Gantry melting

[Firely]

I cant figure how to avoid the rocket gantry to melt every launch /return , i can easly cool down even in void by connecting with cold metal plate but it goes istant melt BAM .

Have you find a way to avoid that ? paying steel repair cost evrytime is not very fun :(

[Sangria Technotruck]

Melting melting (as in it's gone and there's a pile of liquid steel beneath where the gantry use to be), or just getting damaged? I've never had steel melt from a launch, but iron automation wires can, so you need to use something the melts at a higher temperature.

If it's just being damaged, you solve that by retracting the gantry. There are 2 automation ports on the command capsule. The output port indicates the rocket is ready to launch, and the input port tells it to launch. The gantry also has an automation port to extend and retract. What you want to do is use the automation ports to retract the gantry before you launch the rocket.

[Firely]

Yeah melting was an euphemism , did you use some logic door for that automation?

[Sangria Technotruck]

You can. At a minimum, you'd need to connect the gantry to a manual switch, and then once the gantry has been retracted, manually launch the rocket through the space screen without needing to use the automation on the capsule at all.

Typically, I connect the "ready" output of the command module to the gantry through a NOT gate (gantry is extended when the automation wire is ON, so you want it to retract by turning it OFF through the NOT gate), and then also connect the "ready" output to the capsules input through a FILTER gate so there is a delay between when it's ready and when it actually launches (to give the gantry time to retract). I usually set the delay to 10 seconds, just because it's fun to countdown from 10 when launching a rocket, but it really only needs 2-3 seconds.



EDIT: Just remembered that's not going to work exactly; it'll still damage the gantry unless you also use a MEMORY TOGGLE to latch the output, otherwise the gantry extends again immediately when the rocket launches and it still gets damage from launch. Even if you use a timer, it'll extend and get damaged on the landing. I'm not at my gaming PC, so I can't get a screenshot at the moment.

[cainboy]

I was wondering what that 2nd automation port was for, I thought it locked the door :O

but yeah, I hooked up the scanner and door to the bunkers over head, and then not gates with filters for the gantries, and then not gates with buffers for the lower bunkers.

Ready to launch: Bunkers open up, gantries retract, then launch, moment passes to make sure its gone, bunkers close, and gantries extend..

steel automation wires in the path of the rocket....
No idea how hot Hydrogen fuel gets, but iron melts for the petrol rocket ;o

[Firely]

nice can you make a screenshot for the automation that control gantry and and bunker doors?
i just discovered that meteors can damage the gantry too