Vector Thrusters Help

[chiss]

I'm having trouble working out how to use Vector Thrusters.

I have looked around but cannot find any help or documentation on them.

Could someone tell me how they work, and in what cases youd use the different input styles for.



At the moment, theres two things i want to do with it;

1- Have the thrusters thrust in the direction of a target (obviously using Target Finder/Beacon Sensors)

2- Have the thrusters always thrust directly downwards.

Heres a simple diagram of the two;




Thanks in advance

[GreyMario]

Here's your answer: set the thrusters to xyz world. For chaser thrusters, you want a negative multiplier. When you want to thrust, wire the direction of thrust to the appropriate XYZ direction.

For example, to make your ground-facing thrusters, wire the Z thrust to -32767. (If this pushes it into the ground instead [not in GMod at the moment, so can't test yeah, confirmed, it doesn't push it into the ground] then remove the negative sign.)

Wire the XYZ of the beacon sensor into the chaser's thruster. Attach the beacon sensor AND the chaser to the center of your chaser's front. Tell the beacon sensor to output XYZ.

[InfectiousFight]

Umm...world XYZ doesn't work like that.
Basically, here's how they work. The co-ordinates you give to the thrusters basically point to co-ordinates, with the VThruster itself as point (0,0,0) So, you want to figure out, in relation to the VThruster, which way does it need to point? The only difference between World and Relative in this case, is whether or not the system rotates with the VThruster. The other thing to keep in mind is that whatever co-ordinates you feed into the VThruster, that's the direction they will be pushing away from. I know, it doesn't make sense, but that's just how it works. A negative multiplier solves that problem.
Okay, so for your first problem, where you want them to fire at a real XYZ co-ordinate, you would work it like this...if you had the GPS co-ords of the VThruster (just put a GPS right beneath or on top of the VThruster), and the GPS co-ords of your target, you would basically just find the difference between them, and feed that into the VThruster.
So, suppose you knew your VThruster was at 5,7,3. And that your target was at 26, 14, 12. For your X input, you would use 26-5 = 21. Your Y input would be 14-7 = 7. And your Z input would be 12-3 = 9. Basically, think of it as "Shifting the grid."
Now, for your second problem, well, remember, if you are using a world XYZ, then basically any negative number (or positive, if you're using a negative multiplier) in the Z co-ordinate would obviously be below the VThruster, therefore it would be pushing up.

[GreyMario]

longish post

Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse ME for taking the simpler and easier route.

[InfectiousFight]

I wasn't saying yours was too simple or easy. I'm saying you gave a wrong explanation of how the VThruster world XYZ worked.

[GreyMario]

Exactly how was I wrong, anyway? I simply said to wire a Z thrust to -32767 world, which DOES get the effect desired (always thrusts "toward the ground") and for the homing thrusters to wire the XYZ output of the Beacon Sensor to a negative-multiplier thruster.

And by "wire the direction of thrust" I meant relative to world grid system. (which should be what alignworld is. Alignlocal aligns to a grid attached to either the prop or the thruster, I'm not sure. :v

[InfectiousFight]

Alignlocal and Alignworld? Hmm...they must have added new stuff since the last time I ran through the settings. Okay, GreyMario, you were right.
Though I will not apologize for my longish post. Remember, people will learn the best if you explain to them ont only what to do, but also why they're doing it.
Again, I apologize, and offer my hand in reconciliation.
*offers hand*

[singilli]

I can make a tut on that if you want

[GreyMario]

(By alignlocal and alignworld, I was trying to imply local and world grid. Guess it didn't work out if you didn't know what I meant >_>)

Also, I did screw up once now that I look at my post again: there's no way I could have meant

the point you want to thrust away from

when I'd said:

When you want to thrust, wire the direction of thrust to the appropriate XYZ direction.

(then again, the above statement's true for negative multiplier thrusters. Blargh, I'm confusing myself again!)

[seth1010]

I can make a tut on that if you want

Youtube tutorial?

That would be great!