Improve laser antenna interactions

Stephen Tellier shared this feedback 5 years ago
Submitted

It would be great to add the possibility to add action on sensor or panel button of elements of another grid by using laser antenna.

It can be use to do many thing, like activate an alarm on your ship when someone try to attack your base :)

Replies (2)

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1

You can do this already. Connect two antennas together, Shift+K, profit.

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2

This is kind of hard to explain, but I'll do my best.

Timers, sensors, buttons and the like, are all very cool, but they can only activate and manipulate blocks that are connected via connectors or as subgrids from pistons or rotors.

Grids that are not connected like this are, of course, not connected and don't show blocks from other grids in the console. Even if they're within antenna range.

Laser antennas aren't really that different compared to regular antennas. Laser antennas are just a stealthier (no HUD waypoint), and longer-range version that can only connect to one other antenna at a time. What it does with that connection is exactly the same as with regular antennas.

This still doesn't mean that the grids are "connected." And timers/sensors still can't manipulate those remote blocks.

But your suggestion is to make laser antenna connections count as a hard-connection like with subgrids and connectors, and I LIKE IT. It's a good idea I think and would be really cool! +1

In the mean time, I made myself a custom script a long while ago that allows timers/sensors and buttons to toggle and use stuff on remote grids using all types of antennas! It does almost exactly what you describe that you want.

It's called FARTs. It comes in two parts: Here's the Sender and the Receiver. So even though it's not as easy or simple as just using a laser antenna, it's still possible to work around currently.

Though, you should know about a very weird antenna bug that I constantly run into when sending signals this way: Antennas need to be turned off after sending a signal. Somehow, an antenna that has just sent a signal would, I think, constantly send that same signal every tic, which would effectively freeze whatever receiver is reading it. From your perspective it would look like nothing is happening. But when you turn off the antenna, the receiver would kick in and start doing its thing.

Basically, I just have an added step that just turns off the antenna, and on again after one second. I do this each time I send out a signal like this.

But again, yeah, your idea is cool and I like it.

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