Time for another research thread by your favorite furry friend, Frenotx! This time, it's time to tackle the heat mechanics. This one's a bit unusual, though- I'm looking for some assistance from viewers like you! So, without further ado:
Highlights:
-1 heat unit = 1 BTU.
-Each ship has a baked in “thermal capacity”. In general, bigger ship = bigger thermal capacity.
-The heat efficiency stat for power plants = how many BTUs are generated per second, per MW being consumed.
-Cooling rate function seems to be universal to all ships. At low temperatures, the cooling rate is very low. It increases at an increasing non-linear rate as temperature rises, until it caps out at ~66%.
-Maximum cooling rate appears to be about 9% per second.
-Higher thermal capacity ships have lower resting heat at a given MW consumption, take more BTUs to heat up, and can dump more BTUs per second (9% of a bigger number gives you a bigger result)
What I need help with:
-Testing the thermal capacity of more ships
-Pinning down the exact cooling function
Heat Mechanics: What I've figured out so far
The current temperature of this ship is based on the sum of “heat in”, and “heat out”. For the sake of discussion, let’s call one unit of heat 1 BTU. Looking at the in-game numbers and units, and doing a bit of poking around regarding fusion efficiency, makes this seem reasonable enough.
Each ship has an assigned heat capacity. For example, the Hauler’s capacity is ~185 BTU. If you pump 185 BTU into a hauler, then at that moment, the temperature gauge will read 100%. This capacity varies from ship to ship, and appears to be baked into the ship / independent of module selection.
The rate at which a ship cools down is dependent on its current heat load. At low %s, the cooling rate is very low. As the heat load increases, so does the cooling rate.I haven’t quite pinned down the formula, but it’s definitely non-linear. The closest I’ve been able to approximate is the following:
-.2156x^2 + .005x -.0011
I think I've pinned down the cooling rate formula. Upon further review of my data,
y = -.2x2
seems to fix extremely well, where x is the current heat percentage (.5 = 50%), and y is the % max heat cooling rate (-.02 = -2% per second). Cooling follows this formula very closely until the temperature reaches ~66%, at which point the cooling rate caps out at -8.7% per second.
Where the X axis is the current % heat load of the ship, and the Y axis is resulting cooling rate (% max per second). I’m sure the actual formula used is something much cleaner, but that one will at least demonstrate the rough shape.
Something to note on that cooling formula, though: Your cooling rate caps out when you hit somewhere between 60% and 70% heat load. You can still get hotter after that point (obviously), but you ship stops cooling any faster. The maximum cooling rate appears to be about -9% per second.
I believe the exact point at which the cooling rate caps is at 66%. The reason I believe this is because the heat scale used to be a bit different, back in the day. Around the time of 1.2, the scale was changed such that the old 150% registered as 100% on the new scale. That means the old 100% (a perfectly reasonable place for the cooling rate to cap out) is the new 66%.
The resting heat of a ship is a matter of equilibrium. For each MW of power consumed by modules, some number of BTUs is generated per second, based on the heat efficiency stat of the power plant. For grade E power plants, the heat efficiency is 1, so 1 BTU is generated per second per MW consumed by modules. For grade A power plants, the heat efficiency is .4. Your power plant dumps some number of BTUs into the ship per second, until your heat rises enough that the cooling rate matches the heating rate. Since the cooling formula seems to be consistent across all ships and be percentage based, the higher the heat capacity of the ship, the larger the number of BTUs it can dump per second. Lowering the heat efficiency stat, or decreasing the number of MW being consumed will give you a lower resting heat.
Additionally, because the cooling rates are all percentage based, the higher the heat capacity of a given ship, the more BTU per second it can eliminate. With this in mind, having a high heat capacity is doubly beneficial. Not only does it take more heat to push you into critical temperatures, but you can also dump excess heat more quickly. Still the same % per second as every other ship, but a fixed percent of a bigger number gives you a bigger result.
So, on to some numbers. Those marked as unverified (N) have only been tested by one person. Those marked with a Y have been confirmed by at least one other party:
*Updated 6/30/2018
In general, bigger ships have higher thermal capacities. This makes sense, as the bigger the ship, the higher the MW load, and thus the higher the base heat load. The ship needs a higher thermal capacity to keep the resting heat too high. These numbers also show why the DBS is such a fantastic stealth ship; despite it being a small ship with low MW consumption, it still has a thermal capacity that’s on par with beasts like the anaconda. It’s no wonder the DBS’ resting heat is so low, and that it preforms as well as it does in silent running.
So, what can you do to help? Well, as you can clearly see, quite a few ships need to be tested. Determining the thermal capacity is easy. All you need to do is follow these steps:
The other thing I could use help with is determining the exact (or at least a better) cooling formula. Here is my data detailing the cooling rates. I engaged silent running on a hauler, and waited until all the modules burned out. At this point, with no modules running, my heat stopped increasing. 0 seconds is when I first disengaged silent running. I’m so-so at math and function manipulation, so I’ll leave this is more capable hands:
http://pastebin.com/55DDHqVC
Edit: I think I figured out the formula. y = -.2x2, where x is the current heat percentage, and y is the percent max heat cooling per second. This formula is still not dev-confirmed, so I certainly wouldn't mind some volunteer fact checking.
Thanks everyone! Thoughts? Questions? Ideas on what I should work on next?
Highlights:
-1 heat unit = 1 BTU.
-Each ship has a baked in “thermal capacity”. In general, bigger ship = bigger thermal capacity.
-The heat efficiency stat for power plants = how many BTUs are generated per second, per MW being consumed.
-Cooling rate function seems to be universal to all ships. At low temperatures, the cooling rate is very low. It increases at an increasing non-linear rate as temperature rises, until it caps out at ~66%.
-Maximum cooling rate appears to be about 9% per second.
-Higher thermal capacity ships have lower resting heat at a given MW consumption, take more BTUs to heat up, and can dump more BTUs per second (9% of a bigger number gives you a bigger result)
What I need help with:
-Testing the thermal capacity of more ships
-Pinning down the exact cooling function
Heat Mechanics: What I've figured out so far
The current temperature of this ship is based on the sum of “heat in”, and “heat out”. For the sake of discussion, let’s call one unit of heat 1 BTU. Looking at the in-game numbers and units, and doing a bit of poking around regarding fusion efficiency, makes this seem reasonable enough.
Each ship has an assigned heat capacity. For example, the Hauler’s capacity is ~185 BTU. If you pump 185 BTU into a hauler, then at that moment, the temperature gauge will read 100%. This capacity varies from ship to ship, and appears to be baked into the ship / independent of module selection.
The rate at which a ship cools down is dependent on its current heat load. At low %s, the cooling rate is very low. As the heat load increases, so does the cooling rate.
-.2156x^2 + .005x -.0011
I think I've pinned down the cooling rate formula. Upon further review of my data,
y = -.2x2
seems to fix extremely well, where x is the current heat percentage (.5 = 50%), and y is the % max heat cooling rate (-.02 = -2% per second). Cooling follows this formula very closely until the temperature reaches ~66%, at which point the cooling rate caps out at -8.7% per second.
Where the X axis is the current % heat load of the ship, and the Y axis is resulting cooling rate (% max per second). I’m sure the actual formula used is something much cleaner, but that one will at least demonstrate the rough shape.
Something to note on that cooling formula, though: Your cooling rate caps out when you hit somewhere between 60% and 70% heat load. You can still get hotter after that point (obviously), but you ship stops cooling any faster. The maximum cooling rate appears to be about -9% per second.
I believe the exact point at which the cooling rate caps is at 66%. The reason I believe this is because the heat scale used to be a bit different, back in the day. Around the time of 1.2, the scale was changed such that the old 150% registered as 100% on the new scale. That means the old 100% (a perfectly reasonable place for the cooling rate to cap out) is the new 66%.
The resting heat of a ship is a matter of equilibrium. For each MW of power consumed by modules, some number of BTUs is generated per second, based on the heat efficiency stat of the power plant. For grade E power plants, the heat efficiency is 1, so 1 BTU is generated per second per MW consumed by modules. For grade A power plants, the heat efficiency is .4. Your power plant dumps some number of BTUs into the ship per second, until your heat rises enough that the cooling rate matches the heating rate. Since the cooling formula seems to be consistent across all ships and be percentage based, the higher the heat capacity of the ship, the larger the number of BTUs it can dump per second. Lowering the heat efficiency stat, or decreasing the number of MW being consumed will give you a lower resting heat.
Additionally, because the cooling rates are all percentage based, the higher the heat capacity of a given ship, the more BTU per second it can eliminate. With this in mind, having a high heat capacity is doubly beneficial. Not only does it take more heat to push you into critical temperatures, but you can also dump excess heat more quickly. Still the same % per second as every other ship, but a fixed percent of a bigger number gives you a bigger result.
So, on to some numbers. Those marked as unverified (N) have only been tested by one person. Those marked with a Y have been confirmed by at least one other party:
| Ship | Capacity (BTU) | CMDR | Verified |
| Hauler | 185 | Frenotx / wenkman | Y |
| Sidewinder | 211 | wenkman / Winterwalker | Y |
| Dolphin | 248 | drakhyr / Konnivar | Y |
| Eagle | 249 | wenkman / drakhyr | Y |
| Adder | 255 | Frenotx / drakhyr | Y |
| Type-6 | 270 | drakhyr | N |
| Viper III | 292 | drakhyr | N |
| V IV | 315 | Frenotx / drakhyr | Y |
| Asp S | 317 | wenkman | N |
| Keelback | 323 | Frenotx | N |
| FDL | 336 | moose666 / Konnivar | Y |
| Cobra III | 339 | wenkman / drakhyr | Y |
| Type-7 | 340 | Konnivar / ErichZann | Y |
| Cobra IV | 344 | wenkman | N |
| Courier | 345 | Frenotx / moose666 | Y |
| Vulture | 356 | Frenotx / wenkman | Y |
| Asp X | 410 | wenkman / drakhyr | Y |
| Beluga | 421 | moose666 | N |
| FAS | 430 | moose666 | N |
| Chieftain | 434 | Lyneira | N |
| Gunship | 442 | FoxtrotF | N |
| Krait | 448 | CMDR Lucienn / Drakin138 | Y |
| Python | 450 | moose666 / drakhyr | Y |
| Clipper | 455 | moose666 / marx | Y |
| T9 | 472 | wenkman | N |
| Challenger | 474 | Drakin138 | N |
| Cutter | 490 | moose666 / marx | Y |
| Conda | 493 | Frenotx | N |
| Dropship | 498 | drakhyr | N |
| Corvette | 498 | Cablefast / moose666 | Y |
| Type-10 | 503 | marx | N |
| DBS | 520 | Frenotx / moose666 | Y |
| DBX | 527 | wenkman | N |
*Updated 6/30/2018
In general, bigger ships have higher thermal capacities. This makes sense, as the bigger the ship, the higher the MW load, and thus the higher the base heat load. The ship needs a higher thermal capacity to keep the resting heat too high. These numbers also show why the DBS is such a fantastic stealth ship; despite it being a small ship with low MW consumption, it still has a thermal capacity that’s on par with beasts like the anaconda. It’s no wonder the DBS’ resting heat is so low, and that it preforms as well as it does in silent running.
So, what can you do to help? Well, as you can clearly see, quite a few ships need to be tested. Determining the thermal capacity is easy. All you need to do is follow these steps:
- Note the heat efficiency of the power plant, and the energy consumption of your thrusters. If you’ve modified either, don’t just use the listed value- it’s likely rounded. Apply the listed percentage change (on the “modifications” screen, in outfitting) to the base value for the real number.
- Make sure you have at least 1 heat sink launcher equipped.
- Launch your ship, and power down all modules but the heatsink launcher
- Engage silent running, fire the heatsink, then turn off the heatsink launcher while the coolant is purging. This will dump all the heat out of your ship (coolant purge), eliminate all heat load (turning off the heat sink launcher), and prevent all cooling. Note: Your temperature may not display as 0%, but this is apparently just a display bug. If you’ve done everything as listed, you’ll dump all the heat out of your ship.
- Grab a stop watch. Press the start button at the exact same time as you re-enable your thrusters.
- Sit perfectly still, and wait. Your heat will slowly rise. Shortly after your heat hits the high 90’s, you’ll see a visual warning in the top-right corner of your screen saying “heat levels critical”. Stop the stopwatch as soon as this pops up. You can disable silent running at this point, and turn everything back on.
- Note the number of seconds. Multiply the number of seconds by the heat efficiency value of your power plant, and the MW usage of your thrusters. The resulting value is that ship’s thermal capacity.
The other thing I could use help with is determining the exact (or at least a better) cooling formula. Here is my data detailing the cooling rates. I engaged silent running on a hauler, and waited until all the modules burned out. At this point, with no modules running, my heat stopped increasing. 0 seconds is when I first disengaged silent running. I’m so-so at math and function manipulation, so I’ll leave this is more capable hands:
http://pastebin.com/55DDHqVC
Edit: I think I figured out the formula. y = -.2x2, where x is the current heat percentage, and y is the percent max heat cooling per second. This formula is still not dev-confirmed, so I certainly wouldn't mind some volunteer fact checking.
Thanks everyone! Thoughts? Questions? Ideas on what I should work on next?
Last edited:
