Asymmetric turret problem - bug or obscurely WAD?

[Coyote27]

I attempted to test a small turret on an arm, as seen here - there's a horizontal rotation axis, then a horizontal beam sticking out of one side, and on the end of the beam is the vertical rotation axis where the barrel attaches. However, when manually commanding the barrel it will only rotate on the vertical axis, and I have to swap to the turret arm to move on the horizontal.

Is this problem because of the asymmetric shape of the turret, such that the game doesn't understand that it's supposed to be a turret? Or is there likely some other explanation? I've tried undocking and redocking each section to no avail.

 

[A_Uchiha]

did you have everything set-up properly? (ex, core direction, and axis placement ? ) I recommend you spawn in a small turret from the dock and take apart so you can see how its setup.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

just tested your design. looks like the problem is the way you oriented the core on the barrel. for some reason if you orient the core like this

this it will only turn horizontally.

to fix this orient the core like this:

you should have full control of both the barrel and the base. hope this helps!

 

[Coyote27]

Huh, okay! I'll consider trying that, hopefully it should do the trick. I'd built it with "create docking" instead of assembling the parts individually and then docking them all afterward, and that's likely where the issue came in. It's not really important right now, that's just an odd spot on the ship that feels like it needs something useful there, but I think I'll go with a DF missile rack instead... however, arm turrets will probably be used in other applications, so making sure they work as intended will be helpful.

 

[Keptick]

Your cores aren't in the proper orientation. Basically make sure that the turret base turns around it's core's Y axis, and the barrel segment turns around it's core's X axis.

How the turret is positioned on the ship doesn't matter as long as those two conditions are fulfilled, hope that helps!

 

[Coyote27]

Your cores aren't in the proper orientation. Basically make sure that the turret base turns around it's core's Y axis, and the barrel segment turns around it's core's X axis.

How the turret is positioned on the ship doesn't matter as long as those two conditions are fulfilled, hope that helps!

Mhm, it means it'll just be a lot more reliable to build turrets the old-fashioned way by assembling them as independent pieces first and then docking them together, and NOT using "create docking".

 

[Nauvran]

good thing to remember is to always have one part turning horizontal and one turning vertical.
Turrets can only use mousemovements to turn, s

Your cores aren't in the proper orientation. Basically make sure that the turret base turns around it's core's Y axis, and the barrel segment turns around it's core's X axis.

How the turret is positioned on the ship doesn't matter as long as those two conditions are fulfilled, hope that helps!

should also be able to be vice versa. Just needs to not use the Z axis as it's not controlled by the mousemovements which is what turrets uses to aim with.

 

[Keptick]

Mhm, it means it'll just be a lot more reliable to build turrets the old-fashioned way by assembling them as independent pieces first and then docking them together, and NOT using "create docking".

Tbh I never use create docking so I couldn't say. Never really got around to trying the feature haha.

 

[jayman38]

I tried "Create Docking" a couple of times to give it a fair chance, and returned to classic turret building (and other moving sub-entities), separate from host entity, for exactly this reason. It strikes me as an utterly broken game mechanic. I'd much, much rather have the option to select a saved entity and apply it directly to the docking point. (E.g. Mount a saved door entity directly to a rail, Mount a saved Turret directly to a turret rotor, etc.)

Specifically, I remember trying a few times to create "retractable" bow planes for my "Typhoon Submarine", and being so frustrated that they would not move after the first sliding movement. They stopped for no good reason. Yeah, a conventional entity would occasionally get stuck, but the conventional bow planes would get stuck far less often. As "Create Docking" entities, it's like the rail was deactivated after the first direction change. Bonus: When created conventionally, when you switch entities, you are generally viewing right-side up when you land on these sub-entities. Use "Create Docking" and you are likely going to be viewing to the side or upside down when switching to the subentity. I also tried creating a few turrets, but the bow planes are where the problems really bothered me to the point of never using the feature ever again.