Turret Rail

[kiddan]

The Idea:
A rail that allows docked entities to move along it by holding*2 Forwards and Backwards (and AI control). Allowing turrets that -can not only be translated by the player-, but also have path-finding AI.


The Possibilities:

• Turrets that players can move to and from cover on a mother ship or station.
• Turrets the AI may translate to get a better shot at a target.
• Trains, minecarts, etc in-which the driver controls the direction without changing the direction of the rail.
• An entity docked to the rail could move in increments if they wish, without multiple logic interactions to do so.

The Cons:

• One more way to create lag on a server. Turrets wouldn't just be calculating rotation anymore (though, using turret rails would be a decision by the player).
• Turrets would be able to dodge slow enough projectiles, leading to possible balance issues.*

Notes:

• Holding*2 Forwards would move the occupied dock in the direction arrows on the turret rail face.
• *Speed should not be instant. Low acceleration should balance-out dodging projectiles.
• *2 Unsure if holding Forwards/Back would be better than tapping one to set the direction (the latter would use Left and Right as a brake).

 

[HerrColonel]

I think this is achievable already. Dock the turret to a wagon entity which is docked on your mothership rails. Then control it in turret with wireless logic. Rails are painfully slow, but rotatos can make something like this move fast if it's wide enough

 

[kiddan]

I think this is achievable already. Dock the turret to a wagon entity which is docked on your mothership rails. Then control it in turret with wireless logic. Rails are painfully slow, but rotatos can make something like this move fast if it's wide enough

Though, you cannot have an AI choose which way to move on that rail, 'nor a player-controlled dock without a connected logic output.

 

[jayman38]

I think this goes along with a free-rotation dock block, and adds directional movement. I like it. On the other hand, maybe instead of a new kind of rail, maybe we could have a new "restriction selector" block that links to the existing rails. In either case, it could lead to "ball joints", which is another desired rail type.

Possible Restriction Options for some kind of "rail movement restriction" system:
Locked Move (existing behavior)
Free move lateral (controlled, discreet translation along a length of rail)
Free move rotation (controlled, discreet rotation around a rail, rotor, or turret dock)
Free move complete (controlled, discreet translation and rotation along rail)
Free move lateral entity (moves freely along a length of rail when another entity pushes against it)
Free move rotation entity (rotates freely around a rail, rotor, or turret dock when another entity pushes against it)
Free move complete entity (move and/or rotate freely along and rotation around rails)
Frozen (same behavior as a zero-block speed controller; no movement, no intersection calculation)

Also, if you go to that extent, you'd want to be able to link something to -that- to define the size and/or power of an entity that can move the docked entity. (E.g. restrict the mass, so that a single player astronaut cannot move a free-sliding door, but a robot arm with a minimum mass of 50 can. Or maybe it takes 50 energy for an AI to turn 90 degrees on the rail.)