JMPowell86

While that's certainly what the name implies, in-editor testing suggests something else is at play. The restriction is quite possibly bugged, but I thought it might be worthwhile to see if anyone else had a similar experience with old designs being disqualified for no discernible reason or any insight into the issue.

I just fired up the game after some time away to find almost 100% of my designs are now unusable due to a 'dronepart stacking' restriction added in the last patch. I've experimented a bit with removing and rearranging parts, but haven't been able to determine exactly what counts as a stacked part. On several designs, I found that removing one nacelle or the other removes the restriction, while I would have expected that it would be necessary to remove both if a conflict existed with either. Other designs were acceptable after the removal of seemingly random components. I love the game, but I'm a bit frustrated by the opacity of this new restriction and would certainly appreciate a little guidance on how to avoid it. Thanks in advance for any help!

I think you'll find the difficulty here is not with the thruster or logic restrictions, but the sensor restriction. A pair of sensors have numerous capabilities that simply can't be replicated by a single sensor; without these abilities complex behaviors are very difficult to coordinate. This is essentially why one sees so few active one-eyed species in nature. With two directional sensors it becomes possible to detect distance and to establish closed or open-ended zones around the drone, generating a much larger possible variety of signals that can then be processed by a logic core. Three or more sensors can open up some additional possibilities, but most complex behaviors can be achieved by two sensors. This time, note the scarcity of three-eyed species. The increased performance of a second sensor will almost always outweigh its mass and part cost. You will also benefit from making use of the tolerances on your sensors. While the 'Right' and 'Left' outputs can only be adjusted clumsily in non-90 degree increments (Devs, if you're reading this, round directional sensors, or the ability to turn the sensing portion within its block, please?), the tolerance can be easily fine-tuned, or even turned into a third output by using a pair of 'Not' gates on the sensor outputs and an 'And' gate to combine them. Hopefully those points are of some assistance, though my ultimate conclusion is to agree with Garheardt. Under the proposed restrictions it's likely not currently possible to build a drone that simple that doesn't move erratically. Add a second sensor and make use of those tolerances though, and you shouldn't have too much difficulty.