Engineers Mods and cold running

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

I'm speculating with stealth build and I somehow don't like stealth running - because it's only temporary. What if I want to hide in an asteroid field? Stalk a commander?

I find cold running much more appealing, but I can't achieve cockpit freezing with thrusters on.

Now that engineers are out - I can stack all the heat management improving modifications (rank 5 clean drives have a chance of lowering heat of thrusters by 50% which is pretty insane).

Do you guys think it would work - stacking all anti-heat modifications to achieve a ship that is so cold that its cockpit freezes, yet it can still fly and shoot multicannons? (also life support generates quite low heat, but I can turn it off before combat)
I too found out that I don't need to have my power distributor activated at all, since multicannons barely drain any energy, but I'd be bulky and power distributor doesn't generate much heat anyway.
Heck, I could use silent running during combat, and when heat starts getting too high I just launch a heat sink and switch back to cold running once I'm cool.

The most heat is generated by thrusters, that's the biggest problem I'm running into.

I'm thinking of using the Viper MkIV, since it can have around 2000 points of armor, which is insane, and I also like its style, but I don't know how if it's a viable cold-running ship.


TL;DR: I want to freeze my cockpit while still being combat-able. Will engineers help enough to achieve this?

 

[GammaZ]

Start with diamondback explorer, it is possible to have less than 20% heat with everything on including shields, and to stay in silent running for a long time.
But SR in combat was specifically nerfed in 2.1 so i think it will not work that good.
Also clean drive tuning increases power consumption, so it will probably increase passive heat generation, while significantly decreasing engine heat generation while maneuvering/boosting.

 

[Darkfyre99]

I'm planning on eventually adding a low emissions power plant to my Cobra, along with the clean thruster mod and low power shields, in hopes of achieving the same effect. I've already noticed my Cobra runs at 31% heat far from a star with its current configuration, so it may work, although a true cold running build may require other sacrifices. Naturally, the first two that come to mind are smaller thrusters and a power plant, the main sources of heat.

 

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

diamondback explorer

But I hate Lakon cockpits it's the last resort.

What do you mean "increasing passive heat generation? I thought the 50% reduction applies to thrusters in general, not just boosting.
I may get a cool running powerplant mod to counter that.

 

[YinYin]

But I hate Lakon cockpits it's the last resort.

Diamondbacks are your only option.

I don't think you will manage freezing levels of combat viable though.
Either way I certainly plan to attempt this at some point.

 

[Julio Montega]

First you need to look into how temperature comes together:
- maximum power capacity of power plant
- heat efficiency of pp
- power used with/without hardpoints deployed
- additional heat generation from modules

You can mod to have a generally cooler ship,
have efficient weapons with less heat generation,
yet firing from sr will boil you up quickly,
as does maneuvering and boosting, even with modded drives.
Without heatsinks you cannot stay in sr,
good luck though, I'd love to see some stealthy ships
with low powered weaponry dynamically repositioning.

Rule of thumb unmodded is, the higher the difference of maximum
power output of pp and your current used power is, the cooler it runs.

 

[GammaZ]

But I hate Lakon cockpits it's the last resort.

What do you mean "increasing passive heat generation? I thought the 50% reduction applies to thrusters in general, not just boosting.
I may get a cool running powerplant mod to counter that.

I may be wrong, but as far as i know any consumed power generate heat at a rate which is defined by powerplant "efficiency". And then thrusters generate additional heat when used, not just boost but regular maneuvering too. And i think clean tuning will reduce heat generated by thrusters, not by powerplant because of thruster power consumption. But again, i may be totally wrong...

 

[Julio Montega]

I may be wrong, but as far as i know any consumed power generate heat at a rate which is defined by powerplant "efficiency". And then thrusters generate additional heat when used, not just boost but regular maneuvering too. And i think clean tuning will reduce heat generated by thrusters, not by powerplant because of thruster power consumption. But again, i can be totally wrong...

Powerplant efficiency tells you how quickly you get rid of excess heat,
to my testing, thus having a lower overall heat level.

 

[Darkfyre99]

First you need to look into how temperature comes together:
- maximum power capacity of power plant
- heat efficiency of pp
- power used with/without hardpoints deployed
- additional heat generation from modules

You can mod to have a generally cooler ship,
have efficient weapons with less heat generation,
yet firing from sr will boil you up quickly,
as does maneuvering and boosting, even with modded drives.
Without heatsinks you cannot stay in sr,
good luck though, I'd love to see some stealthy ships
with low powered weaponry dynamically repositioning.

Rule of thumb unmodded is, the higher the difference of maximum
power output of pp and your current used power is, the cooler it runs.

I was thinking more along the lines of a smuggling ship anyways, but it would be interesting to test the operational heat difference between a larger and smaller power plant. And my former unarmed courier Cobra, "Emerald's Dawn," has been sitting around gutted since moving the my "A" class thrusters and power distributor to my jack of all trades Cobra, "Slave of the Empire," so...