Lately, I have been experimenting with minecraft TNT cannons, and have recently stumbled upon an inexplicable issue which I can only classify as a bug. The redstone behavior when powering dispensers happens to be inconsistent and faulty, as for no apparent reason, certain dispensers (although receiving a power source) will consistently fail to fire. As you can imagine this is rather annoying because it prevents my cannons from properly functioning.
I know this is an issue with Minecraft, and not just a building error, because the dispenser will work properly for the first two times it receives a redstone signal; when the cannon is fired. Afterwards, it ceases to function while all the other dispensers (which are powered with exactly the same current) continue to do so. Furthermore, the dispenser opposite from the faulty one functions properly.
Additionally, this has happened on more than one of my cannons. It actually has actually occurred on three of them, and seems to be prevalent on those that stack dispensers on top of each other, which you will see in the screenshots I have provided. In these I have also indicated which dispenser fails to fire on two different cannons, and the dispenser opposite from it which does not fail to fire.
I have explored other possibilities, but was unable to find a solution. Therefore I can only assume this occurs as the result of a coding error in the game.
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In the third and fourth picture, you are actually directly powering the dropper from above, as droppers conduct redstone as any solid block would. The issue in the first two is that powering the upper row actually powers the bottom row, but the bottom row doesn't respond because it receives no update. Then, when it gets directly powered, it notes that it has already been powered and doesn't fire. You should trigger the bottom row a tick or so sooner so that it doesn't do that.
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Unfortunately I can't make anything fire a tick later. All dispensers have to fire in unison or the cannon will most likely explode. I now know that this issue isn't really an issue, as this is just how the game works, but I believe that the game then is flawed. If the dispenser receives power, it should fire... simple as that. How can the bottom block not receive an update and think it has already been powered when there is no delay in the circuit. It is powered at the same exact time as the other dispensers! Also, I removed the redstone powering the bottom row in the third and fourth and guess what, it didn't work! Even less dispensers worked.
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MC-108 is a longstanding bug in the game that will not be fixed because of its utility in redstone. You just have to work around around.
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Yes, but it just doesn't make sense. I understand it's use, but if redstone functions in a nonsensical manner, it becomes a very poor utility. Couldn't you add an option to enable or disable proper redstone currents? I just don't see how this bug is a utility if I can't even use redstone for simple functions like powering a row of dispensers! That's just stupid. If the bug is only useful for building super complex redstone contraptions that only a select few players actually know how to build, then you are completely diluting it's purpose.
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Why don't you fix this, and make a Block Update Detector Block instead? That sounds like a fair compromise to me.
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It would break many, many older designs.
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That is true. I found a workaround using repeaters. It makes each cannon take up more space, but at least I got them working. Alright thanks.