How much heat % = "invisibility"?

Doing a tour out in nowhere with my DBX doing some exploring.
Because I am all alone I have my shields off and have plenty of SC time to check my HUD and note how low my heat % is.

How low do you have to be to be "invisible"?
Presumably range is a factor?
Sensor quality?
And finally does it work with NPC's or only other Cmdr's?

Thanks in advance.
 
As far as I am aware you are never invisible. I think you may have been when ED was in alpha/beta but not anymore. Silly really. The heat management is more about high heat but low heat seems to have been completely nerfed.
 
I think the 'invisibility' comes about because your heat vents are closed (as in silent running), so the ship's temperature will actually rise, even though other ship's sensors will not (necessarily) be able to see you.
 
your % isn't going to make you invinsible for the sensor. Because Heat is still being ejected from you ship. Just a tiny heat is enought.
However, the silent mode is closing all the vents and basicly storing the heat INSIDE the ship. Sensor won't detect anymore heat because none is being ejected from your ship.
 
In my DBX with shields and PD turned off, and away from a star, I was at 17% so I was just wondering.

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your % isn't going to make you invinsible for the sensor. Because Heat is still being ejected from you ship. Just a tiny heat is enought.
However, the silent mode is closing all the vents and basicly storing the heat INSIDE the ship. Sensor won't detect anymore heat because none is being ejected from your ship.

Ah ok. I was confused.
I thought the whole stealth thing was based on your heat % and Silent Running was just a way to obtain a low %.
Thanks.
 
Don't know the %

But i can answer to other questions.

You will always be spotted like normal if you are closer than 500 meters to other ships.
Sensor quality has nothing to do with range you can spot stealth ships.
Stealth or silent running have zero effect against npc. They will happily just target you like any other ship. So its only usable against other players.

In 2.1 frontier nerfed silent running and stealth game play hard and buffed shields and weapons with engineers a lot. Heath generation is much higher now for weapons so you can't keep your heat down if you try fighting. Basically no one use silent run or stealth builds anymore.
 
I thought the whole stealth thing was based on your heat % and Silent Running was just a way to obtain a low %.
Thanks.

Heat % does play a role. (Depending on range) 10% or lower will cause your ship to become a fuzzy target to any Cmdr hunting you, the lower the % the closer the Cmdr has to be in order to obtain a positive lock on you.

You have two choices, shutting down modules to emulate silent running (you can also dump heatsinks) Or engage SR and close the ships radiators. You can still be picked up close range even whith silent running engaged, there is no complete invisibility through stealth

Silent or cold running works against Cmdrs & NPC's, you just need to understand it's limitations.
 
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Doing a tour out in nowhere with my DBX doing some exploring.
Because I am all alone I have my shields off and have plenty of SC time to check my HUD and note how low my heat % is.

How low do you have to be to be "invisible"?
Presumably range is a factor?
Sensor quality?
And finally does it work with NPC's or only other Cmdr's?

Thanks in advance.

Your guesses are right. It's all about sensor range.
The less heat you produce, the closer the other ship must be to "resolve" you on their radar. If you go completely silent (engaging SR, cutting all heat, escaping your ship) the minimal range is, I think, around 200-300 meters. If you are closer, they'll see you, no matter what.

So being "stealthy" is done in equal parts by producing little heat and staying far enough from others.
 
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Silent or cold running works against Cmdrs & NPC's, you just need to understand it's limitations.
This. Biggest thing is SR does not let you use shields and the best PvP CMDR's use fixed weapons with a Mark One eyeball to target you.

SR is a balance of good and bad. That changes over time and in different situations.
 
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In my DBX with shields and PD turned off, and away from a star, I was at 17% so I was just wondering.
My trade-anaconda is 16% with shields, shield boosters(1e), pds, heatsink, chaff launchers and fuel scoop turned on.

If you have Horizons you should try getting clean thrusters 5, low emissions powerplant 3, enhanced low powered shield 5, a distributor with an energy drain lower special all reduce your heat signature by a lot. A huge multigun that weighs only 1.2 tons that shoots acid and 7 seeker missile launchers that shoot heat cancer missiles that weigh 6.3 tons total are a bonus and you can cover the utility slots with e class shield resistance boosters that make the thing much more survivable (one being heavy duty for the mj shield boost).

Unfortunately this requires playing the RNGeers minigame along with the horribly frustrating engineering mat scavenger hunt. Also, acid multigun bullets aren't green, this is terrible.
 
Anyone have any hard info on how heat % effects the range at which you are resolvable?

I'm trying to build a stealthy Icourier that can still cruise at 600 mps.
 
Anyone have any hard info on how heat % effects the range at which you are resolvable?

I'm trying to build a stealthy Icourier that can still cruise at 600 mps.

1) https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDange...effectiveness_of_silent_running_vs_targeting/

2) I am not saying that SR iCourier won't work, but. Courier has one great advantage - awesome shields, and two disadvantages - tinfoil hull and crappy heat dissipation. In a stock state it is basically a polar opposite of good SR ship.
You can definitely try, with loads of engineering work she'll do fine and if you prefer her for aesthetics, go for it.
Otherwise, if you want a fast, cold SR ship, I'd recommend Cobra or Diamondback Scout. You'll do much better in them with much less effort.
 
Awesome guys, thanks for the quick info, this is perfect!!

I realize I'm swimming upstream here. I do have the advantage that the Courier is the only ship I really enjoy flying (I bought the game immediately upon seeing a picture of the ship) so I'm going to dump all my time/resources into it. I already have an A rated DBS sitting in MacMillan terminal for when I finally give up and just put in some dirty drives.

Thanks for the help!

While very helpful, I wish that video went into more detail about cold running heat % and resolvable range. With such terrible heat management, I'm going to have to make some executive decisons at some point and it would be cool to have some all the facts (or at the very least, have a good idea at what range I'd be resolvable).
 
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Just posting in this thread so it comes up on my radar.

I wish the forum search tool worked a bit better.

Ive racked up a rank in combat recently, and I'm starting to get it together. NPCs seem to do this a bit. I see semi resolved (untargetable) junk in my scanner - head on over and out of that junk some targets resolve sooner than others. I've only just started noting which ones and what is different, but 777's post goes into more and better detail.

One thing I would like to see is vague and ambiguous scanner information.
Like the SRV scanner. Something that gives more complete info the longer it is scanned (identify friend or foe etc).
Also active / passive scanning modes.
A passive mode takes longer but does not alert the target, and is not defeated by silent running / cloaking measures.
Active is faster, more complete and might be folded into the KWS.

Also cloaking measures, and low visibility skins.

I'd even go a transponder maybe hooked into the "report crimes against me".
You know - transponder on = automatically recognised. No need to request docking where you have positive reputation with the station rulers, fatser response from system security, etc. flagged as "civilian and proud" with all the benefits and obligations of civil society.
Transponer off = harder to recognise, docking recquests granted according to BGS states. EG: anything that makes the ruling faction suspicious or hostile would make them less likely to let you in.

yadda Yadda lots of ideas - but basically a "visibility, scanning, IFF, transponder, etc" balance pass would be great. Not an urgent priority, though.
Fix PowerPlay first.
 
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Just posting in this thread so it comes up on my radar.

I wish the forum search tool worked a bit better.

Ive racked up a rank in combat recently, and I'm starting to get it together. NPCs seem to do this a bit. I see semi resolved (untargetable) junk in my scanner - head on over and out of that junk some targets resolve sooner than others. I've only just started noting which ones and what is different, but 777's post goes into more and better detail.

One E thing I would like to see is vague and ambiguous scanner information.
Like the SRV scanner. Something that gives more complete info the longer it is scanned (identify friend or foe etc).
Also active / passive scanning modes.
A passive mode takes longer but does not alert the target, and is not defeated by silent running / cloaking measures.
Active is faster, more complete and might be folded into the KWS.

Also cloaking measures, and low visibility skins.

Our main scanner IS passive.
KWS, Wake scanner, etc... those things are active. But the ship's main scanner is basically a high tech 360 infra-red camera. ;)
 
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