Teleporter



The Teleporter is a travel mechanism formerly purchased from the Steampunker now sold by the Mechanic as of 1.4.4 for. When two Teleporters are wired together with a triggering mechanism, they can exchange players, NPCs, and most enemies between them. Teleporting is always instantaneous, has no load time or cooldown, no Mana or coin cost, and no limit on distance.

Unlike most furniture, Teleporters are foreground objects. They consist of three inseparable blocks which, like all block types, can individually be shaped with a hammer or actuated.

Usage
The two Teleporters to be transported between must be placed on a surface of solid blocks or platforms and connected by Wire, along with a trigger mechanism, such as a Switch or Pressure Plate. When the trigger is activated, all players, all NPCs, and most enemies touching the 3×3-tile area above it are instantly transported to the other Teleporter. A character standing a maximum of three tile heights above the Teleporter can still be transported, and burying a Teleporter two tiles deep can still transport players walking on the surface. Similarly, placing an actuated, flattened (hammered to half-height) Teleporter on platforms and standing one tile below the platforms will also transport the player. Entities retain their location relative to the Teleporter within the 3×3 area when teleporting. For instance, players using a Teleporter two tiles above its surface will arrive two tiles above the surface of the destination Teleporter. See the gallery below for example images.

Teleporting is always two-way: when a connection is activated, both ends will exchange all players, NPCs, and enemies that are at least partially occupying any square of the 3×3-tile rectangle. Players should keep this in mind when constructing Teleporter paths, as enemies could unintentionally be brought into a base, for example.

Limitations

 * On the, the distance that entities can be teleported is limited. Similarly, wires connecting two Teleporters can only transmit a signal up to 2,000 tiles away.
 * On all other versions, there is no limit on wire lengths or distance between Teleporters.
 * Teleporters will not transport worms, bosses, other enemies that travel through blocks, critters, liquids, dropped items, projectiles (which includes pets and light pets as well as Boulders and ), any enemy from the event, or placed furniture.
 * A Teleporter will not work if it is placed in front of natural Lihzahrd Brick Walls and Plantera has not yet been defeated.

Algorithms determining destination Teleporter
When a wire network (single color) with more than two Teleporters is activated, an algorithm determines which pair will activate. This algorithm was rather naive prior to the 1.2.3 update and was improved afterward. Both versions are described below.

Both algorithms are (i.e., their result can be predicted ahead of time), so a fixed wiring layout will always activate the same Teleporters. Therefore, the wiring layout can be designed to target the desired Teleporter.

Present

 * Starting from the tile of the trigger mechanism (e.g. Switch or Pressure Plate), the length of the wire to each Teleporter is measured (using a variant of ).
 * The Teleporter closest to the source (in terms of total wiring route length) and the Teleporter farthest away are each activated. All other Teleporters remain inactive, even if a player is standing there.
 * When the wiring lengths are exactly the same, the direction of the wiring connection is considered (closest to furthest; first to last): down, up, right, left.
 * This allows selection of different destination pads on the same wire, by using different activations sources that each have different furthest pads. (Requires careful attention to wire lengths.)

Prior to 1.2.3

 * Starting from the tile of the trigger mechanism, the network is explored one tile at a time; moving to an adjacent unexplored wire if one is available, otherwise (in other words, performing a ).
 * When there is a choice of adjacent wires to explore, the first one to explore is the tile to the left, then right, then up, then down.
 * The order in which the Teleporters on the network are first encountered is kept track of (in other words, they are ordered by preorder).
 * The first and last Teleporter in this order are activated. All other Teleporters remain inactive.

Tips

 * A Pressure Plate can be placed directly on top of a Teleporter as the triggering mechanism, along with a short Wire connection, to allow activation by simply walking onto it.
 * If a Pressure Plate is placed to the left or right of the center and then alternated on the connecting Teleporter, the player can walk back and forth between locations without instantly triggering the destination plate.
 * Teleporters will not work if you link them to another teleporter using a wire consisting of multiple wire colors
 * Teleporters will work if the player is riding a Minecart, allowing discontinuous track systems to be connected easily (e.g. to bypass an obstacle). The above two points still apply, though with Pressure Plate Tracks.
 * Teleporters can be used to create entrances into sealed bases. If Pressure Plates are used, those that can only be activated by players (gray, brown, blue) should be used, to ensure that enemies cannot inadvertently activate them and teleport inside.
 * Teleporters with Pressure Plate triggers can be useful in boss arenas, as they enable instantaneous dodging by moving to a remote location. A player can jump between them continuously while firing ranged or magic weapons.
 * Teleporting at night to a destination at least one screen away will cause NPCs that have not moved into their assigned housing to instantly do so.
 * Teleporters can be used to place furniture mid-air that usually require a surface under them. Stack two Teleporters, place the furniture on the upper Teleporter, and then break the lower Teleporter. The lower Teleporter breaking will deconstruct the upper Teleporter, but the furniture on top will not deconstruct. This can be handy for creative aesthetic building, such as placing things atop the column statue. Note that placing any block next to the "floating" furniture will break it.
 * The same "floating" effect can be achieved legitimately by using Echo Blocks, which are bought from the Cyborg when he is in a Graveyard.

Trivia

 * The when activating a Teleporter is shared with the Magic/Ice Mirror's.

Relative location
The following images demonstrate the "relative-location-retaining" property of Teleporters described above.