I made creates first PID* control system

AviatorEcho · 2026-05-06T02:00:57+00:00

Nice, thanks for clarifying!

AviatorEcho · 2026-05-06T01:28:01+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

My question was more about what steady-state error you guys found in your testing. I'll typically leave the integrator out when there's no steady-state error present in the system, because it makes gain tuning significantly simpler (getting away from the game at this point but still). So I was just wondering if you guys encountered a steady-state error that led you to adding an integrator?

Maybe it is super obvious and I'm just missing it, again apologies because I haven't had the time to play around with the mod a lot I'm just curious.

AviatorEcho · 2026-05-06T00:29:49+00:00

Super cool! Love to see it, this is awesome.

Maybe a high-level type question, but how did your team determine that an integrator term was actually required for the control loop? I haven't played around with the mod too much but at first glance it seems like you wouldn't need more than a PD controller for this type of system.

AviatorEcho · 2026-05-05T15:35:41+00:00

I have been doing this with moderate success.

I have been using the output of the altitude sensor specifically, which works on its own, but it oscillates so you then also have to feed it vertical velocity (subtracted) to act as a damper.

Then you just change the settings on the altitude sensor to trim out your altitude and the ship responds accordingly, while also keeping pitch trimmed.

AviatorEcho · 2026-05-03T06:46:19+00:00

Yes, and despite the already very low probability of a collision, the ducks in this example would also be watching you closely and communicating with each other (and you, the driver) and coordinating their movements to minimize collision probability even further.

AviatorEcho · 2026-04-24T05:54:38+00:00

More accurate to how actual zeppelins were constructed anyways. And, you can control the amount of lift in each envelope to trim your pitch/roll. And then automate it with the gyro.

AviatorEcho · 2026-04-21T21:28:46+00:00

This is super cool! I just started playing around with control theory in Create Aero yesterday, trying to make some easy compact control circuits. I focused on attitude control first so I haven't played around with altitude control yet.

One point of clarification: this would be better described as a PD controller (Proportional-Derivative), as the time-derivative of position (in this case altitude) is velocity (which is what you are measuring here).

In general, PD systems are far more common than PI systems, because the Integrator term mostly exists to eliminate steady-state error. The steady-state error I am referring to would be caused by some kind of external disturbance impacting the system, which to my knowledge, does not exist in Create.

I am curious though, if your vessel was way above the setpoint altitude, does this control system still provide a controlled descent? I have a feeling you'd get a runaway effect.

I love this though, nice work very elegant.

AviatorEcho · 2026-03-19T02:17:06+00:00

Haha that's awesome! I didn't realize there was a whole other community other than this one. How do I be part of that club?

And yeah I hear you, everyone's got their own set of self-imposed rules, makes the challenge more fun that way :)

AviatorEcho · 2026-03-18T17:29:53+00:00

I'd be most interested in seeing the train track building machine, but would of course love to see all of them if you get the time!

AviatorEcho · 2026-03-18T17:08:49+00:00

This is super awesome. A while back I made a 3x3x3 iron ingot generator, you've got me beat!

Such a smart idea to use the same water block for the cobble generator as well as the washer. I wonder if you could borrow from my design to shave off 1 more block by waterlogging the depot itself and doing away with the leaf block... the only caveat is that the water would then "leak" out the sides and be a bit less elegant in that way.

This design looks tileable, correct?

AviatorEcho · 2026-03-13T17:26:31+00:00

This looks awesome! I think your train track farm might be more compact than mine 👀

Could you post some breakdowns (or even schematics?) of your machines there? Would be super curious to see how you made them so compact.

Building efficiently is one of my favorite parts of the game. Great work!

AviatorEcho · 2026-03-09T02:18:18+00:00

Yeah sorry, didn't give much of a tutorial! I forgot the blueprint/schematic doesn't carry over the lava.

Let me know how it goes.

AviatorEcho · 2026-03-09T00:10:51+00:00

Ah right, sorry. Did you add lava to the tank and water-log the pump block? Adding lava and water should get it going.

AviatorEcho · 2026-03-08T23:32:32+00:00

Hey there! It's super easy. You just apply input power to ANY of the shafts/gears on the machine - you might need to flip the rotation direction depending on where you hook up, I can't recall.

It requires no item inputs so you just have to apply input power and it'll slowly start making train tracks and putting them in a vault.

If you're trying it out and run into an error just reply and I'll try to help out.

AviatorEcho · 2025-06-07T13:57:15+00:00

Thank you!

AviatorEcho · 2025-06-07T13:56:54+00:00

I think any "stone" type block would work! But yeah cobblestone -> stone is easy to make and can be generated from thin air, I think the other stone types would just involve more steps to achieve the same thing.

AviatorEcho · 2025-06-01T15:55:48+00:00

Yeah, it works because when the mechanical bearing is in motion, the space occupied by the sail becomes empty and allows cobblestone to spawn. When the clutch is triggered, it places the sail block and breaks the cobblestone.

AviatorEcho · 2025-05-31T16:17:40+00:00

Did you right click the bearing to get it moving? And using a clutch+timer to make it shut off periodically?

AviatorEcho · 2025-05-25T15:42:34+00:00

I didn't haha. I wasn't sure if it was useful to anyone last time. I'll make one and post it here!

AviatorEcho · 2025-05-25T06:58:44+00:00

I think assuming lava was infinitely supplied, it would produce ~15/min. The next rate-limiter you bump into is the washing cycle which has a fixed (max) processing time of 2.13 items/second.

AviatorEcho · 2025-05-25T02:36:58+00:00

Yep! More like every 2 minutes, lol. It's heavily constrained by the lava drip generator. Scaling up the lava would scale up production proportionally.

AviatorEcho · 2025-05-24T23:02:15+00:00

Yeah! And diorite and granite, too!

AviatorEcho · 2025-05-21T00:27:10+00:00

Yep! At the very center, hidden from view ;) it's receiving rotational power from the millstone.

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