G'luck getting a beast system operational, and I look forward to future updates.
     
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    Finally back! Ok, Here is the first update in months:
    The harbinger has been refit, and a carrier variant made.
    Harbinger MKII:

    C-Class Variant:
    Links:
    Harbinger: https://starmadedock.net/content/harbinger-fighter-craft.3084/
    C-Class: Harbinger MKIIc

    EDIT: Please let me know if you want to see the Solomon completed. I have half a mind to scrap it and work back up to it.
     
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    Here's a sneak peek at what I have been working on. I think HolyCookie will know instantly what it is :) :

    A better look:
    You just reminded me of my totally forgotten AT-AT project! Just what I needed! Also, I might get back to making a real walker instead of a crawler. walkers are more awesome :D I am very very curious what all the logic gates will be for, seems like there is a lot that still has to be worked on to be used. Surprise me.

    That thing looks massive you must have big plans for it.

    On a side note, up for a challenge somewhere in future, when we created a stable walker version?
    the challenge would be to make a working AI on that walker without changing its core walking feature. It could be a fun challenge for us.

    On the side of the side note, I'm now also thinking of starting a mech competition, where robots need to do certain things to earn points, the one with most points wins and gets golden logic/rail badge (don't really know which badge nor if we would do that, depends on how many people join)

    on the other side of the side note, good luck with your robot, I can't work this week but I can't wait to see some new development.
     
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    You just reminded me of my totally forgotten AT-AT project! Just what I needed! Also, I might get back to making a real walker instead of a crawler. walkers are more awesome :D I am very very curious what all the logic gates will be for, seems like there is a lot that still has to be worked on to be used. Surprise me.
    When it's done, I'll send you the link to the BP. That way you can be one of the first to test it out.
    On a side note, up for a challenge somewhere in future, when we created a stable walker version?
    the challenge would be to make a working AI on that walker without changing its core walking feature. It could be a fun challenge for us.

    On the side of the side note, I'm now also thinking of starting a mech competition, where robots need to do certain things to earn points, the one with most points wins and gets golden logic/rail badge (don't really know which badge nor if we would do that, depends on how many people join)
    Challenges accepted!
    on the other side of the side note, good luck with your robot, I can't work this week but I can't wait to see some new development.
    Thank you, also, Good luck with your AT-AT.
     
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    When it's done, I'll send you the link to the BP. That way you can be one of the first to test it out.

    Challenges accepted!

    Thank you, also, Good luck with your AT-AT.
    May the odds be ever in your favour :P
    I'm going for cool legs that have human-like movement, not as an animation, but as a mechanic.
     
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    Had to scrap my previous walker design, but I learned much. The extra logic was messing it up, and it only worked after I disabled it. In addition to this, the rear legs were one block off. Everyone would agree that was a fatal flaw.

    So I started on a MKI version. I have the legs completely symmetrical and working(I think, didn't have much time to test). The motor controllers are in, but no controlling logic for walking yet. Here is a picture:
     
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    The MKI version is working! It can move in all four directions and will actually change directions when you input another direction whilst moving. The last one didn't do that. It would just keep going in the same direction forever until you stopped it.

    It does warrant a picture and explanation of how it works.


    Basically, I have the circuitry divided up into regions. The left-bottom region is dedicated to all the motor controllers. The right bottom region is dedicated to providing feedback from the rails(only exception is the feedback from the top rail, it is in the top right).

    Now to the more complicated circuitry. In the top right is the direction control system. It's job is to accept input. It has a buffer that stores the direction that the walker is currently going, and compares that with the direction you have set, if any. If it is a different direction or empty, it tells the animation controller to stop, which then resets the buffer. This refreshes the buffer with the direction you have set.

    The top left is the circuitry dedicated to animations, thus, the animation controller. This uses an event based system. It tells the motor controllers to move, and then waits for the corresponding feedback before telling the motor controllers to move again. This system is nifty because the only speed limiters are the rails themselves. In retrospect, I could have made this much smaller, if I had forgone the discrete inputs and outputs.
    Also a GIF demonstrating it changing directions.
    Could have gone for a better GIF, this is already huge:

    Already have a couple ideas for making the transition between directions smooth.
     
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    Finished the Mechaplatform. I even gave it a head that you can pilot from. The head has some circuitry and mechanisms to check the direction it has turned, and then set the direction of the platform to match the direction it's facing.

    Next project will be a scanner system for for locating objects and terrain. It will also have a rangefinder. You can see where I'm going with this.
     
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    The scanner is complete. Now all that's left to make is the robot itself. First I will have to try to build an ALU in Starmade. Going to be tricky since I am not quite familiar with the technology, but through perseverance I will eventually succeed.

    Here is a GIF of the scanner in action:
     
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    Took a break from logic to try out fleets. I have a small carrier in progress, the Trobe. This thing will hopefully be able to support 12 drones. It has a red alert feature that automatically launches the drones thanks to Heillos' Model II enemy detector.

    I probably won't be putting it in the WIP section of the OP, since I have the build almost halfway done already. However, I will post a picture of my current progress:


    As you can see, I am trying out a completely new aesthetic, as well as some modular building.

    A link to Heillos' detector: https://starmadedock.net/content/enemy-detection-model-ii.2967/

    Also on a side note: Is it just me, or are the GIFs getting to be too much? If it is, please let me know. I think I might have to start deleting the old/irrelevant ones.
     
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    Finished the carrier:
    As a prototype, I would say this was successful, however, it is not large enough to see widespread fleet use. It is my hope that we will eventually have more than one carrier in a fleet, only then will it truly be useful.
    Link: Trobe- Carrier
     
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    Back again after a break from Starmade. I was working on a calculator, but it was such a mess that I could not finish it upon my return, so instead, I will show you some of my technological advances:

    A look at my early adder and subtractor circuits. I have since compacted them significantly and merged them into a single circuit.
    I had developed simple multiplication and division circuits that work on the basis of repeated operations. I also built a MUX and a low-profile seven-segment-display. All of this is 8-bit.

    My current experiment is making a basic computer so that I can compact the ALU it and later integrate it into MARC.

    From left to right I have a comparison circuit, multiplication prototype, division prototype, adder-subtractor, logical shifter, and the flat circuit is designed to perform logic operations. No progam-counter or CU yet. The rest is obvious, but I should note a caveat with my current version of the logic processor. It has five operations: AND, OR, NAND, NOR, and XOR. There is no logical NOT. You can perform logical NOT using NOR, but I am probably going to rework this anyway. I have developed it to the point that it can read data from the main bus and perform an operation when it receives an opcode.


    Also, I have managed to make a 4HZ timer! A while ago acutally. It operates on the principle of instant pulses for it's output, so I have set up a buffer to turn those instant pulses into a more usable form. I have no idea if I am going to use this or not with MARC. When I eventually sort out my circuits for use with instant pulses, I may start using this technology.