Here's my take on it: this setup allows for a loop short enough to be under 20 frames and still making you take damage, making 1 damage loops viable pre skeletron. Invalid platforms are the best thing that exists.
You spend 9 frames going up, 9 frames going down, and one frame landing and taking fall damage.
There are ways to go back up without taking the time to land, but using that will shorten the fall to the height of the tooth you landed onto, since it's higher up. This extends the minimum lengh of the hoik and increases the loop minimum time to 20 frames, which leaves you vulnerable for one frame.
This requires holding up to function (specifically, to mount the hoik at the bottom), and I was not able to make the fall 26 block tall, only 27. This raises the defence requiremets to 19 master mode, 25 expert and 37 classic. That said, this is a minimum and not an exact value, meaning going above will not harm the machine.
Of course, you still want the camprife/heart lantern/honey/band of regen setup to reach 3hp/s of regen for this setup to last indefinitely.
Functional setup on the left, before swapping the invalid platforms on the right
Update:
!!! This only works on the PC version, which mean the following design is PC exclusive !!!
I found a way to speed up upward hoiks, by positionning a platform hammered 3 times above a sloped block. If the player character lands on the slope of the block, and not at the top, they will be placed on top of the patform. This is done is less than a frame, essentially increasing the hoik's speed to 240 tiles/s instead of the usual 180.
note that the sprite being lowered is purely visual, the character's hitbox is moved instantly
Given that the lack of time was the only thing keeping classic hoik invincibility machine from using one point of fall damage, this allows us to do so without the increased defense and button holding of the previous design.
Functional setup to the left, before platform swapping to the right
The machine in action
The requirements are:
- +3 regen (achivable with a campfire, heart lantern, band of regen, and honey buff) or more
- 9/11/17 (master/expert/classic) defense or more
I do not see a way to potentially improve the performance of this design.
Update 2:
This design is not a performance upgrade per se, but an adaptation of the previous design so it works on all platforms.
Instead of landing the player on a lowered platform, it does so on a solid bock directly, hammered so it doesn't disrupt the upward hoik.
The rest functions the same way.
functional setup
The machine in action
As with the previous design, the requirements are:
- +3 regen (achivable with a campfire, heart lantern, band of regen, and honey buff) or more
- 9/11/17 (master/expert/classic) defense or more
The only funcional difference is that the added blocks may make it harder to shoot through depending of the weapon you are using.
Update 3:
Small improvements over my first, vertical design, and my last, optimised one.
The optimized design (on the left) has been made thinner, and unnecessary accelerations of the up hoik have been removed, to deal less damage players not reaching the 3hp/s regen requirement and look better.
The purely vertical design (on the right) now no longer requires holding up to enter. The higher defense requirement remains the same
Update 4:
This design combines the advantages of all previous designs
Low requirements (9/11/17 defense and 3hp/s regen or more), purely vertical, requirering no buttons held, and all platforms.
the two desigs are functionally identical
Like with the previous designs, the stone platforms here are invalid, the swapped blocks hammered to point down and to the left.
To mount it, press down on the top platform or hold down while walking in if you placed sloped platforms at the bottom like on the right. Then release down.
If you are stuck at the bottom, walk left. If you are stuck at the top, walk right. The right position has you bouncing up and down.
the machine in action, frame by frame
This is the theoretical best performance a machine based on this principle can achive, I do not believe it is possible to upgrade it further
Update 5:
It was brought to my attention that the use of platforms in the previous designs prevents them to be used against ftw skeletron prime, so here is a platformless version.
The entrance (on the bottom left) can be made differently, but this one was build to require no platforms or actuators. To enter, walk in from the left holding right, and let go when you stop moving.