Here's a very simple idea for a new type of redstone switch.
The current breaker would only be placeable on the ground, not on walls or ceilings. It would look a bit like those latch switches you see used in those grade school science fair projects that just connect a battery to a light bulb.
Just like levers you could toggle current breakers to be either on or off. But unlike other switches, the current breaker would not generate a charge. It can't light up redstone or activate devices.
Instead, when on, it simply acts like a normal piece of redstone laid on the floor. All it can do is carry a charge generated by another switch or a redstone torch. When switched off it becomes non-conductive.
Basically, the circuit breaker allows people to easily disconnect parts of a redstone device from its power source, without turning off the power source or canceling it out. It could be useful for circuits that use one redstone signal to power multiple different things, so you can activate and deactivate them separately.
You can do this now of course, just by taking redstone off the floor and then replacing it later. But it's more organized, and more convenient especially in multiplayer, to have this in switch form.
Since this can act like a piece of redstone, the recipe to craft this switch should include a piece of redstone. (To prevent effective infinite redstone)
not bad, i wish there was one of thise for my bunker (it had a plate and a button that sent a current to open piston, and i also had to make this werd inverted redstone wireing atached to a lever to stop the current[and on/off switch so i could control when people could come in and when they could not])
When activated, the lever locks the right torch in the off position, effectively disconnecting the circuit. This block would simply shrink the apparatus from 4-5 blocks down to one. (note: providing specialized blocks for redstone components in general takes away from the fun and challenge of redstone)
ps. this is one way, but can be expanded for two way and at that point gets rather large, however, there are tons of circuits that are quite large that could be shrunk (making a block for all of them would be ridiculous)
When activated, the lever locks the right torch in the off position, effectively disconnecting the circuit. This block would simply shrink the apparatus from 4-5 blocks down to one. (note: providing specialized blocks for redstone components in general takes away from the fun and challenge of redstone)
ps. this is one way, but can be expanded for two way and at that point gets rather large, however, there are tons of circuits that are quite large that could be shrunk (making a block for all of them would be ridiculous)
I usually agree against shrinking redstone circuits to single blocks, but just interrupting a charge seems like a simple and basic enough function to merit its own little switch instead of a big contraption. Like I said, this can already be accomplished just by picking the redstone up. But that's inelegant and not practical for a device being operated by multiple users.
Also, these can be used for things other than disabling devices. You could have compact circuits made exclusively out of current breakers instead of redstone powder, perhaps an entire field of breakers even, so you could quickly change entire current pathways without picking up and laying down redstone in new places each time.
P.S. I originally considered suggesting that instead of adding a new switch, just make repeaters have a new "doesn't transmit charge" setting. But repeaters only take signals on one side, and only relay signals on the opposite side. The current breaker could accept and transmit signals from all sides, just like redstone dust.
This could also be very handy for creating intersecting redstone lines like this.
Imagine this, where = current breaker and = redstone.
You'd put a power source on one end and three devices on the other 3 lines. Using the current breakers in the center you could easily turn them on or off individually.
Or turn off the breaker on the power source side to turn off all three devices at once.
Or you can use an AND-gate... I realise this is larger (and slower <.<), but a current breaker still seems pretty useless.
It can be a LOT larger and a LOT slower, depending how many devices you have hooked up. Instead of a neat control panel with one switch per device you could have a jumble of blocks, redstone torches, and levers for multiple AND gates.
But aside from saving space, this would also let you change the function of gates by connecting and disconnecting parts of them. You could quickly reroute circuits to turn an AND into an NAND gate for example. You could also work at ways to quickly modify other kinds of circuits into any other kind of circuit you wanted.
But let's face it. The only thing this is redundant with isn't circuits, it's the ability to pick up and place redstone. Basically, if we want to disrupt a redstone circuit, or connect a redstone circuit, the only way of doing it is to physically pick up or place redstone. That might sound simple and fine as is. But think of it like this: we use doors. Sure, we could just smash holes in walls when we want to go through, and then repair them up when we want the wall solid again. But it's a better system to be able to open and close a door than to smash and repair a wall, even if smashing and repairing walls is simple to do.
I'm confused, how is this easier then picking up redstone?
It saves you the trouble of putting redstone in your inventory or storing it away in a chest when you don't want to use it. It saves you time and hassle in single player, as well as making your machine more elegant. In multiplayer it's especially useful since it prevents redstone from being misplaced, or getting forgotten in the inventory of someone not using the device anymore.
A similar question would be, why do we need light switches? Can't we just unscrew the bulb and take it out when we don't want the light on?
Or in Minecraft, why do we need doors and glass for windows? Can't we just chop holes in walls and repair them as necessary? It only takes a few seconds to break cobblestone after all.
The current breaker would only be placeable on the ground, not on walls or ceilings. It would look a bit like those latch switches you see used in those grade school science fair projects that just connect a battery to a light bulb.
Just like levers you could toggle current breakers to be either on or off. But unlike other switches, the current breaker would not generate a charge. It can't light up redstone or activate devices.
Instead, when on, it simply acts like a normal piece of redstone laid on the floor. All it can do is carry a charge generated by another switch or a redstone torch. When switched off it becomes non-conductive.
Basically, the circuit breaker allows people to easily disconnect parts of a redstone device from its power source, without turning off the power source or canceling it out. It could be useful for circuits that use one redstone signal to power multiple different things, so you can activate and deactivate them separately.
You can do this now of course, just by taking redstone off the floor and then replacing it later. But it's more organized, and more convenient especially in multiplayer, to have this in switch form.
Since this can act like a piece of redstone, the recipe to craft this switch should include a piece of redstone. (To prevent effective infinite redstone)
When activated, the lever locks the right torch in the off position, effectively disconnecting the circuit. This block would simply shrink the apparatus from 4-5 blocks down to one. (note: providing specialized blocks for redstone components in general takes away from the fun and challenge of redstone)
ps. this is one way, but can be expanded for two way and at that point gets rather large, however, there are tons of circuits that are quite large that could be shrunk (making a block for all of them would be ridiculous)
I usually agree against shrinking redstone circuits to single blocks, but just interrupting a charge seems like a simple and basic enough function to merit its own little switch instead of a big contraption. Like I said, this can already be accomplished just by picking the redstone up. But that's inelegant and not practical for a device being operated by multiple users.
Also, these can be used for things other than disabling devices. You could have compact circuits made exclusively out of current breakers instead of redstone powder, perhaps an entire field of breakers even, so you could quickly change entire current pathways without picking up and laying down redstone in new places each time.
Imagine this, where
You'd put a power source on one end and three devices on the other 3 lines. Using the current breakers in the center you could easily turn them on or off individually.
Or turn off the breaker on the power source side to turn off all three devices at once.
It can be a LOT larger and a LOT slower, depending how many devices you have hooked up. Instead of a neat control panel with one switch per device you could have a jumble of blocks, redstone torches, and levers for multiple AND gates.
But aside from saving space, this would also let you change the function of gates by connecting and disconnecting parts of them. You could quickly reroute circuits to turn an AND into an NAND gate for example. You could also work at ways to quickly modify other kinds of circuits into any other kind of circuit you wanted.
But let's face it. The only thing this is redundant with isn't circuits, it's the ability to pick up and place redstone. Basically, if we want to disrupt a redstone circuit, or connect a redstone circuit, the only way of doing it is to physically pick up or place redstone. That might sound simple and fine as is. But think of it like this: we use doors. Sure, we could just smash holes in walls when we want to go through, and then repair them up when we want the wall solid again. But it's a better system to be able to open and close a door than to smash and repair a wall, even if smashing and repairing walls is simple to do.
It saves you the trouble of putting redstone in your inventory or storing it away in a chest when you don't want to use it. It saves you time and hassle in single player, as well as making your machine more elegant. In multiplayer it's especially useful since it prevents redstone from being misplaced, or getting forgotten in the inventory of someone not using the device anymore.
A similar question would be, why do we need light switches? Can't we just unscrew the bulb and take it out when we don't want the light on?
Or in Minecraft, why do we need doors and glass for windows? Can't we just chop holes in walls and repair them as necessary? It only takes a few seconds to break cobblestone after all.