Cursor-Following Hinge

[Woof bot 3000]

It would be cool if you'd add a motorized hinge that would rotate toward your cursor. or a hinge that would rotate toward your cursor or a specified Orientation when you press/hold a certain key, and turn back when you let go of a certain key/when you press a different key/or you hold another key.

[Alpino_WILL_STEAL_ oats!]

You could do the exact same thing with a directional sensor and thrusters 

[Lurkily]

20 hours ago, Alpino_WILL_STEAL_ oats! said:

You could do the exact same thing with a directional sensor and thrusters 

While you ARE correct, I would love a hinge that's able to follow directional sensor targets.  When and if we get things like nearest enemy/nearest ore/hopper/etc, this may go a long way to helping drones react fluidly and intelligently.  Directionals are too big to go on most hinged assemblies, and the shake in any hinge with clearance around it also distorts the directional sensor's reading.

[FreakyWaves]

On 10/18/2018 at 12:02 AM, Lurkily said:

While you ARE correct, I would love a hinge that's able to follow directional sensor targets.  When and if we get things like nearest enemy/nearest ore/hopper/etc, this may go a long way to helping drones react fluidly and intelligently.  Directionals are too big to go on most hinged assemblies, and the shake in any hinge with clearance around it also distorts the directional sensor's reading.

Add a tracking option in the motorized hinges 

using same code as directional sensor so it could also track sumo I.E.

As simple as saying it

[Lurkily]

3 minutes ago, FreakyWaves said:

Add a tracking option in the motorized hinges 

That is my suggestion, yes. 

On 10/16/2018 at 9:31 PM, Alpino_WILL_STEAL_ oats! said:

You could do the exact same thing with a directional sensor and thrusters 

You could, but then you wouldn't be able to track your target without rotating the entire ship. 

If you want to use a hinge, then you've probably already considered accomplishing your goal without it, because of how clumsy they can be.  I think we should try and make them a more viable option.  The alternative is simply that we won't see a creative use of hinges because circumstances haven't enabled it.

[FreakyWaves]

20 minutes ago, Lurkily said:

That is my suggestion, yes. 

You could, but then you wouldn't be able to track your target without rotating the entire ship. 

If you want to use a hinge, then you've probably already considered accomplishing your goal without it, because of how clumsy they can be.  I think we should try and make them a more viable option.  The alternative is simply that we won't see a creative use of hinges because circumstances haven't enabled it.

Because they they stop their rotation too fast it strikes back and THAT makes them COMPLETELY UNUSABLE in A LOT of circumstances

[Lurkily]

I think maybe we should not vote comments up and down - apparently it reorders them by votes. 

[FreakyWaves]

1 minute ago, Lurkily said:

I think maybe we should not vote comments up and down - apparently it reorders them by votes. 

[Ookami-sama]

1 hour ago, Lurkily said:

I think maybe we should not vote comments up and down - apparently it reorders them by votes. 

Voted up Alpino's comment to balance it out.

Also, I already have hinges that follow my cursor, actually. See gif below, even if you will not see said cursor. Do not mind the delay in turning, the numerous logic blocks and the light; I only introduced them for hinges not to go left, then right, then left, five times a second when not moving the mouse, as well as for some other things that make this craft a work in progress. Actual logic is extremely simple: I press A (AZERTY keyboard) to start / stop the hinges; all of them are set up to rotate left when the sensor is tilted left, and vice versa.

As for said hinges going back to their original state... I move the cursor, but you can do it in a number of automated ways. One of them, on a stabilised craft (stays in a given position) is to place a sensor on a hinge, point it towards gravity, and tadam, you have your original state "saved" in this configuration.

Don't request existing features. 😛

[Lurkily]

The problem is that when you have alot of weight on that hinge and need it to be quickly responsive, they will sometimes start to shake and spontaneously tear themselves apart just because they needed to make a small adjustment. 

I had this happen repeatedly when I tried to use turreted guns and gravity/ distance sensor combos to focus fire on terrain peaks, to more smoothly orbit and grind down a world. Walker drones also had this issue, and most of the foot weight was gravity sensor.  It's been awhile since I used hinges though, so perhaps they're more stable now.

[Ookami-sama]

20 minutes ago, Lurkily said:

The problem is that when you have alot of weight on that hinge and need it to be quickly responsive, they will sometimes start to shake and spontaneously tear themselves apart just because they needed to make a small adjustment.

That is what the delay is made for in my example. I heard last updated version had a delayer implemented, so it could be easier now (I need 6 logic blocks otherwise). Oh, and I have not seen anything about their being more stable.

@Woof bot 3000 Here, the state saver, just to prove I am not making this up:

Hinges are following my cursor until I press E; they then proceed to go back to their default state, which was pointing right (with stuff attached thus pointing upward. Believe it or not, I do not spend much time polishing such things as what points where). 5 more logic blocks, plus one hinge (could technically have used an existing one), one sensor pointing to gravity, tolerance gap downward.

Edited October 25, 2018 by Ookami-sama
Added stuff, plenty of it; and fixed typo

[Lurkily]

 I've used delay for the same thing, but avoiding that instability also makes them unresponsive to changing circumstances, and almost fully useless for combat.  As I'm hoping that "nearest enemy" becomes a directional sensor criteria, I would like to see hinges respond to directional criteria with combat responsiveness.  In this case, the new hinge speed setting would probably also be more useful.