Clocks, Buttons, and Switches: When Do You Use What?

[Kimiyosis]

I'm curious on which module/system(weapons, effects, lights, etc) do you use either logic clock, a simple 0.5 second button, or a normal on/off switch?

There's alot of blocks that can be logic affected, so I thought it would be faster to ask the forums to gain the most amount of viable information(as the wiki does not have this info) as quickly as possible.

might try to keep an up-to-date list edited in the OP >.>

 

[AtraUnam]

Lights, weapon computers, rails, doors and passive movement effects can all be affected by logic.

 

[GRHayes]

I use logic for power and shield modules,
drone launching, - see http://starmadedock.net/content/stick-ship-drones.3912/
swarm missiles, I can get 2 times as many swarm missiles in my ship by making them modular than just sticking them in.
This ship makes use of the compact modular missile system http://starmadedock.net/content/yellow-bird.3854/
lighting, elevators,
http://starmadedock.net/threads/my-rail-elevator-circuit-very-fast-to-wire.21444/
some docking, loading and unloading cargo modules,
http://starmadedock.net/threads/simple-automated-cargo-drone-storage-point.22342/
http://starmadedock.net/threads/automated-crane-demo-with-some-issues.22393/

 

[Kimiyosis]

I know what can be affected by logic, but what I don't know is whether a simple on/off switch works, or do I have to clock them for continuous usage.
Sorry if I wasn't clear in the OP

 

[KiloZulu]

There are so many applications that it's hard to pin down, and it can vary greatly on how you want a system to work. For example, if I want to turn on a light, I could just connect an activation module to it. I turn on the activation module and the light turns on until I turn it off. But maybe I don't want to have the activation module all lit up along with the light. Instead, I can use a button attached to a flip/flop, with the flip/flop attached to the light. Now, I press the button, it turns on the light until I press it again, but the button doesn't stay lit up. Then again, maybe I don't want the light to stay on, but blink instead. Then I would connect my activation module or button to a clock so I can make the light blinky.

 

[Jaaskinal]

Pretty much what everyone else has said, there's so many combinations and possibilities that asking a group of people about this will yield in next to no information.

Working this question in reverse is typically a lot easier (you still get a ton of answers, but typically I find that you can find someone who thinks like you, and who will teach you a solution you'll intuitively understand.) Rather than asking about specific components going to broad gadgets, ask about specific gadgets being created by the broad components.

Here's some basic questions;

What components would you use to create a logic fired weapon? How would you make one with a high rate of fire?
How do you get logic to interact with effects?
What if I want to turn lights on and off in a compartment? What if there's one input vs two inputs?
How does logic interact with rails?

Here are my answers;

The only reason I'd ever make a logic fired weapon (besides things like docked push and docked reactors) I would use a faster than normal clock, a counter, and something to decode the counter. There's lots of places to find fast clocks, Atra has made some extremely impressive ones (of which I've copied and have moved onto using) and I've put a few on Community Content (Mine are fragile and inefficient. If you're just starting out with logic I would not recommend using it, but it's an interesting concept with rails that might be worth a look at if you're starting to get okay with logic.) Counters are typically just done by linking a chain of flipflops together and having corresponding not gates to the side. The flipflops will count backwards in binary while the nots will count forwards. The decoder would just look like a whole bunch of ands, to be specific, 2^(however many flipflops I would have). All of the ands would be connected to different weapon computers, and they'd all fire sequentially as the clock would run.

Simple answer; you don't (besides push and pull but they're weird.) Logic does not trigger effects, radar jamming and cloaking, scanners or anything that wouldn't make sense for it to trigger (hull, systems, decorative items, etc.) Logic only triggers rails, doors, other logic (duh,) lights, jump drives and inhibitors, push effects and pull effects, and weapons.

This is actually an awkward thing, and I have to ways I usually go about it, and I typically try to stay consistent in one build, so if I use one I will continue to use one even if the situation would better be used by the other. If you have one place you're going to be able to turn the light on or off, an activator is more simple - you can have the circuit be one block, just connect all the lights to the activator you're turning on and off and it'll look just fine. If you can turn the light on from two or more places however, using buttons and a flipflop is simpler, because then you don't have to worry about one being on while the other is not.

Rails are a deep topic. One thing that I should mention about them though is that a lot of people believe that rotors run smoother with buttons as opposed to with activators. I am not sure as to whether or not this is true, but I typically include a button with my rotors just in case.

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This all being said, standardization would be interesting, but I could never see it working out. We have standardized docking, but even that had controversy at one point. Standardizing logic across the community would be a nightmare, even within a faction it's somewhat difficult. I have two different circuits that I have made that I and others paste onto their ships to interact with Jump-Drives. Recently I had a member create another one, and so I have three things that I have to paste onto my ships, that I have to include because different people prefer the different options, and all in all it's kind of a mess. That's with two people who create logic, and only a handful giving opinions about it. Proposing a standardization in my faction would probably work, but we'd lose out on a lot of thought that was put into alternate methods. Proposing a standard to the community would be a brave idea.
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I know what can be affected by logic, but what I don't know is whether a simple on/off switch works, or do I have to clock them for continuous usage.
Sorry if I wasn't clear in the OP

For things like lights and doors, they don't need constant input, they'll just stay on. Weapons need constant input if they need to fire constantly and rail rotors need constant input if you want to have them rotate constantly. Jump drives charge a small amount when they receive a high pulse, and jump when they're charged and receive a high pulse. Jump inhibitors are flipflops and will turn on if you send one high pulse, turn off if you send another. Rails will just transition onto each other without input, and will only need one input if you want to switch their direction, or want to undock whatever's attached.

 

[GRHayes]

I know what can be affected by logic, but what I don't know is whether a simple on/off switch works, or do I have to clock them for continuous usage.
Sorry if I wasn't clear in the OP

It depends on what you are trying to do. Which is why I provided the links you can download the items and go through the circuits to see how they work.

 

[jayman38]

I don't even use the temporary push-buttons anymore. I use regular activation for things that need manual on-off switches, like lights or rail doors. And then I'll have either a wireless and/or ship activation block attached to that for more activation options. For anything that requires continuous or timed activations (blinking lights, constant rotations, moving machinery, etc.), a clock is the order of the day. However, even a clock needs an on-off switch (activation block) with reset logic, so that a machine can be reset, restarted, or otherwise manually stopped.

For anything that requires a temporary activation, there is typically no additional block cost or else just one "NOT" block in my logic build to reset the trigger (the activation block, in most cases), making it ready to use again for another temporary activation. Most of my logic builds have a "NOT" block built in for activating something when the primary function turns "off" (or to deactivate something with the primary function turns "on" in the first place.)

I avoid situation-specific activation blocks, namely the standing blocks and the area activation blocks. I avoid standing blocks, because I want astronauts to be able to use the machine, regardless of whether they have activated gravity or not. I avoid area activation blocks, because it is too wonky to adjust to whether a person is actually in a place or not, which is what you want an area activation for. As long as area activation is triggered on and off by an astronaut entering an area detection field, and not by the exiting of the field, it will always be strange. Plus, with sufficient care, astronauts can avoid, bypass, or trick these activations, overriding your ability to plan logic around an astronaut's activities.

I would recommend using on/off activation with lights and avoid clock-driven blinkers. Blinkers are fine in enclosed, relatively tight spaces like hallways and rooms (think: red alert), but for most players, external blinkers (think: running lights) won't be seen blinking until it's too close to make a difference.

I use weapons and salvage systems manually, so I'm not sure of the best logic layout for those systems.

 

[KiloZulu]

I use buttons whenever possible as the means of player interaction with the ship or station. I use doors with timers on them so that they close behind the player. I'll use buttons for elevators when you want to call the car or choose what floor to go to. I would much use a colored light that can provide more information about the state of logic than simply having an activation module light up. Green means go, red means stop, and so on. As such, I'll attach a button to a flip/flop for logic that I wish to run continuously until turned off. In this manner, I make a lot more of my ship's interactive controls uniform for the player.