Logic + Salvage beams

[Captain Fortius]

As odd as it is, it took me this long to try my hand at an automated salvager array.
What's stranger still is that I'm still building stuff in these turbulent times, but let's cut to the chase.

Here's a small test machine that was supposed to sweep back and forth with a salvage beam.
The SVG computer is activated by a single signal.



You can see the problem at once; Initially the beam follows the machine's rotation, but soon stops doing so.
I'd just call this a bug and hope it'll be fixed eventually, but maybe something can be done on my end?

Activating the SVG computer via a button, once by the wireless module, and two more times by delay blocks led to a little improvement:


(timing appears worse in the gif than it actually is)

It's still far from optimal. I wonder if someone built similar stuff with better results or maybe has some ideas to share?

 

[Dvaren]

Try it with a cannon slave....all other versions dont track well and never have

 

[StormWing0]

For anything other than the Salvager + Cannon combo you'll need to slow the rotation on the arm down some more and speed up your clock.

 

[Captain Fortius]

Thanks, both of you!

I've tried beam, cannon, and pulse slaves and it didn't affect tracking.

However you've set me in the right direction; I found this fast clock created by an user called "amimai"
Trying to make this basic clock faster for a push effect
https://starmadedock.net/threads/trying-to-make-this-basic-clock-faster-for-a-push-effect.8662/#post-227572
and it manages to trigger the salvager frequently enough for proper beam tracking with any slave.

Now I only have to test if it still works on a multiplayer server, or the microlag messes with the circuit.

 

[kikaha]

The thing is that when you fire the salvage beams at nothing it will stay pointed at that empty point in space. You need an entity as target for the beam to follow.
Thats what happen in my salvagers when i fire the beam so i suppose it might be the same for your contraption.

 

[Captain Fortius]

Interesting. The simpler the solution, the better.

I tried as you said, to see if it's just a lack of a target that causes the problem.

This is with the clock detached, SVG activated by a single signal, once:



And this is with the fast clock turned back on:



Still, it was worth a try. Also, "contraption" is a great word to hear when tinkering :D