Overview
This will explain the logic gates currently in use in the game. I will not show all the interesting ways to make a computer but I will show some interesting things you can do with them to improve your prison.
What is a logic gate?
Logic gates are the most basic form of computer logic. They process an Input(s) in various ways so as to provide various ways of gaining the optimal Output. Logic gates make up the vast majority of electronics, especially advanced items such as the computer or phone you are using to read this. There are not that many of them, there are more than are listed in this game. With the few we have though, those of you inclined towards this kind of stuff will no doubt be showing off your fancy 16 bit computers in no time at all. For those of us who have yet to understand that kind of complexity, we have this guide!
In here I will describe each gate as best as I can so as to maintain simplicity, hint at some uses, provide an accessible ingame reference and list possible projects from simple ones that I provide to what I hope other people will bring.
OR gates
An OR gate is a very useful gate type. They will Output a True signal if there is at least one True, the only way for it to be False would be if all inputs were in turn False. Here’s a table describing how it processes signals.
OR gates are useful for telling multiple doors to open or lock after specific inputs eg. chef moving down a hall with food, door one opens remotely triggering the OR gate which in turn opens all relevant doors in front of the chef. I would like to note here that you can accomplish the same thing by linking servos so that it links. Chris demonstrated though that you could link multiple gates for a timed delay in the Alpha 23 video so you could use these gates in order to make the doors open on time.
NOR gates
Just like an NAND gate but with an OR instead of an AND, the NOR allows you to invert the output of an OR gate that’s built in to the unit. The table should explain better.
[/table]It’s effectively useful for doing that project where you’re trying to use an OR gate but need it to read False rather than True. Of course it’s also good for links, even going through another inverter so as to detect openings and closings around the prison which will let you adjust which doors will open and close in turn.
AND gates
AND gates are another basic but useful gate that you will find yourself using quite a bit. AND gates require all inputs to be true as demonstrated in this table.
[/table]AND gates are generally tied in with other gates such as OR gates or NOT gates(I’ll cover those later). They are great for processing information and giving a simple output. For a simple example, if your two OR gates were to tell your AND gate that doors were being opened, the AND gate could open the rest by being linked to the relevant doors.
NAND gates
NAND gates are actually two gates, an AND gate and a NOT gate, built in to one unit. What this means for you is that whatever an AND gate reads, it’s reversed by the NOT gate. Have another table.
[/table]This could be used for another form of making an “airlock” design, locking a door when it detects the other doors are opening. This is a gate that is used for more specific operations and you can actually create one from the AND and NOT gates if you’re that kind of person.
NOT gates
NOT gates are the rebellious teen of the logic gates. If something is True, it ouputs False and vice versa.
[/table]I like to use this to lock people in to areas as you can see in my section displaying practical uses for them. They can be connected so as to detect when inner doors are opening so that the outer door would lock down, eliminating any chance of prisoners making a run for it.
XOR gates
XOR is designed so as to only Output True if the Input varies. This means that an all True or all False Input will have an Output of False.
[/table]This could be useful for having a door in the middle of a hallway and so long as one is open, the middle will open but if both were to be opened than the middle would close, making it difficult for prisoners to run out.
= gates
And lastly, the = gate. It goes with the logic bridge which has to be installed on an electric grid and gives the ability to transmit a signal from the logic bridge as is. So if the bridge recieves a True Input then by placing the = gate on to the same grid as the bridge you can hook it up to another gate off the grid to transmit the signal. This could be useful for refining multiple logic checks in to a point where you can dispatch more signals to separate parts of your system.
[/table]
Examples of applications
I’m going to start off with my very simple example project but tell me what kind of stuff you’d like to see here and I’ll see if I can make it but if not, I would be glad to post your own designs up here. For how that works, please refer to the Side note section if you are interested.
Here’s my first project playing around in a sandbox to see what could be used for a future prison. Using that NOT gate on the left, what I’ve done is link the two servos furthest from the outside to the NOT gate, giving me an Input. From there, I linked the NOT gate to the entrance door, finishing the setup. With this single gate and three connections, I’ve made it to where the entrance door is always open unless one of the two inner doors opens. I’ve taken advantage of the fact that a NOT gate only needs one input in order to Output False so one door will always be closing or closed. This finally gets rid of having to time the doors just right to make sure that they’re timed while people are walking through multiple doors. Again, this is a very basic example but can, with a little less callous placement, save huge amounts of space.
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Backup power
This project will ensure that even if something happens to one of your power generators, a backup one can almost instantly come online to keep everything running smoothly.
Notice here that I have used four components not including power wire and the two generators. They are (1)Timer, (2)Logic Bridge, (3)NOT gate, (4)Switch.
Here is how it works:
The logic timer is directly connected to a power line, meaning that if it loses power, it inherently cannot output a true signal which generally requires power. So, turn all times to TRUE and you will have, for all general purposes, a power detector. For whatever reason, this does not work when hooked up directly with logic gates, so using a logic bridge to connect to the NOT gate will solve this problem. From there, so long as power is flowing, the NOT gate will not tell the switch to turn on. This is critical, as if the switch does turn on, allowing two power generators to add power to the same circuit, it will shut down both generators. There will be a note on this later.
To review, the connections are Timer –> Bridge –> NOT gate –> Switch in OFF position.
So, what happens when I cut power to the generator on the right?
The Timer will output false which will be transfered by the bridge to the NOT gate, which will output TRUE to the switch. This will, in turn, allow the power from the left generator to enter the system safely.
It’s time for that note I was talking about. Remember how having two generators on in the same circuit can shut them both down? Well, that is about to become very relevant. You’ll need to do some manual labor to reset this system. You may have noticed that it’s not as easy as just turning off the switch, as it turns back on.
Shut off the left generator, turn on the right generator, turn the switch to off because a FALSE signal has no effect on it, Turn left generator on. This fully resets the system and it’s ready for another failure.
Side note
Please message me or comment in the below area as I would love to know what you guys think of this guide as well as what you do or do not want. With projects, please provide a link to a screenshot or a forum post and I will credit you in the section and of course add your project to the projects section. Thank you for taking the time to read this guide and I hope this proves to be a useful base of information for your prisoner powered computers!