So, admittedly this might be semi-difficult to implement:
I love the airlocks, they're great. They save a tremendous amount of time in comparison to cooking up some sort of sticky piston powered contraption (which are still cool though). However I've noticed I keep running into the same issue over and over, especially in relation to space stations.
I think, to a point, we can all agree that if you're trying to build a realistic looking space station (realistic meaning perhaps something that echoes the ISS in design) then they aren't going to be very bulky. This presents a problem in terms of hiding redstone cables used to control the airlock doors. I am WELL AWARE that you can place a lever by a single completed airlock door and use it to control the doors open/close state. The issue with this though is say, I walk into airlock 1 which consists of two separate airlock doors. I throw the switch and close the interior door, then throw a second switch thus opening the exterior door. I then go on a little romp through space, and let's say I'm doing work on the other side of my space station when I run low on oxygen. Because I plan for these problem, I have a second airlock built on the other side of the station. However since the exterior door is controlled from the interior airlock, due to the lever problem (i.e. the fact that for two levers to control a single redstone powered device an XOR gate must be constructed, XOR gates are not small and cannot be hidden easily) I am stuck outside, too far from Airlock 1, and locked out of Airlock 2.
To solve this I was thinking a similar design as the airlock frame itself could be implemented. In other words, I find it interesting that an airlock frame is able to identify when it has been completed and it has a specific function that is implemented only once it has been built into an actual frame. Is there any way to further this by having two frames acknowledge when they are placed by one another? Let's say airlock frames of matching size (3x3 for example) being maybe 2 or 3 blocks across from each other, and automatically flipping off if the other is activated somehow? I suppose I'm not explaining myself very well but really all I'm looking for is a way to extend the functionality of the airlock frames to something a bit easier to work with for those of us who are aesthetically inclined yet also obsessive about functionality.
Discuss!
I love the airlocks, they're great. They save a tremendous amount of time in comparison to cooking up some sort of sticky piston powered contraption (which are still cool though). However I've noticed I keep running into the same issue over and over, especially in relation to space stations.
I think, to a point, we can all agree that if you're trying to build a realistic looking space station (realistic meaning perhaps something that echoes the ISS in design) then they aren't going to be very bulky. This presents a problem in terms of hiding redstone cables used to control the airlock doors. I am WELL AWARE that you can place a lever by a single completed airlock door and use it to control the doors open/close state. The issue with this though is say, I walk into airlock 1 which consists of two separate airlock doors. I throw the switch and close the interior door, then throw a second switch thus opening the exterior door. I then go on a little romp through space, and let's say I'm doing work on the other side of my space station when I run low on oxygen. Because I plan for these problem, I have a second airlock built on the other side of the station. However since the exterior door is controlled from the interior airlock, due to the lever problem (i.e. the fact that for two levers to control a single redstone powered device an XOR gate must be constructed, XOR gates are not small and cannot be hidden easily) I am stuck outside, too far from Airlock 1, and locked out of Airlock 2.
To solve this I was thinking a similar design as the airlock frame itself could be implemented. In other words, I find it interesting that an airlock frame is able to identify when it has been completed and it has a specific function that is implemented only once it has been built into an actual frame. Is there any way to further this by having two frames acknowledge when they are placed by one another? Let's say airlock frames of matching size (3x3 for example) being maybe 2 or 3 blocks across from each other, and automatically flipping off if the other is activated somehow? I suppose I'm not explaining myself very well but really all I'm looking for is a way to extend the functionality of the airlock frames to something a bit easier to work with for those of us who are aesthetically inclined yet also obsessive about functionality.
Discuss!