Pickup Rail Improvements

[Snowfox1337]

In the latest patch the new (will admit very exciting) pickup rail system was added but immediately i saw one thing that it could really use to improve its funtionality...well...two. Clockwise and counter clockwise rotator blocks. I know what you are thinking. "But Fox that is all unnecessary with the current rail system having the same thing." Yes...it seems so. Hear me out. 90% of ships only have a single face of their docker exposed which limits rotation to a single plane. (Picture a laser turret on only one turret axis. It can only yaw.) In order to add pitch and/or roll to the equation you need at least one more side of the docker exposed...and lets face it having it slapped on the bottom of a ship looks tacky. By adding rotation blocks to the pickup system as well you can make a rail transfer a docker to another line of rails that uses a different face...even one that is covered up by the ship. As such you can get full pitch, yaw, and roll rotation without any tacky exposed dockers...in fact you could use a completely hidden internal docker too if you so wish and make your ship any shape you wish. Let your imagination run wild my friends.

 

[Madman198237]

Surely new rails have reached the FSM by now....surely.....

Yes, they'd be useful, I'm sure they've already been suggested.

 

[Snowfox1337]

Surely new rails have reached the FSM by now....surely.....

Yes, they'd be useful, I'm sure they've already been suggested.

I would think they have but i havent seen any evidence of it thus far. So its best to post to make sure id say. This is an improvement we need.

 

[FatCobra]

I would like to see a "roll" rail so that when fighters are taking off they can roll while speeding up.

 

[Madman198237]

Do you mean you want a rail that gradually accelerates fighters up to speed? Or do you mean a barrel-roll sort of roll?

 

[FatCobra]

I'm thinking a barrel-roll.

 

[Madman198237]

Why? You can already do that with some logic trickery, by the way. Make the rail a separate entity docked to a rail rotator set to rotate indefinitely.

 

[FatCobra]

Why? You can already do that with some logic trickery, by the way. Make the rail a separate entity docked to a rail rotator set to rotate indefinitely.

Can docked entities transfer between entities on rails? If so then yes this would work. But if not and the rail system is anything but a straight shot it could collide with the rest of the ship. For example if a ship has a single docking port and the drones/fighters get dispersed into multiple launch tubes rotating the whole structure could be problematic.

 

[Madman198237]

Yeah..... But still, why rotate something as it flies out of a bay? Unless you're storing them pointing in a different direction than you're launching them from.

 

[FatCobra]

Why, the coolness factor. While its a land take off it is cool:

 

[Madman198237]

Compared to average Blue Angels maneuvers, that one's just kinda OK. It's really not that impressive. Especially not in space.

 

[FatCobra]

True but it was the only one I could find. I know I've seen barrel-rolls right after a catapult launch I just wan;t able to find it. Again its just for a coolness factor.

 

[Snowfox1337]

While the main point of this thread is focusing on being able to have the equivalent of the current rail rotators as a nonsolid block so it can reach the sides of a ships rail docker that are normally covered by the hull i do see uses in having the barrel roll rail cobra mentioned. Although a nonsolid rotator block touching the front face of the docker would have the same effect. (Just an idea.) The main reason i want this addition is to have side launched fighter bays but only one rear return point for all the bays. In that case you would need to be able to rotate the fighters in 3 dimensions on the way to the bays.

 

[Valck]

Having a rotator as part of the launch rail itself means the take-off motion will stutter while the ship rotates around its docking point, whereas docking the entire launch rail assembly to a rotator on the base structure allows for a fluid take-off while also doing a "proper" barrel roll...

Not opposed to a non-physical rotator block, quite the contrary - but for the use case of a barrel roll, I think it's neither necessary nor desirable.

 

[Dire Venom]

sounds cool but head head can't quite get around the idea XD
I havnt really used the pick up rails yet.