Laser antennas dont work through safe zones or atmosphere
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Laser antennas will not connect in a safe zone or in the atmosphere, at any range. I’ve tried from surface to space on triton, and surface to 1 km up, I’ve tried titan surface to 60 km away, and titan surface to 500 m away. No laser antenna will work in the atmosphere or in a safe zone. This is extremely detrimental to my reconnaissance plans and remote control abilities with satellites and stations in orbit. I’ve seen this problem has been around for 2 or more years now and it hasn’t been fixed.
I have the same bug
Just my input, this feels realistic. Planetary atmospheres tend to distort light (even over very short distances), and safe zones project a field which has a similar effect; both result in the laser beam being redirected such that it is incapable of being directly targetted. Perhaps one can also state that the beam needs to be direct straight-line with no distortion in order to reliably carry information, which would prevent using this to "bounce" the signal around an obstacle (which has never been planned or supported).
Additionally, allowing a safe zone to block laser antenna transmissions results in potential strategic applications not otherwise possible: if a player suspects a laser link is in place and wants to terminate it for whatever reason, they merely need to place a safe zone in the path.
Just my input, this feels realistic. Planetary atmospheres tend to distort light (even over very short distances), and safe zones project a field which has a similar effect; both result in the laser beam being redirected such that it is incapable of being directly targetted. Perhaps one can also state that the beam needs to be direct straight-line with no distortion in order to reliably carry information, which would prevent using this to "bounce" the signal around an obstacle (which has never been planned or supported).
Additionally, allowing a safe zone to block laser antenna transmissions results in potential strategic applications not otherwise possible: if a player suspects a laser link is in place and wants to terminate it for whatever reason, they merely need to place a safe zone in the path.
Hello, Engineer!
Thank you for your feedback! Your topic has been added between considered issues.
Please keep voting for the issue as it will help us to identify the most serious bugs.
We really appreciate your patience.
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Keen Software House: QA Department
Hello, Engineer!
Thank you for your feedback! Your topic has been added between considered issues.
Please keep voting for the issue as it will help us to identify the most serious bugs.
We really appreciate your patience.
Kind Regards
Keen Software House: QA Department
I just tried this in creative mode and had it work no problems. Laser Antenna on Earthlike on a grid with a battery and a Remote Control, copied coordinates through the laser antenna's interface. Flew up to space, 45km away, picked an asteroid, built a grid and slapped the same setup on it. pasted earthlike's laser antenna coords into the laser antenna on the asteroid. able to connect just fine. add a control seat and camera on both grids, and from each i can view through the camera of the other.
Some notes, for the OP:
* You must have direct Line of Sight between the laser antennas. any obstruction will prevent connection.
* you must have the GPS coordinates of at least one antenna. Get this through the Control Panel, go to the antenna, and 'copy my coords' -- this copies the laser antenna's coordinates to your clipboard (in GPS Marker format so you can save it as a GPS if you want). Don't use "a nearby GPS coordinate I know" -- use the _Exact_ coordinate of the laser antenna.
* On the other end's laser antenna, in Control Panel, click "Paste coords" to paste the copied coords in. Then "Connect to coords" to establish the connection.
* Both grids must have power. the power requirement scales exponentially with distance.
* Make sure you actually have both antennas' distance settings set to a large enough value to see the other antenna.
* to 'take control' of the other grid, it must have a Remote Control block (powered and turned on) and you probably will want a Control Seat or Cockpit on the one you're at.
I just tried this in creative mode and had it work no problems. Laser Antenna on Earthlike on a grid with a battery and a Remote Control, copied coordinates through the laser antenna's interface. Flew up to space, 45km away, picked an asteroid, built a grid and slapped the same setup on it. pasted earthlike's laser antenna coords into the laser antenna on the asteroid. able to connect just fine. add a control seat and camera on both grids, and from each i can view through the camera of the other.
Some notes, for the OP:
* You must have direct Line of Sight between the laser antennas. any obstruction will prevent connection.
* you must have the GPS coordinates of at least one antenna. Get this through the Control Panel, go to the antenna, and 'copy my coords' -- this copies the laser antenna's coordinates to your clipboard (in GPS Marker format so you can save it as a GPS if you want). Don't use "a nearby GPS coordinate I know" -- use the _Exact_ coordinate of the laser antenna.
* On the other end's laser antenna, in Control Panel, click "Paste coords" to paste the copied coords in. Then "Connect to coords" to establish the connection.
* Both grids must have power. the power requirement scales exponentially with distance.
* Make sure you actually have both antennas' distance settings set to a large enough value to see the other antenna.
* to 'take control' of the other grid, it must have a Remote Control block (powered and turned on) and you probably will want a Control Seat or Cockpit on the one you're at.
Tried editing last comment, after more testing i can corroborate some of the findings.
I've done some additional testing on this in creative (because the bug report concerned me for some future plans), and the results are a little weird.
Earth Surface 1 to Earth surface 2 : Connection established.
Earth surface 3 to Asteroid 1 (Above Earth atmosphere): Connection established.
Titan Surface 1 to Titan Surface 2 (250m away) Connection Established.
Titan Surface 1 to Orbital NPC Safe Zone: Failed
Titan Surface 1 to Titan Surface 2 again : Failed!
Titan Surface 3 to Titan Surface 4: Success
Titan Surface 3 to Titan Surface 1: Fail
REBUILT Titan Surface 1 to REBUILT Titan Surface 2: Success
...ok, so it's like Titan Surface 1 was corrupted by the Safe Zone Test...
Titan Surface 5 (new) to (new) Space NPC Safe Zone.... Fail.
Titan Surface 6 (new) to (new) Titan Space _just outside_ NPC Safe Zone... Fail.
Titan Surface 7 (new) to Titan space 3.5km away from NPC Safe Zone... Success.
Titan Surface 8 to Titan Surface 9, which are 500m apart and within 250m of a surface NPC Safe zone... Fail.
Observations indicate that the issue is safe zone, not atmosphere. Additional observation indicates that attempting to connect to an antenna that was previously blocked by an NPC Safe Zone, will continue to fail, as if that antenna was 'corrupted' by the attempt.
Finally, I also tested to another antenna near the space-bound safe zone but with that zone _turned off_ (admin menu) and it still failed to establish.
Final observation: Safe Zones will prevent connections to antennas within them, or within a certain distance of them, even if the zone is turned off. Both antennas involved in such an attempt become 'corrupted' such that they are unable to establish ANY connection, even to an antenna they had previously connected with. Uncertain if that 'corruption' spreads to other antennas when attempting to connect to them.
Tried editing last comment, after more testing i can corroborate some of the findings.
I've done some additional testing on this in creative (because the bug report concerned me for some future plans), and the results are a little weird.
Earth Surface 1 to Earth surface 2 : Connection established.
Earth surface 3 to Asteroid 1 (Above Earth atmosphere): Connection established.
Titan Surface 1 to Titan Surface 2 (250m away) Connection Established.
Titan Surface 1 to Orbital NPC Safe Zone: Failed
Titan Surface 1 to Titan Surface 2 again : Failed!
Titan Surface 3 to Titan Surface 4: Success
Titan Surface 3 to Titan Surface 1: Fail
REBUILT Titan Surface 1 to REBUILT Titan Surface 2: Success
...ok, so it's like Titan Surface 1 was corrupted by the Safe Zone Test...
Titan Surface 5 (new) to (new) Space NPC Safe Zone.... Fail.
Titan Surface 6 (new) to (new) Titan Space _just outside_ NPC Safe Zone... Fail.
Titan Surface 7 (new) to Titan space 3.5km away from NPC Safe Zone... Success.
Titan Surface 8 to Titan Surface 9, which are 500m apart and within 250m of a surface NPC Safe zone... Fail.
Observations indicate that the issue is safe zone, not atmosphere. Additional observation indicates that attempting to connect to an antenna that was previously blocked by an NPC Safe Zone, will continue to fail, as if that antenna was 'corrupted' by the attempt.
Finally, I also tested to another antenna near the space-bound safe zone but with that zone _turned off_ (admin menu) and it still failed to establish.
Final observation: Safe Zones will prevent connections to antennas within them, or within a certain distance of them, even if the zone is turned off. Both antennas involved in such an attempt become 'corrupted' such that they are unable to establish ANY connection, even to an antenna they had previously connected with. Uncertain if that 'corruption' spreads to other antennas when attempting to connect to them.
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