More Hotswapping with Non-Rail Related Blocks

[Edymnion]

Something I'd like to see is the ability to use logic driven hotswapping to bring in/trade out blocks that *aren't* rails.

Specifically, I'd like to see doors be something we can swap in/out, so that I can have a pickup rail going into a docking bay for ships that don't have the docker on the very bottom layer.

As in, picture... say a Tie Fighter |o|. I'd like to be able to put the docker under the main body, but that means if I try to dock it into a bay with a door, I can't have the door open/close. The intangible pickup rail can't have the same space as the door on the same structure, so I either have to leave an open hole in the door or I have to put the docker down in the wing section and have it scrape along the floor.

I'd much rather be able to use some creative rail structures to have a docked ship "lift off" vertically and then fly out of a bay, and I would like to have doors/force fields/etc that close the bay off when not in use.

Right now, I can't have both. I can either have a solid bay door, or I can have a rail going through the middle of the bay opening.

If I could hotswap a rail with a door, I could swap in a closed door block when the rest of the door closes, then swap in a rail block when I'm loading/launching a ship.

 

[FatCobra]

I would like to see this for lights. Changing a light from red to green would be very helpfull.

 

[Lone_Puppy]

I've often wished for these very things myself, especially the lights. This would make giant displays for advertising and signs way cooler.

 

[Star-Boy]

Just have the door/forcefield and the pickup rail on seperate entities.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Something I'd like to see is the ability to use logic driven hotswapping to bring in/trade out blocks that *aren't* rails.

Specifically, I'd like to see doors be something we can swap in/out, so that I can have a pickup rail going into a docking bay for ships that don't have the docker on the very bottom layer.

As in, picture... say a Tie Fighter |o|. I'd like to be able to put the docker under the main body, but that means if I try to dock it into a bay with a door, I can't have the door open/close. The intangible pickup rail can't have the same space as the door on the same structure, so I either have to leave an open hole in the door or I have to put the docker down in the wing section and have it scrape along the floor.

I'd much rather be able to use some creative rail structures to have a docked ship "lift off" vertically and then fly out of a bay, and I would like to have doors/force fields/etc that close the bay off when not in use.

Right now, I can't have both. I can either have a solid bay door, or I can have a rail going through the middle of the bay opening.

If I could hotswap a rail with a door, I could swap in a closed door block when the rest of the door closes, then swap in a rail block when I'm loading/launching a ship.

While I like the idea, it should be noted that it is possible to have a pickup-rail/rail-basic combo that passes through a door. It's somewhat limited; in that you must use one of 3 specific building methods to pull it off but it works well once constructed.

Option 1) Build your pickup rail leading toward the door and (in the case of the bottom mounted docker for your fighter) make the rail lead to the very bottom of the door. Build a path of Basic-rails leading from the last pickup-rail to the place where you want the fighter to come to rest. If done correctly, you can give the appearance of a complete door with an uninterrupted rail.

Option 2) You can replace one or more of the blast door blocks with a basic-rail (the color match is a little off but not too bad) and have it turn into a pickup rail via logic when the door opens.

Option 3) Build your doors as separate entities docked to rails. You may have to play around with the docking of the doors but they should be able to close with your pickup-rail path passing right through them.

Give these methods a try. I find that the first two worked very well for me. I very seldom build separate door entities but other members do. Their solutions were impressive to say the least.

 

[Lord_Greyscale]

Adding on to Dr. Whammy's post:

Option 4: build the entire rail-assembly as the docked entity.
I've actually wound up doing this a few times, for basically the same reason Endymnion posted, ships/shuttles where the docker isn't on the bottom-most block.

It is (generally) somewhat less annoying than rail-doors, but has some of it's own witchery involved in setting it up.