We're getting pistons. Pistons are stationary and push adjacent blocks to the side.
Here's what I suggest: a reverse piston. A paddle. A paddle operates exactly like a piston, except instead of pushing blocks it pushes off of them. Whatever block the paddle faces will not be moved. Instead the paddle, and the blocks behind the paddle are moved.
Let me illustrate. Let's say that this is a piston and that this is a paddle . [] is empty space
Let's put them both between 3 dirt blocks and see how they're work differently
Piston before being turned on:
[] []
Piston on:
[] ->
Piston turned back off. The dirt on the right has been moved one block to the right.
[] []
Here's how the paddle would behave:
Paddle before being turned on:
[] []
Paddle on: -> []
Paddle after being turned back off. The paddle and the dirt on the left of the paddle have been moved one block to the left, leaving the dirt on the right where it was. [] []
Paddles would push off any solid block, but they would also be able to push off of water blocks. So yes, now you can finally have your dream of a self-propelled giant raft paddling itself across the ocean!
Obviously there's no limit to what you could create with paddles. But here are a few ideas that spring to my mind:
*A self propelled raft
*A submarine that paddles down or up in water to sink or rise
*A subterranean vehicle that can drive through sand and gravel (as long as more sand blocks keep falling in front of the paddles as it moves, you could use them to propel an underground room through a solid sand hill)
*Moving platforms. Imagine a straight track made of a layer of sand resting on top of upwards facing pistons. You have a platform with a paddle on each side. Flip a switch and the first piston pushes up a block of sand. The paddle pushes off the sand and moves one block. Then flip a switch and the second piston pushes up the second block of sand, where the paddle used to be. The paddle pushed off of that and moves another block further. Then push up the third block of sand, etc. etc. etc.
Anything other than flat rafts would be tricky though. Anything above the water would get left behind, and hollow rooms beneath the water would implode as the moving side of the boat moves forward and the other side remains stationary.
What would be necessary is for paddles in addition to pushing off water, to also be able to move water source blocks (but not non-source water blocks, they'd just replace those), and for pushed source water blocks to also push solid blocks. That way the paddles at the rear of the boat could push a water source block for a separate propulsion system at the front of the boat to use.
And I believe if redstone and redstone controls are on a block moved by a piston, the redstone turns back to a collectable item. You'd want to change that so they can remain on top. Otherwise a boat's paddle could only be operated manually, not be a redstone system.
I love this idea, but the redstone part is iffy. The reason redstone falls off is because moving a block converts it from a block to an entity, a transitory and temporary object that doesn't exist until it's finished (hence why you can walk through falling sand if you're quick). It would require a rewrite of the entity code to implement (not that I don't suggest this :smile.gif: ).
Are paddles similarly limited by obsidian and such?
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Here's what I suggest: a reverse piston. A paddle. A paddle operates exactly like a piston, except instead of pushing blocks it pushes off of them. Whatever block the paddle faces will not be moved. Instead the paddle, and the blocks behind the paddle are moved.
Let me illustrate. Let's say that this is a piston
Let's put them both between 3 dirt blocks and see how they're work differently
Piston before being turned on:
[]
Piston on:
[]
Piston turned back off. The dirt on the right has been moved one block to the right.
[]
Here's how the paddle would behave:
Paddle before being turned on:
[]
Paddle on:
Paddle after being turned back off. The paddle and the dirt on the left of the paddle have been moved one block to the left, leaving the dirt on the right where it was.
Paddles would push off any solid block, but they would also be able to push off of water blocks. So yes, now you can finally have your dream of a self-propelled giant raft paddling itself across the ocean!
Obviously there's no limit to what you could create with paddles. But here are a few ideas that spring to my mind:
*A self propelled raft
*A submarine that paddles down or up in water to sink or rise
*A subterranean vehicle that can drive through sand and gravel (as long as more sand blocks keep falling in front of the paddles as it moves, you could use them to propel an underground room through a solid sand hill)
*Moving platforms. Imagine a straight track made of a layer of sand resting on top of upwards facing pistons. You have a platform with a paddle on each side. Flip a switch and the first piston pushes up a block of sand. The paddle pushes off the sand and moves one block. Then flip a switch and the second piston pushes up the second block of sand, where the paddle used to be. The paddle pushed off of that and moves another block further. Then push up the third block of sand, etc. etc. etc.
What do you think?
This is awesome!
That's what I was thinking :smile.gif:
Anything other than flat rafts would be tricky though. Anything above the water would get left behind, and hollow rooms beneath the water would implode as the moving side of the boat moves forward and the other side remains stationary.
What would be necessary is for paddles in addition to pushing off water, to also be able to move water source blocks (but not non-source water blocks, they'd just replace those), and for pushed source water blocks to also push solid blocks. That way the paddles at the rear of the boat could push a water source block for a separate propulsion system at the front of the boat to use.
And I believe if redstone and redstone controls are on a block moved by a piston, the redstone turns back to a collectable item. You'd want to change that so they can remain on top. Otherwise a boat's paddle could only be operated manually, not be a redstone system.
Are paddles similarly limited by obsidian and such?