Read by Council Enable Use of the Rail Speed Controller on the Rail Turret Axis?

[StormWing0]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or feature but we can't seem to use the rail speed controller on the rail turret axis. No if we could this would help those that want fixed direction turrets but don't want to put up with the issue of the AI going back into ship mode and not shooting if on a normal rail. Also it'd help removing the need of having to use unending collisions to keep it in place if using rail turret axis blocks.


Being able to use the Speed controller on the axis would end this little debate for fixed turrets and also solve several issues with the current versions of them at the same time.

 

[Valck]

Using the speed controller to lock rotation sounds good; I'm not so sure about the possibility of using the speed controller to accelerate turret motion though. I'm not saying that would be bad per se, just that its implications need to be considered.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I was actually thinking about this the other day. Locking rotation for turrets could solve alot of collision lag problems as well as help make certain builds look less awkward. *cough* robot heads as turrets *cough*

though instead of using the rail speed controller I would just cut out the middle man and connect the activation modules to the rail turret axis. say have it at 4 activation modules for full rotation rather then the 8 for rotators. Each activated module will increase the turn radius out from a cone facing the turret axis's arrow.

• 1 Activation module=90 degrees (45 degrees left and right)
• 2 Activation module=180 degrees (90 degrees left and right)
  
• 3 Activation module=270 degrees (135 degrees left and right)
  
• 4 Activation module=360 degrees

as a default if no activation modules are connect then it will have 360 degree rotation. connecting 4 modules will only serve specialized logic circuits where you would want a turret to have limited rotation but with the flip of a switch it suddenly has full rotation.

 

[Drumboy168]

Isn't this what mass docking enhancers are for?

 

[StormWing0]

The thing mass enhancers don't do is allow you to bring a turret to a dead stop without it being extremely heavy and there being no enhancers.

 

[Crashmaster]

How about; the turret dock is surrounded by 4 (each side) or 8 (sides and corners) activation blocks. The turret may move in only the quadrants/octants for which the corresponding activation block is present and active. Perhaps also allow them to move from an 'off' partition to a nearby 'on' one as well. Allows you to stop turret movement completely or pre-restrict them from laggy or otherwise unwanted movement. Possibly might work to force the AI's attention to the other side of the ship if you could adjust them on the fly.
Remote installation of the activation block array would be nice as ones contacting the turret dock could be an interference with the current dock-sensing and un-docking activation block 'functionality' if it applies to turret docks.
An unfortunately bulky idea though, like most rail control stuff we have so far.

 

[StormWing0]

How about; the turret dock is surrounded by 4 (each side) or 8 (sides and corners) activation blocks. The turret may move in only the quadrants/octants for which the corresponding activation block is present and active. Perhaps also allow them to move from an 'off' partition to a nearby 'on' one as well. Allows you to stop turret movement completely or pre-restrict them from laggy or otherwise unwanted movement. Possibly might work to force the AI's attention to the other side of the ship if you could adjust them on the fly.
Remote installation of the activation block array would be nice as ones contacting the turret dock could be an interference with the current dock-sensing and un-docking activation block 'functionality' if it applies to turret docks.
An unfortunately bulky idea though, like most rail control stuff we have so far.

hmm sounds interesting and might work better than simply changing the speed of the rail like my idea has. Say no attached activators = acts like normal, while 1 or more = acts within that named quadrant of the activator(s). The only issue is what to do in case of unconnected quadrants where there is a gap between activators like one is off or just not there? Does it stay in the area is gets stuck in or does it jump to the separated areas?