Tutorial:TNT cannons/Automatic cannon
An Automatic cannon can shoot without player interaction (excepting activation).
Preloaded cannons
A Preloaded cannons is a manual cannon, that can be activated once without further player interaction.
Machine guns
Short: (n tick) Mg - the n tick is not mandatory.
A Machine gun is a preloaded single use Crossbow. This allows for the cannon to become extremely fast (up to a shot every tick) while still being relatively compact.
Since a Machine gun can cause a lot of lag, its use is usually limited by the server. For this reason their main application is to counter the enemy's main strategy and force them to adapt.
Common design choices for a slower Machine gun are to use gravel or slime-less flying machine extensions instead of multiple pistons or ignition points to achieve more compact cannons. Faster Machine guns use multiple ignition points or complex piston and separator setups.
Duper cannons
A Duper cannon uses duplication bugs to provide the TNT used.
It is at least partially an Automatic cannon and commonly found in survival applications. Elsewhere duping is often not allowed.
Dispenser cannons
A Dispenser cannon uses dispensers to provide the TNT used.
They are used as an alternative for Duper cannons, where ever duping is not allowed. In Factions is common that the cannons also use sand wich is loaded manually. Sometimes dispensers are not allowed as well.
