Gate
Gates are a variant of walls introduced in the Alpha 0.11.0 update. They act as a safe opening in walls that only the player can use. There are different graphics for normal gates and train gates; a train gate is one that overlaps a train track. The recipe listed creates a one-tile gate, but multiple adjacent gate items will merge into a single large gate.
Mechanics
Gates only open for entities of the same force. Hostile forces must destroy the gate unless they can trick a defending entity into opening the gate long enough to move through. Gates have the same defensive strength as a wall.
Normal gates will open whenever a player is within a few tiles, and is on foot or in a non-train vehicle. Train gates will open:
- whenever a normal gate would open for players on foot or driving;
- whenever a player is driving a train in manual mode, is on the same track as the gate, and is within a certain distance; and
- whenever a train is in automatic mode, has its planned path go through the gate, and is within a certain distance.
(TODO: Test the exact open radius for trains and for walking, and check whether cars/tanks have their own distance or not.)