TerraTech Community Build - Great Ball Contraption! [Finished]

[ZeroGravitas]

minor problem...

You've done a ComCore too, Lol! Quack's instructional video shows removing the scrapper and cannons as part of the setup process.

But your module looks to be moving well, from the Gifs. Good effort @Legionite. I'm glad you've taken the time to make another pass on it (even though it looks like the block count has risen a little more... RIP decent graphics settings for this video, between you guys!). Again I'll try to check it out properly tomorrow.

 

[GKJ]

Hmm... I was only getting about 10% going in the mouth when I just tested this in TerraTech 0.7.8.0, R&D.

It varied quite a lot, by where they went: to start with, just to the top corner of the mouth. Then between the eyes a lot. Also, sometimes the rotating arm passed right through the balls.

What speed should the conveyor and Fabricator be set to? Normal? Or Turbo? (But I saw the same problem with both.

What graphics setting to you use? Changing my graphics down seemed to have an effect on hitting the ball, but didn't fix it.

Are you still changing this build? Can you use different blocks for the tip of the hitting rod?

And, you can certainly include the Chinese writing tech in your entry too. (Provided it's polite.)

When I tried to re - run, he did have what you said
It seems to be related to the moment when the first ball was struck
When I try to add more operations to this device, he's going to be more and more unreliable
Recently I'm very busy, maybe I can't play games

 

[reaperx1]

I would much prefer that the quad conveyor system auto-loads

I as well . By the time I got to that point of the build I was about 6+ hours into it and I was looking to test it out.
I have been thinking of ways to auto load the conveyors, but I haven't got to testing anything out yet.
If I get a chance to get back to it I will update the snapshot and save.
I figured this way there would be at least that to use just in case I didn't get anything working better.

Good idea with the resource spacing. That got me thinking!

Have a good one [8D)

 

[Legionite]

When I tried to re - run, he did have what you said
It seems to be related to the moment when the first ball was struck
When I try to add more operations to this device, he's going to be more and more unreliable
Recently I'm very busy, maybe I can't play games

Need help?
I can help troubleshoot it if it has too many accuracy issues.

My first suggestion to fix the aim issue is to get the balls to spawn on the launching position as soon as possible to reduce chances of the hammer hitting too early.
(Fabricator placed so that the balls that come out of it are immediately on the launcher's position)

 

[Masakari]

Just a couple basic (Non MTs....I know blasphemy) things as I was having a hard time thinking of what to make and getting some ideas to work right. Still gonna wok/try on some things as it's just a matter of getting things to line-up and fit right, both in design and function.

GBC SCH 1_1 (Self Clearing Hopper)

First iteration of the SC function that works amazingly well (minus slight clogging sometimes) if a bit slow-ish and will always clear out the bubbles (at least for me they did in dozens of tests with it). Has 4 Inputs with a 3 wide clearence so should be able to not drop any when set to it. Could not think of what to make with it to use but might make a conveyor line to at least bring the output up higher as it sort of just drops it on the ground right now.







GBC SCHE 1 (Self Clearing Hopper and Escalator)

Instructions

1. Make sure the Pacemaker and both filters under the GEO cab are set to paused/none
2. Take the two rubber RB blocks and feed them into the scrapper.
3. Set Pacemaker to fast to fill the escalator and once done set to normal and remove the scrapper. Will have 1 spare rubber chunk on the line upload point for each side.
4. Ready for use.

Different design set up for the SC function with bonus escalator which I can extend if needed to align with other modules so just let me know. Will clear out the hopper every time with no stragglers . Much faster than the above first type as it uses the conveyor instead of block animations.

 

[GKJ]

Need help?

Thank you very much if you can help me with the modification
I've been busy doing something else for the last few weeks, so I can't spend time playing games
You can download the second files I sent to modify, thank you very much

 

[Legionite]

Should be faster now, accuracy also doesn't rely on timing anymore, although it is now roughly a 40% chance of a ball making it in a shot rather than 50% at low speed.
(Still a noticeable improvement with ball output)

 

[ZeroGravitas]

Should be faster now, accuracy also doesn't rely on timing anymore, although it is now roughly a 40% chance of a ball making it in a shot rather than 50% at low speed.

Good job. Yeah, it's looking more viable. With Fabricator set to Turbo. Still a lot of fluffed shots, of course, so maybe room for improvement. And I think it would be good to expand the frog's mouth, to 5x5, perhaps. Will still look impressive.

Would be good to tidy up the rough edges and remove as many redundant blocks as possible, from the spinner, especially. And I'd like to scale down the backboard as much as possible - it towers over the rest of the modules, with it's grey and white stripes. (Although it's relatively small number of big blocks is good.) Total height is kinda massive too, but I can probably live with that.

A little issue I had with deployment of this,: I had to have graphics set to "Fantasitic", otherwise, on "Fastest" the rotating armature just flies straight out of it's holder every time, when pressing "X". So I guess there is reduced physics in the game (I didn't realise).

 

[ZeroGravitas]

It would definitely be good to shave off blocks on any other module, too, that can fairly stand to loose a few. I'm down to sub 30fps, on "Fastest" graphics, with all entries loaded into R&D, and my MBC there too. So we're really going to be pushing the envelop of what's possible to show.

We'll probably want to remove redundant in-out ramps, collection boxes, etc, for appearance sake too; QuackDuck's, there, is kind of a floating box, so if we can get away without it, that would be good.

Anyways, fixed version of the Xpress:

Your moving parts were definitely more stable, and I see a salvage path scrapper for bubbles falling of the first stepper backwards, heh. I do wish there could have been a way to cut down the block count too, though. But if the contacts are smoother, maybe the physics burden is lower overall...?

We do seem to have a fairly major issue with the Xpress Station, though: it explodes to pieces upon save game re-load! Once all the other modules have been added there too. Train literally exploded once, and all the multi-tech parts fly out a long way. (Before and after "X" deploy save files attached. All other modules not set up at all properly.)

Any ideas what might help this? It's going to be very tricky for me to film if I can't re-load, and I'd really like to offer the save for download. (Even if it's looking utterly improbable for the dev's streaming machine to hack this, at all.)

Could it be the size of your base tech (dimensions or block count), leading to some kind of loading delay mis-match? GKJ's re-loaded fine right next to it (Quack's wasn't assembled). Maybe I/we should try splitting it into sub-sections (after deployment), to see if that helps...?

If it does, maybe that's a sign to set these up as two separate modules (progressing more in a line)...? I know it's very cool to be able to make a whole setup drop out of one snapshot - I'm still impressed.


A more minor detail suggestion: could you have Venture receivers at the train's destination platform, so the train unloads more when it's at the actual station, and for more gradually too? Similarly, could we move back the loading platform, so it looks a little more logical to the viewers? (Theatrics.)

 

[ZeroGravitas]

Just a couple basic (Non MTs....I know blasphemy) things

These hopper modules are really beautifully made @Masakari. I'm really glad you've joined in, here. There's so many little points of attention, with the various corners and diagonal transitions, plus padding out the width, etc. Let alone the radar mechanisms! (I'd had a bit of a fiddle with bobbling balls about on radars, but didn't dream of using the EXP resource radar like that! Very clever.

And very functional! Super handy to be able to spawn a whole load of balls right into the hoppers. They'll make a good starting (and top up) point(s).

I did have the first tech stick once, but I think it will probably be viable. The output on both is obviously not precisely paced, so we'll have to be a little cautious about what module comes next (when the hoppers are loaded full).

How full did you intend the conveyor to be on the "SCHE 1" (AKA: Vomiting Horse)? I found that using only 1 of the 2 resource blocks seemed to work best, so there was a regular chunk-gap-chunk pattern. (Very thoughtful that you built in delivery canons to decommission the conveyor too.) But maybe that works too well? Clears the hopper too quick? I did have the hopper jam a couple times with full conveyors, though.

I'll let you know about extending the diagonal lifter. Thank you!

Now we just need a couple of nice, simple ramps (that should travel a fair distance) to make use of all these great lifters! I've already poked @Zargn about a posible entry, and I guess @Chrii_the_Vieh is also very busy, too. Anyone else is still welcome. And I think we're at the point of saying 1 entry per person, now, for any new submissions.

 

[Masakari]

@ZeroGravitas Thanks

Yea I was thinking of how to force the bubbles around not using an MT (which is extremely hard as there are not many auto animation blocks or toggles for any). I remembered the RR (resource radar) had a large radar animation and thought "will it blend?" and sure enough it does pretty well almost reliably so.

Yea as you say they are not completely reliable for a standard timed pace (and like I said it does stick a bit sometimes), but the Lego GBCs have times they don't always output with correct timing so it you think that way they are timed perfectly .

Up to you on how full you want the conveyors for the video/operation, but it worked ok with gaps in the bubbles with a full load (again very similar to the Lego GBC stuff). I didn't like the 2 space gap and single chuck parts that one block does so I added 2. If I extend it I might be able to have it space correctly with a 1/0/1. Honestly did not try it on slow as that is just too slow imo but might work out better to keeping the hopper semi loaded and timed better with others. The delivery cannons were just for my testing of different resources but liked how they looked on there so I left them.

Any thoughts on the output part of the SCH 1 (first tech)? Have not seen any submissions that have inputs that low. As stated I was thinking of adding a conveyor line to bring the output higher up to mesh better with the other subs.

 

[QuackDuck]

@ZeroGravitas Thanks

Yea I was thinking of how to force the bubbles around not using an MT (which is extremely hard as there are not many auto animation blocks or toggles for any). I remembered the RR (resource radar) had a large radar animation and thought "will it blend?" and sure enough it does pretty well almost reliably so.

Yea as you say they are not completely reliable for a standard timed pace (and like I said it does stick a bit sometimes), but the Lego GBCs have times they don't always output with correct timing so it you think that way they are timed perfectly .

Up to you on how full you want the conveyors for the video/operation, but it worked ok with gaps in the bubbles with a full load (again very similar to the Lego GBC stuff). I didn't like the 2 space gap and single chuck parts that one block does so I added 2. If I extend it I might be able to have it space correctly with a 1/0/1. Honestly did not try it on slow as that is just too slow imo but might work out better to keeping the hopper semi loaded and timed better with others. The delivery cannons were just for my testing of different resources but liked how they looked on there so I left them.

Any thoughts on the output part of the SCH 1 (first tech)? Have not seen any submissions that have inputs that low. As stated I was thinking of adding a conveyor line to bring the output higher up to mesh better with the other subs.

Accidental double post.

 

[Legionite]

it explodes to pieces upon save game re-load!

That's new

I will try to fix it again

 

[Masakari]

Accidental double post.

Thanks.

Didn't think it posted as I got an error when trying to the first time.

Fixed

 

[Legionite]

Okay, so before saving, set the machine pacemaker to pause.
Set to normal upon reload.
It should be stable.

There isn't much more I can do about this I am afraid, because the Techs hold their positions for awhile before they enter physics, allowing the conveyors to glitch the resources into the elevator Techs, causing rapid unplanned disassembly.

(Feel free to replace the Receivers with the VEN ones, but before pressing X.)
Any changes done must be before pressing X, or the whole machine explodes

In order to make everything not require resources, a whole lot more Techs is required...

Then again, I can replace this with a new submission if it is too much a hassle, right?

 

[MrTwister]

Hey man, this sin't something supercool, but can be used as an element with others' submissions:



Basically its a centrifuge where the balls should be dropped at the top from any side and it will mix and push the balls out in a predetermined direction, where they can be picked off for the next contraption element. i know it's pretty basic, but the beauty is that it can catch balls from several elements and push them into one, so you can surround it by up to three ball droppers

It is somewhat slow - which may be a good thing.

All in the save file:

 

[Nocallia]

Making something right now. Should be done by tommorow.

 

[ZeroGravitas]

Any thoughts on the output part of the SCH 1 (first tech)? Have not seen any submissions that have inputs that low.

Reaper's, GKJ's and lefgionite's can all scrap from floor level.

@Mr Twister's new, low profile centrifuge might be an ideal output connection too. I'll take a look at that later to check it's definitely viable. Thank you very much for the submission. Have you tried using a rotating anchor with confused AI cab, in place of hover-bug? (Not sure which is asking for more trouble, 'lag' wise.)

 

[Legionite]

lefgionite's

lol

Anyways, there seems to be a lack of distributors...

I will try to make one.

 

[ZeroGravitas]

Sorry.

distributors...

By which you mean....? (It's going to be a simple ramp, right? Right? WE REALLY NEED SOME NICE RED VENTURE RAMPS! So much grey and yellow right now.)

And I've figured out a fix for your Xpress station exploding: it was just about on the edge of a world tile seam... So moving it over a dozen meters let it reload fine on Normal setting, etc. I'm wondering if this is despite or because of Django's changes to fix base silos dropping resources on techs straddling seams... (Will try to make a bug report. Also, will add a video here in a tick.)

Edit:

Any changes done must be before pressing X, or the whole machine explodes

yeah, I've had that previously, but actually, this time it was totally tolerating me messing it about, changing out all the collectors just fine, for example. Go figure...

If I have a fiddle, and come up with a modified reciprocal piston mechanism (which I've been meaning to play), would you be interested in integrating it, maybe? Or do you want to avoid any design interference? (You've been pretty quiet on my re-design suggestions so far.)