Discussion: Wire contact apon placement placement

1st Official Post

    (May not really be the right forums, but I suppose it could be moved, I think this is the best location)


    I would have added this to the breaker thread, except it is locked.


    I would note that after blowing up two MFEs, a MFSU, 2 macerators, and a mass fabricator, along with making a hueg hole in my wall/basement (indirectly, since you cant really overload an MFSU) I realized an issue with the wiring paint system. Basically, you CANNOT have two adjacent cables not connect when placed, no matter what, because they are always black on placement. I would ask to be able to paint cables before placement, except I know why that is not doable (requires usage of the damage data, which is used by mineforge IIRC) (machines as well, except you cant paint them anyway)


    So, I think the only solution to this is to "unplug" (using a chainsaw I guess) all the nearby power sources, and drain them all via stacks of batteries/crystals/Laptron crystals.


    Any other ideas

    The problem with prepainted wire is what do you do when you need red wire but all you have is yellow wire? Or what if you want unpainted wire and don't have the resources to make it? What about crafting things that require wire? You can't mix and match different kinds of materials with our current crafting system, even though they serve the same purpose. We would need a bunch of different craft recipes that make the same thing just to allow for colored cables in your inventory.



    I think the current system is just fine. It sounds like you aren't planning your wiring too well. :(

    Quote from Jemulov

    The problem with prepainted wire is what do you do when you need red wire but all you have is yellow wire? Or what if you want unpainted wire and don't have the resources to make it? What about crafting things that require wire? You can't mix and match different kinds of materials with our current crafting system, even though they serve the same purpose. We would need a bunch of different craft recipes that make the same thing just to allow for colored cables in your inventory.



    I think the current system is just fine. It sounds like you aren't planning your wiring too well. :(


    I know that. I think I was thinking out loud there. I wonder if there would be a way to use a special tool to place the wires and paint the instantly, except ofc you would need to indicate the wire to be used. I probably need to plan out my wiring better, but I still think this kind of flexibility would be useful. I also see the issue with the crafting recipies, namely due to all the different versions acting like different items. So I think I will just need to carefully drain and unplug all of my machines (like you ought to IRL, so I suppose its a bit realistic)

    Quote from dezuman

    Wait ... Can't you place one wire ---> paint it ----> place the other cable?


    ACK! Its an E-Troll, anyway, Serious....


    Yes you could, but the connection would still occur when you place the second cable again, because black cables always connect.....


    Quote from CovertJaguar

    How about designation one color that cant connect to anything? Even normal cables.


    How about allowing us to make WHITE cables (bonemeal ofc) which cannot connect to anything but white cables, hence allowing us to set this stuff up.

    Quote from Alblaka

    If anyone comes up with a good alternative idea, we could solve this.


    Automatic coloring?
    If you place a cable to a side of another cable, that has for example red color, then the placed cable will have red color too.
    Simple and effective. In the source code this will be two or three lines of code. Or more if you wants to test if the player has a painter with right color and damaging the painter after placing the cable.

    I've got a better idea. Allow PAINTER to place cables! Only the cables that you have in the "quickbar", so you can still choose the type of cable.

    Cutiemark crusaders - engineers, Yay!
    Blown up: Industrial Blast Furnace, Industrial Wiremill, Singularity compressor, Extractor.

    Quote from Nargon


    Automatic coloring?
    If you place a cable to a side of another cable, that has for example red color, then the placed cable will have red color too.
    Simple and effective. In the source code this will be two or three lines of code. Or more if you wants to test if the player has a painter with right color and damaging the painter after placing the cable.

    and then you place a cable between a red and a blue cable *aaaaahhh!*

    • Official Post

    Tbh, I think the painting system is fine. I know it's trollish, but I agree you should plan your wiring better. Plus if wiring gets so damn easy it's impossible to blow up machines, no one will ever hear the lovely exploding machine sound. ;)

    Quote from Lurch1985

    Tbh, I think the painting system is fine. I know it's trollish, but I agree you should plan your wiring better. Plus if wiring gets so damn easy it's impossible to blow up machines, no one will ever hear the lovely exploding machine sound. ;)

    I would play the ninth with that sound.

    Quote from IC_Pandemonium

    and then you place a cable between a red and a blue cable *aaaaahhh!*

    Then the color depends on the block on which you click.
    If you look at the red cable, then placed cable will be red. If you look at the blue cable, then placed cable will be blue. If you look at something else, then placed cable will be uncolored (black).

    I think CovertJaguar solution is probably the easiest one to implement. It would just require the replacement of the if statement with an else if block in the canInteractWithCable method. Though for the players it would also require that anyone that might be in this situation to first color the cables right next to the one you are going to place white first and then change it back to the right color after the new cable has been placed. Something like the below would work.


    You could also implement the opposite to be true with black cables not interacting with any other cable color and let white cables interact with every other cable. This would be equally easy to implement and wouldn't require the player to color the cables on each side of the new spot if they ever ran into this position. Which I think makes this a better solution.


    However I do like the idea of being able to make a stack of colored cables without having to go back and paint everything. Though that wouldn't be nearly as simple to implement.


    (Assuming 15 is a white cable)


    Universal Cable = Black / Solitary Cable = White


    Universal Cable = White / Solitary Cable = Black

    All people dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in
    the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the morning to find
    that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people,
    for they dream their dreams with open eyes, and make them come true.
    --T.E. Lawrence