Anyone using tripwire hooks and what for?

[FlowerChild]

Just curious. I was in the process of making adjustments to the recipes for various redstone blocks, and when I got to the tripwire I found myself with the urge to rip it out and be done with it, given it's yet another of Dinnerbone's half-baked features that serves little use, but which was included into the game at a time before I had become comfortable with just nuking such things.

Anyways, let me know if you've found any particular worthwhile usage for it. I looked over the wiki, and the limited uses there are pretty lame.

[primetoxinz]

I use it for only endermen farms and other mob traps. Removing it would also make the jungle temple redstone pointless( which it is already)

[Gabecraft1234]

Please leave them in as they are an integral part of my auto cow and chicken farms.

[Battlecat]

On player on my server is using the tripwires for an enderpearl elevator that he built before the changes to hunger. I suspect that elevator design would now be rapidly fatal due to the reduced healing rate from hardcore hunger.

That's the only application I'm aware of. Personally, I've never found a use for the tripwires.

[Stormweaver]

The only bad thing I've ever thought about the tripwire is the hit-box on the string. Otherwise...they're cool. Pretty much any automation involving mobs can use them, and without the lighting updates of the lens - useful in mob traps and the like.

I'd be pretty sad to see it go.

[gftweek]

I use them in my automated cow farms, but it's nothing that couldn't be done with pressure plates, they are just convenient to use if you have already looted a jungle temple. To be honest even this was forcing a use for them since I already had them, but it does make the redstone slightly shorter/simpler and is easy to set up in the early game if you have passed by a jungle.

[FlowerChild]

It's cool, the thing about the jungle temples just occurred to me as well, which would make getting rid of them more trouble than it's worth.

It's yet another feature I'm tempted to overhaul though to make a better integrated part of the game, which kinda sucks, as I'd prefer not getting into any more of that stuff.

And yeah, my biggest problems with them are the hit-box, the look of the string, and the lack of any way to send redstone signal through them (like if I were to overhaul them, a redstone powered block to tug on the string would likely be part of that). Underdeveloped, visually inconsistent, primarily useful for its exploits: typical Dinnerbone.

[FlowerChild]

Please leave them in as they are an integral part of my auto cow and chicken farms.

I'd like to hear why on this one. I'm still curious as to their uses.

[RalphKastro]

I believe it's mostly used by people for pre-anvil item detection, but it can be easily switched with the fence-pressure plate trick

[Gabecraft1234]

For my chicken farm they send a red stone signal back to the dispenser when an egg falls through it and for my cow/sheep farm the calfs and lambs set them off when they are born to trigger the dispensers drop more wheat on the cows/sheep.

[Gabecraft1234]

How does the fence pressure plate trick work?

[RalphKastro]

make a stream carry the item to the corner of a hole, and in the hole put a fence(not connected to anything) and a pressure plate on top of it. the item will pass through and activate the pressure plate, like in a tripwire

[FlowerChild]

make a stream carry the item to the corner of a hole, and in the hole put a fence(not connected to anything) and a pressure plate on top of it. the item will pass through and activate the pressure plate, like in a tripwire

The exploits make my spleen ache...

[CycloneSP]

I think the only thing I dislike about the trip wires and such is that almost everything that can be done with trip wires can be accomplished with the detector block. It makes me cringe every time I hear someone use a tripwire to automate something where I would use a detector block.

A great example has been mention with the detecting of eggs in the chicken farm. I always use a detector block when making that automation, and it kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I hear that I could simply use tripwires to accomplish the same thing for a lot cheaper.

Other than that, I don't have a problem with their existence. Only I really can't seem to think of anything that they'd be useful for.

[Vexalor]

People actually use tripwire hooks? I don't think I've ever even crafted one. What makes them so much better than other redstone input devices (namely pressure plates)?

I understand the pre-anvil item detection thing, but what are you using item detection for before getting an anvil?

[FlowerChild]

I don't think I can leave them as is. Way too much sploiting going on, and their overall implementation is crap. Hopefully it will only take me a few hours to turn them into something more consistent with the rest of the mod, especially given the work I already did on the stake string. I think I was just quite happily ignoring them up until this point.

I'd suggest people using them start converting over to Detector Blocks or what have you for your automation needs. And no, don't use the "pressure plate trick" either, as I'll definitely be fixing that as well.

[kilgore trout]

I find their only useful value is the fact that when combined with your powder kegs they look like great beer kegs... ;)

[FlowerChild]

Actually, allow me to put forth a quick design of what I'm thinking of doing, as I am uncertain if these things will still be useful enough to warrant me not just ripping them out as I was originally considering them.

Leaving them as is, is off the table at this point, so don't bother arguing that side of things.

-The wires themselves will more closely resemble the stake string. The hit boxes on them will be adjusted to match, so no more magically detecting within the entire block they occupy. Only touching the string itself will trigger them.

-The wires will break when triggered by a large entity (anything bigger than an item), and thus will become single-use for that purpose. Items will likely trigger as they do now, but I may do something funky with making the wire solid to them or what have you to limit their usefulness in automation. This preserves their intended use in booby traps while getting rid of the exploits that resulted from their inclusion.

-I'll likely include the redstone triggered device to tug on the string that I mentioned previously so that these things are useful in signal transmission (telephone poles ftw).

Now, my question mark here is with regards to this pretty much all representing functionality already in the mod, with the trip wire just being a cheaper and less effective alternative. Is it thus worth it for me to go through the above trouble instead of just ripping the fucker out? That's what I'm thinking over right now.

[Azdoine]

I can tell you that I probably wouldn't use tripwires even if you did redesign them. They have no good place.

[FlowerChild]

I can tell you that I probably wouldn't use tripwires even if you did redesign them. They have no good place.

Yeah, that's the way I think I'm feeling too. I seem to be contemplating redesigning jungle temple traps more than the tripwires themselves, so that gives a pretty good indication of where my though process is going.

[BinoAl]

I can tell you that I probably wouldn't use tripwires even if you did redesign them. They have no good place.

Yeah, same here. They were just one of those features I toyed with shortly after the update, then never touched again. I'd be glad to see them go

[Wookieguy]

Yup, I agree that tripwires have little place as they are. The idea of string "tugging" for signal transmission is quite seductive though. On occasion, I have considered transmitting a signals within my base for more automatic systems, but brushed it off because of the cost of the redstone and the difficulty of hiding it. String transmission sounds great for this: as long as it only replaces redstone in the large scale. I guess the success of something like that would be in its balance with the rest of the game.

Summary:
Tripwires changing or leaving = :)
Tripwire transmission systems = :D

EDIT: Lenses. Forgot about them. Tripwire tugging seems kind of redundant now. Derp.

[muggsbud]

I ignore them as they stand, and i would be glad to see them go. But i think that the changes you would make would give them their merit. That telephone idea of yours sounds particularly interesting FC, as lenses are too expensive for me to use almost ever. (but i have yet to take on my first wither, as much as i have played MC) I can see lot of interesting situations coming out if these just out of what you have outlined above. Knowing how awesome you are at this, the final design will probably be even better.

[FlowerChild]

The thing is guys, if Lenses are too expensive to be a viable options for signal transmission even in the late game, I'd rather address that than invest more time in duplicate functionality.

By late game, gold should be a non-issue, so I guess it's the 2 diamonds you're finding too expensive, but what else are you really going to do with them late game?

[DaveYanakov]

The only reason I really spend any time branch mining in the late game is for lens production. If the diamond cost were lessened all I would do is grid search for caves around the main mob trap, strip the lapis out wherever it turned up and call it done. This is not a complaint either way, just my experience of the issue.