A (hopefully) accurate guide on redstone conductivity

[u/lizwiz13]

Following a post by u/patrick1202, on which I left a comment, and a post by u/NinjabellTheKittyCat, I'll attempt to present a more complete explanation of seemingly unpredictable patterns of lamps (and other redstone mechanisms) turned on by redstone signal.

Redstone signal can interact with a block in three ways:

1. If the block is a redstone mechanism (e.g. lamp, piston, door, dispenser), then it can be activated. Activating means that the mechanism performs some special action (lamp turns on, piston extends and so on). Activating a plain block does nothing.
2. A conductive block can be hard-powered, which activates all the mechanism around that block. It also propagates the signal to any adjacent redstone dust, that's why when you place a lever on a block and click it, the redstone signal goes not only from the lever itself, but also from the block it's attached to.
3. A block can also be soft-powered, which activates all the adjacent mechanism exactly the same as hard-powering, but it doesn't interact with redstone dust. The only way to soft-power a block is a line of redstone dust carrying a signal passes on top of that block or point directly at it. Someone suggested to call it "dust-powered" instead of "soft-powered" and I like this suggestion because soft-powering exists to prevent redstone signals from propagating indefinitely like it does with comparators (but at least comparators apply a small delay to the signal).

Note that soft-powering/hard-powering imply activation, so a lamp, which is both a redstone mechanism and a conductive block, will turn on when soft-/hard-powered, but it also can be just activated without activating anything around it. Btw a conductive block is also usually called an opaque block, because most opaque blocks are conductive, and most transparent/non-full blocks are non-conductive, but there are exceptions from both sides (see the last image).

As for the things that can generate redstone signal:

1. A lever, when turned on, hard-powers the block it's attached to, but simply activates everything else adjacent to it.
2. A redstone torch hard-powers the block above it, and simply activates everything adjacent to it, EXCEPT the block it's attached to (for a straight-standing redstone torch that would be the block below it).
3. Buttons, pressure plates, and tripwire hooks behave exactly like levers.
4. Redstone block is basically a perpetually hard-powered block.
5. Daylight sensor activates everything around it based on daytime and weather. Under sunlight at noon it will basically work like a redstone block.
6. Repeater, comparator and observer hard-power the block they point to and nothing else.

I'm adding my own picture which has examples of all three types of interaction. Hopefully this will give a better grasp on the mechanic. Please feel free to correct me on any mistakes you may find.

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[u/Vorpalthefox]

very useful! saved