Communication Array

[Supreme Emperor Lord As Asriel]

Has anyone actually built a functional Comms Array that you can use to send and receive communication from anywhere within distance, depending on size and strength of comm array?

SOS Signals, Long Range Communication, etc

[CJM]

It keeps the structures in memory rather than offloading them, and slows the game down.

The max range of an Antenna in Vanilla is 50km. In space you can use Laser Antenna for longer range.

I've so far networked four planetary bases, a satellite relay, and two space stations.

I've started experimenting with the Action Relay and Broadcast Controller, but they don't seem to work when the base unloads, and so I can't use them to "activate" remote facilities.

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, I have used large block antenna relays and the only propblem I got was when there are ships having antenna ON connected to the station, too much antennas creates conflcts and best to turn OFF antennas of the connected ships.

I also use Action Relay blocks to call back my AI Drones or to give them a Job to do that works very well.

[ShadedMJ]

I agree with CJM.
Communications Array is generally not a usable _concept_ within the game. Why spend the resources and power for it when you can open up the player chat window and do it for free? In single player, you can automate the remote base and use remote control block to change what you need and set up long range communication.

I set up a script to count up time and put that on a station with long range communication, then went 4000km away. Remote control to it an hour later and time still synchronized.

[CJM]

Originally posted by ShadedMJ:

use remote control block to change what you need

In the Player Menu / Control Panel there is a "Remote Access", which does not require a "Remote Control" Block to change settings on a grid.

Both the "Remote Control" and "Remote Access" would seem to need the grid to be "networked" in order to function. Being "networked" mostly is just being in range of the remote grids Antenna broadcast range. Or having line of sight between two laser antennas (at 4000km???).

---

A "Communications Array" would merely refer to a collection of interconnected blocks that are communications oriented. Antennas, Beacons, Broadcast Controllers, Remote Control Blocks, Action Relays, Ore Detectors, and maybe Motion Sensors, Event Controllers, and Timer Blocks.

In a Sci-Fi sense, "Communications Array" may instead refer to a Station Grid generally comprised of Solar Panels and an Antenna to extend the range of other Antennas, acting as a Communications Relay Satellite. The entire grid being included in the "array" of blocks, with the grid's sole and entire purpose being dedicated to communications.

---

The player chat window, while perhaps comprising a significant element of "communications", is not typically a function handled by blocks in the game.