Create Aero Radars in FTB Skies 2: Aero

Create Aero Radars lets you control swivel bearings from aeronautics with create radars. It is aimed at building anti-air that combines the power of aeronautics, create radars and create big cannons.^[1]

Its aiming is better than regular create radars, with only 1 tick of delay instead of 5. It also adds a guidance radar and gun convergence. Together, those make it a good match for self-propelled anti-air builds.^[1]

In this pack

The pack ships Create Aero Radars version 0.1.1-1.21.1. The mod was first included in pack version 1.8.0 or earlier.^[2]

This mod lets you control swivel bearings from Create Aeronautics using Create: Radars, which is the base for self-propelled anti-air alongside Create Big Cannons. It reacts with 1 tick of delay instead of the 5 you get from regular Create: Radars. Here is what to make first, and why.^[1]

Step one: the Radar Link

Start with the Radar Link. It is the tool that connects a radar to a controller: right-click a radar, then right-click the controller. Until you do that, the controller reports that no radar is linked.^[3]

Radar LinkMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Stick
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:radar_link

Step two: the controllers

Next come the controllers that drive the swivel bearings: the Mechanical Yaw Controller and the Mechanical Pitch Controller. The pitch side is where the pack's drop compensation applies, since the aim point is raised before the pitch controller sees it.^[3][4][5]

Mechanical Yaw ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Yaw Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_yaw_controller

Mechanical Pitch ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Pitch Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_pitch_controller

Step three: hook it all up

1. Right-click your radar with the Radar Link, then right-click the controller. You get a message telling you which radar the controller is now linked to.^[3]
2. Feed a powered shaft into one of the controller's axis faces. With no input rotation, the controller has nothing to turn with.^[3]
3. Make sure a swivel bearing is in place whose rotation axis matches the controller cog's axis. The bearing must also be assembled, with a platform attached to rotate.^[3]
4. Select a target, or auto-pick one, on a monitor. Until you do, the controller reports no target from the radar network.^[3]

Things to know early

Controllers ignore targets that are too close. In this pack the limit is targeting.controllerDeadzoneBlocks, set to 5 blocks, the same as the mod default. Yaw controllers measure it horizontally, so a target flying straight overhead still counts as close.^[5]

If you use a spinning radar, look at targeting.radarVisibilityTicks. It is 30 ticks in this pack, which is also the mod default. The config notes say a spinning radar only re-images a target once per revolution, so set it to about one revolution or the sweep gap can drop your lock.^[5]

If your turret rings left and right when a target changes course, try motion.dampingGain. It is 0.5 in this pack, the mod default, and the config notes suggest trying 0.3-1.0.^[5]

Create Aero Radars is the glue between Create Radars and your swivel bearings. It lets a radar network steer a turret, with the aim updated after only 1 tick of delay instead of the 5 you get from regular Create Radars. The mod's own description pitches it at self-propelled anti-air built with Aeronautics, Create Radars and Create Big Cannons, and it adds guidance radar and gun convergence on top.^[1]

The controllers

The mod adds a Mechanical Yaw Controller and a Mechanical Pitch Controller. They turn a swivel bearing for you, so the turret follows whatever target the radar network hands them. The yaw controller also has Yaw Deadzone Lower and Yaw Deadzone Upper settings on its screen.^[1][3]

Wiring is plain Create rotation. Feed a powered shaft into one of the controller's axis faces, and make sure the controller cog's axis matches the bearing's rotation axis. The swivel bearing also has to be assembled, otherwise there is no platform to rotate. If the sub-level physics is paused, nothing will move until you resume it.^[3]

Mechanical Yaw ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Yaw Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_yaw_controller

Mechanical Pitch ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Pitch Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_pitch_controller

Linking with the Radar Link

Everything is connected with the Radar Link, which is used by right-clicking blocks in a set order.^[3]

Radar LinkMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Stick
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:radar_link

• Radar to controller: right-click a radar, then right-click the controller. You get a message confirming which radar the controller is linked to.^[3]
• Radar pair: you can pair a spinning radar with a plane radar. The pair must contain exactly one of each type, and both radars must still exist.^[3]
• Muzzle reference: select a muzzle reference, then right-click a controller to link it.^[3]
• Weapon group: select a network filterer, then right-click a controller to add it to that filterer's weapon group. This fails if the controller is already used by another filter network.^[3]
• Parallax guns: right-click a first fixed cannon mount, then a different second mount, then the yaw controller. Picking the same mount twice, or only one, is rejected.^[3]

The Radar Link also reports a controller's status, which makes it your main debugging tool. It tells you the input RPM, the commanded RPM and bearing angle, whether a target is acquired, and which ballistics profile is in use. It also flags the common mistakes: no input rotation, no bearing found, a bearing that is not assembled, no radar linked, and no target from the radar network (select or auto-pick one on a monitor). It will also warn you if the selected target is the turret's own structure.^[3]

The Ballistics Debug Stick is a second diagnostic item. It reports the detected CBC or Robins profile with its speed and barrel length, plus gravity, drag and maximum flight ticks. If no profile is found, it tells you the config fallback speed is being used.^[3]

How targeting works

The pack ships its settings in the server config. Every numeric value in it matches the mod's default, so nothing has been retuned here. Targeting is set in targeting.directTargetTracking, which is on in the pack. The radar only picks which target to follow. The target's position and velocity are then read live from the world each tick instead of from the radar's delayed sweep. If the target can't be resolved live, the controller falls back to the radar scan.^[5]

targeting.requireRadarVisibility is also on. It makes the turret stop following a target once the radar has not imaged it for targeting.radarVisibilityTicks ticks, which is 30 in the pack. That stops the turret tracking through the radar's blind spots.^[5]

Close targets are ignored. targeting.controllerDeadzoneBlocks is 5 blocks from the controller's projectile origin or muzzle. Yaw controllers measure it horizontally, so an overhead pass counts as close however high it flies, while pitch controllers use true 3D range. A target must leave 115% of that radius before it is re-acquired. While a target is inside the deadzone, the controller holds.^[3][5]

For auto-targeting, targeting.sableAutoTargetSeconds keeps fire on one Sable sub-level for 15 seconds before rotating. targeting.sableAutoTargetCooldownSeconds then stops that same sub-level being auto-picked again for 60 seconds.^[5]

Leading and dropping shots

Lead distance is the target's speed times the range, divided by targeting.projectileSpeedBlocksPerTick. The pack's value is 31.67 blocks per tick, which matches a Going Ballistic flak autocannon with a 5 m effective barrel. Too low a value over-leads and over-elevates far shots, and too high a value under-leads.^[5]

Pitch also compensates for drop when targeting.ballisticDropCompensation is on. It raises the aim point before the pitch controller sees it, so yaw is unaffected. The simulation uses targeting.projectileGravityBlocksPerTickSq (-0.024516625 is Going Ballistic Earth gravity), targeting.projectileDragPerTick and targeting.projectileQuadraticDrag. Flight is capped by targeting.maxFlightTicks at 60 ticks, which matches the CBC steel autocannon lifetime. For hitscan or laser-like weapons, turn drop compensation off or set gravity to 0.^[5]

A few small extras refine the solution. targeting.interceptIterations is 4 refinement passes, which the config calls plenty. targeting.extraLeadTicks adds 2 ticks of lead as a turret-settle margin. Smoothing on the target's velocity is targeting.targetVelocitySmoothing, and targeting.maxStaleTicks caps how far a stale radar scan is advanced, at 20 ticks.^[5]

Motion tuning

The controller drives the bearing in a loop. motion.degPerTickPerRpm sets how many degrees the bearing turns per tick per 1 RPM of input, and the config says to calibrate it against the real bearing. motion.approachFraction is how much of the remaining error is covered each tick: higher is snappier, lower is smoother.^[5]

If the turret rings left and right after a target changes course, look at motion.dampingGain, which brakes the bearing so it settles onto the target. It is 0.5 in the pack, and 0 turns it off. If the aim jitters at close range, especially in pitch, lower motion.setpointSmoothing, which low-passes the aim angle. For heavy yaw mounts that wobble when reversing, raise motion.reversalSmoothing.^[5]

Speed smoothing blends between a fine setting and a fast setting. motion.speedSmoothingFine handles tiny corrections near the target, and motion.speedSmoothingFast handles large swings. motion.smoothingBlendDeg is the angular error at which the blend becomes fully fast, 30 degrees in the pack.^[5]

Parallax gun convergence

When a yaw controller has two linked fixed cannon mounts and parallax.parallaxGuns is on, it writes a separate yaw correction to each mount so both guns converge on the target. parallax.parallaxHalfConeDeg limits that correction to 44 degrees, because CBC fixed cannon mounts clamp to plus or minus 45. parallax.parallaxYawSign sets the correction's sign, and it is -1 in the pack. If both guns steer away from the target, that sign is the option to check.^[5]

In this pack the mod has no tier ladder. Each of its items comes from a single shapeless crafting recipe, so there are no multi-step upgrade chains to climb. What you progress through is the Create Radars parts these recipes are built from.^[4]

Radar Link

The Radar Link is a shapeless craft made from a Data Link from Create Radars plus a stick. Once you have a Data Link, you can make it.^[4]

Radar LinkMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Stick
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:radar_link

Mechanical controllers

The Mechanical Pitch Controller and the Mechanical Yaw Controller work the same way. Each is a shapeless craft that combines a Data Link with the matching Create Radars controller, the Auto Pitch Controller for pitch and the Auto Yaw Controller for yaw. Get the Create Radars controller first, then craft the mechanical version.^[4]

Mechanical Pitch ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Pitch Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_pitch_controller

Mechanical Yaw ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Yaw Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_yaw_controller

White Monster

The White Monster is also a shapeless recipe, but the pack's recipe dump lists no item inputs for it.^[4]

White MonsterMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:white_monster

In this pack, Create Aero Radars connects to Create Radars through its crafting recipes. The mod's own description says it lets you control swivel bearings from Aeronautics using Create Radars.^[1][4]

Everything starts with the Data Link

Every recipe for this mod in the pack uses the Data Link from Create Radars. They are all shapeless, so the layout in the crafting grid doesn't matter.^[4]

• Mechanical Pitch Controller is made from an Auto Pitch Controller and a Data Link.^[4]
• Mechanical Yaw Controller is made from an Auto Yaw Controller and a Data Link.^[4]
• Radar Link is made from a Data Link and a Stick.^[4]

The pitch and yaw controllers each need the matching Create Radars auto controller, so you'll need Create Radars items in hand before you can make them.^[4]

Mechanical Pitch ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Pitch Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_pitch_controller

Mechanical Yaw ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Auto Yaw Controller
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:mechanical_yaw_controller

Radar LinkMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Stick
• Data Link

Recipe id: create_aero_radar:radar_link

What the mod is aiming for

The project page says the mod is meant for building anti-air with Aeronautics, Create Radars and Create Big Cannons. It claims aiming with only 1 tick of delay instead of the 5 you get with regular Create Radars, plus a guidance radar and gun convergence.^[1]

Those claims come from the mod's own description. The in-pack recipes shown here only confirm the link to Create Radars.^[1][4]

Everything here lives in motion.approachFraction's file, config/create_aero_radar-server.toml. Good news: for every option where the file lists a mod default, this pack uses exactly that default. The pack hasn't retuned anything I can see, so the values below are the mod's own tuning.^[5]

Targeting

• targeting.directTargetTracking is true. The turret reads the selected target's position and velocity live each tick instead of from the radar's delayed scan, and the radar only picks which target. If the target can't be resolved live, it falls back to the radar scan.^[5]
• targeting.requireRadarVisibility is true. With live tracking on, the turret only keeps following while the radar still sees the target, so it won't track through the radar's blind spots.^[5]
• targeting.radarVisibilityTicks is 30 (the mod default). That's how many ticks since the radar last imaged the target before it counts as lost and the turret holds.^[5]
• targeting.controllerDeadzoneBlocks is 5 (the mod default). Targets closer than this many blocks to the muzzle are ignored, because close passes demand huge angular velocity and make heavy contraptions wobble. A target must leave 115% of that radius to be picked up again.^[5]
• targeting.projectileSpeedBlocksPerTick is 31.67 blocks per tick (the mod default), which matches a Going Ballistic flak autocannon with a 5 m effective barrel. Too low over-leads far shots, too high under-leads them.^[5]
• targeting.ballisticDropCompensation is true, so the aim point is raised to compensate for projectile drop before the pitch controller sees it. Yaw isn't affected.^[5]
• targeting.extraLeadTicks is 2 (the mod default), a small extra lead on top of the ballistic solution as a turret-settle margin. targeting.maxFlightTicks is 60 (the mod default), matching the CBC steel autocannon lifetime.^[5]
• For auto-targeting, targeting.sableAutoTargetSeconds is 15 seconds on one Sable sub-level before rotating, and targeting.sableAutoTargetCooldownSeconds is 60 seconds before that same sub-level can be picked again. Both are mod defaults.^[5]

Motion

These options control how smoothly the bearing swings onto a target. All of them are at mod defaults in this pack.^[5]

• motion.setpointSmoothing is 0.5. It's a low-pass on the aim angle, where 1.0 means no smoothing. The file suggests trying 0.2 to 0.3 if your turret jitters.^[5]
• motion.dampingGain is 0.5. It stops the left-right ringing when a target suddenly changes course. 0 turns it off, and higher is more damped but a touch slower on fast crossers. The file suggests 0.3 to 1.0.^[5]
• motion.reversalSmoothing only applies when the controller must reverse direction. The file suggests 0.5 to 0.8 for heavy yaw mounts.^[5]
• motion.smoothingBlendDeg is 30 degrees, the angular error at which damping blends fully from fine (motion.speedSmoothingFine) to fast (motion.speedSmoothingFast).^[5]

Parallax (fixed cannon mounts)

• parallax.parallaxGuns is true. When a yaw controller has two linked fixed cannon mounts, it writes per-gun yaw corrections to them.^[5]
• parallax.parallaxHalfConeDeg is 44 (the mod default), just under the +/-45 clamp of CBC fixed cannon mounts.^[5]
• parallax.parallaxYawSign is -1, which is also the mod default. The file's own note says to use 1 normally and -1 if both guns steer away from the target, so if your guns converge the wrong way, this is the option to check.^[5]

FTB Skies 2: Aero 1.10.0 includes Create Aero Radars 0.1.1-1.21.1. The mod was first included in FTB Skies 2: Aero 1.8.0 or earlier, so you have had this version available for a while.^[2]

What 0.1.1 added

The mod's own changelog for 0.1.1-1.21.1 lists these additions:^[6]

• Return to original position.^[6]
• Left and right turn by redstone signal, using the left and right inputs on the yaw controller block.^[6]
• A yaw turning deadzone.^[6]
• Automatic detection of barrel length and round type, which is used to improve calculations.^[6]
• Autotargeting for both controllers.^[6]

Setting up autotargeting

The changelog describes the setup like this: right click the network controller with the radar link, then right click the yaw or pitch controller. After that, autotargeting from the filters will work.^[6]

Unverified No pack changelog entries for this mod were available, so any changes made to it by the pack itself between releases are unverified.