Rover - Drilling in a straight line

[Potätr]

So I have a rover with 6 drills in a rectangular arrangement. I was using the drill left-click style to clear space quickly. Problem is, It digs down and before long it's made a hole I can't back out of. How do I drill in a straight line? https://i.imgur.com/q8QgAMe.png

[dragonsphotoworks]

build station... Place drills on horizontal pistons... Extend pistons my suggestion :-)

You need to use a piston to raise/lower drill heads so its just cutting at a flat level. Then drive forward slowly. Drilling sideways is hard ive found to keep level. i can think of a few ways to do it. using the automining script. With out vertical pistons just horizontal ones. so it circles around itself and levels the ground. But im sure some one has easier options.

[frag2k4]

Rovers are generally IMO very bad for mining tunnels or resources which is why drill ships are the superior choice for me.

When drilling the area cleared is a sphere rather than a cube as you move forward the sphere ticks away but does so at certain intervals rather than all the time, this is where rovers have their problem.

The movement of a rover is not smooth, upon pushing forward the rover will 'kick' in sorts and the drill heads will move up and down slightly which if still drilling (which you are likely doing) will change what part of the planet you have now removed.

At this point things will get worse as you will gain ridges or waves of sort that your rover has to crest, since in these cases you will have to get over them to continue drilling you will find yourself aiming further down, as such you will often find tunnels with a 'ribbed' effect and then a more pronounced slope when using a rover.

This effect is also noticeable with a static grid drill (minus the serious sloping) if you set the pistons speed too high and don't have inertia tension on.

With a ship however you can manage the engines much better and reduce how quickly they move forward and since they shouldn't be touching the ground you can maintain your drilling level even using gyro override to keep the ship level though you can't turn then.

If you are however set on using a rover the following might be helpful if drilling horizontally

Build a platform of armour blocks into the ground where the tunnel is to go and as deep as you can into the tunnel entrance.

Start a bit back from the edge and set the speed of your rover to almost nothing

Put propulsion override toggles on your hotbar

start drilling where you are then start the rover moving via the override controls

The rover should move at a continuous rate that is very slow and smooth, assuming you put the platform well your tunnel should also be flatter and smoother too.

[herrschaftg35]

You need to adjust the wheel height so the drills won't dig a downward ramp. It is impossible to drill a straight tunnel with a ship or rover by itself without a script or/mod. Building a road for it as previously stated is best for a rover. Or use a stationary grid where everything is automated and moves itself forward using timer blocks, projectors, welders.....to yield the best results.