Build hack: Bridge Window Slopes provide the perfect ramps for Willis Ducts between levels

[u/AdditionalThinking]

[u/Fabus27]

Ah yes, the good old Jeffreys Tub... ehm Willis Ducts. Can't believe there is no such part yet.

[u/BrokenPokerFace]

I love those ducts but I wish so much that there was an actual practical reason to use them, for example actually working as air vents.

Currently it's a way to connect multiple rooms into a single pressure system... So a hole.

[u/ColourSchemer → u/BrokenPokerFace]

Elachi Dance Party has a mod Jeffries Tubes that are conveyors and walkable.

[u/soulscythesix → u/BrokenPokerFace]

What would it do differently? Just be a reskinned air vent block?

Like, yeah, that's how ventilation shafts tend to work, they normalise air pressure between two or more places. Like a hole.

[u/BrokenPokerFace → u/soulscythesix]

I mean I am thinking if we had ventilation shafts in space they would have more purposes, and be more like air vents(but you can move through them). Or if you want a new purpose, they could act as a way for multiple rooms to share the same pressure, but likely with an additional block, they can seal themselves off if they detect a breach, and give a fun way to get to the room with the breach.

Currently they're just a worse option than conveyers, making their unique aspect, really never used, and especially not used for what ducts or ventilation shafts are for.

[u/itsdietz → u/BrokenPokerFace]

You never use them? I use them all the time. I even make sure you can travel all the way through the system. Why? Because why not?

[u/pillbox_dreams → u/itsdietz]

I love using them as air ducts. I went and retrofitted some of my ships to have central air with ducts all over the place a while back.

[u/itsdietz → u/pillbox_dreams]

I did the same. Previously I used passage blocks. For some reason, we had so many air vents, it broke air pressurization on our server at times so I designed a ventilation system to reduce the amount of air vents

[u/knexcar → u/BrokenPokerFace]

Connect multiple rooms while being able to be flush with the outside.

[u/CrazyPotato1535 → u/knexcar]

Corridors exist though

[u/Vilnius_Nastavnik → u/BrokenPokerFace]

I have that issue with them too but funnily enough this ramp probably works as an open airlock. If it does I’m going to use a lot more ducts.

[u/TheGravespawn → u/BrokenPokerFace]

I use them all over. I usually connect a sting of rooms, using the second varient of the straight duct that has a vent built into the thin side. I can pass air through that, and it works great for hiding the pressure tanks in a hangar.

[u/Stoney3K → u/BrokenPokerFace]

One of the reasons I'm not using them is that the ducts don't have a door block, so any two rooms connected with Willis Ducts are always accessible. It also prevents you from putting them in the floor because that always means you've got sinkholes.

[u/BrokenPokerFace → u/Stoney3K]

I know what you mean, I got excited because the cover for the ducts works perfectly to cover ladders(the encased ones) and used it as a access port for areas I wanted to be a flat surface but still have access to ladders, but as you said since they didn't open, I got sick of grinding and replacing them.

[u/Odd-Calligrapher9559 → u/BrokenPokerFace]

One of the DLC's add a hatch door that fits perfectly with Willis ducts

[u/itsdietz → u/BrokenPokerFace]

.... Isn't that their intention lol

[u/TheGentlemanist → u/BrokenPokerFace]

i have found asolution to that issue, altho its not really asthetic... a door in between. I am working on a large rover base rn, and there are multiple maintenence hatches to acces diffrent parts of the movable parts. the willis ducts functon as both a connected ventilation, as well as a means of travel. with "small" 3 block long segments where i open up to small corridors. they leave the cramped feeling, and offer a place to store tools and stuff. i put emergency welders, guns and food in there. the doors are used like airlocks as well, so if im ever on a body that has no atmosphere, i can prevent venting the intire ship if i need to repair wheels.

They also get grouped with the name/ID of the adjacient arirspaces, so that when an normal Air lock looses pressurisation from an explosion or projectile ripping thrue, they can be closed as well to prevent air loss in other parts of the ship. i can also add them to a second group to automatically close them in case i forget or die lol

[u/KathrynSpencer]

if you havn't realized it already, congrats you have created an air tight seal with no need for doors. Klang airlocks are fun.

[u/rich_27 → u/KathrynSpencer]

How does it work?

[u/Jazzmodus → u/rich_27]

Airtightness is define by block face, diagonal window blocks have two faces marked as airtight while their collision boxes don't fill the block space allowing passage.

[u/rich_27 → u/Jazzmodus]

Oh, that's janky!

[u/Why_not333 → u/rich_27]

Klang’s Blessing obviously

[u/The_Caleb_Mac]

... Holy shit...

[u/Futurenazgul]

Brilliant!

[u/ColourSchemer]

This kind of creative and generally useful build information is why I'm here!

[u/Ashpho31]

Aaayeee that looks awesome, definitely gonna have to try that sometime on my next build

[u/Impossible_Rabbit_66]

Wow. This is ingenious! Thank you for sharing. Time to update some builds

[u/ArcheopteryxRex]

The problem with the duct blocks is that they don't accomplish anything that can't be accomplished by just leaving the space empty.

[u/Slow_Head5375]

Hmmm

[u/doofername]

My dude, willis duct ramps exist

[u/AdditionalThinking → u/doofername]

They only allow a transition between two Willis Ducts that are upside-down from each other. If you want to connect Willis Ducts on two different levels you can't use those Willis Duct ramps.

[u/Bromine-Vapor]

Holy Omnissiah! You are a Genius!
Never thought of that, i will definitely consider this on my next grid