Engineers 4A or 5D Thrusters in Dolphin build?

[C64Fan]

I am building a fast and fun short-to-middle-range Dolphin in Colonia right now, and I have only access to 4A Thrusters and 5D Thrusters for it. They are from other ships - and the max A-rated Thrusters you can buy outside the Bubble is 3A. I know most things about engineering, but I need some guidance here....

(5D is only Drive Ditributors, but I have checked and with Drag Drives the difference is still quite big)

The hull mass of a Dolphin is 140 T.

The 4A is best, right - as long as the Dolphin doesn’t weigh more than the optimal mass? The optimal mass of the 5D is of course much larger, but am I right in thinking that I won’t feel the difference unless I pass the optimal mass - or get very close to it?

The build is obviously not finished yet so disregard other stats like jump range and other things.

 

[GJ51]

The 4A will also run cooler

 

[Non Grata]

coriolis.io will give you the answers

 

[C64Fan]

The 4A will also run cooler

That’s not true. Stock 4A Thrusters will actually run a tiny bit hotter than stock 5D - and only because they use more power (4.92MW vs 4,59MW). 4A Thrusters has the exact same thermal load as 4D Thrusters - or 4C, 6D, 8A or whatever. What determines the difference in heat is not the rating or the class but the power used. So 7A Thrusters will run hotter than 3A, but only because they use more power - as the thermal load is the same. (But bigger ships can deal with the extra heat because of mass and other things.)

Are you thinking of Power Plants? An A-rated Power Plant will run cooler than the lower rated ones, and that’s because of the rating. Regarding Power Plants I say A-rated always because of the better heat efficiency.