Posted 07 November 2012 - 01:13 PM

TL;DR: DHS included with the engine dissipate 0.2 heat/second instead of 0.14 heat/second (as stated in the patch notes). Other DHS (placed in engine slots or located outside the engine) dissipate 0.14 heat/second.

firing a given weapon always generates the same amount of heat, and



heat is dissipated at a constant rate by a given configuration (depending also on environmental factors, throttle setting, damage, etc.), i.e., the rate of heat dissipation does not depend on the heat level.

It has been stated by the devs that each single heat sink (SHS) dissipates 0.1 heat/second, and each double heat sink (DHS) dissipates 0.14 heat/second. The latter figure is 70% of the of 0.2 heat/second value that would be expected based on the "double" nomenclature.Now, before the Nov. 6th patch, DHS were intended to dissipate 0.2 heat/second, but there was a bug that caused the HS included with the engine to behave as SHS (0.1 heat/second) and all others (both outside the engine and in the engine HS slots) to function as DHS (0.2 heat/second).The new value of 0.14 heat/second was presumably chosen to keep energy boating from becoming too effective. Based on statements by the devs, one would expect this value to apply to all HS (whether included with the engine, placed in the engine heat sinks slots, or located outside the engine) once the DHS upgrade has been applied. However, this does not appear to be the case. In fact, the HS included with the engine appear to dissipate 0.2 heat/second, while those placed in the engine HS slots or located outside the engine dissipate 0.14 heat/second. This is certainly good news for those who like to run energy-heavy configurations, although it's not clear whether this mechanic is intentional but poorly communicated or merely a bug.My testing methodology is based on two main assumptions. These are thatProvided that these are valid, we can measure the heat dissipation rate (in heat/second) of a given configuration by simply firing a bunch of weapons, adding up the total heat generated (found on Ohmwrecker's tables) and dividing by the time taken to dissipate this heat. In order to measure the time elapsed, starting with a 0% value on the heat scale, the procedure is to begin timing when the first weapon fires and stop timing when the heat scale returns to 0%. Also, the weapons must be fired in such a way that the heat scale remains above 0% for the entire test, so that the heat sinks are always working.For a more detailed discussion, see my earlier post on the heat system: http://mwomercs.com/...-heat-mechanic/ The experimental results follow. All tests were run on Forest Colony (regular) and River City (the heat-neutral maps). Medium lasers were the only weapons used; according to Ohmwrecker's tables, they produce 4 heat per shot. In the following, X+Y+Z means "X heat sinks included with the engine, Y heat sinks in the engine slots, and Z heat sinks outside the engine." First, I ran a test to verify that SHS dissipate 0.1 heat/second.This is very close to the expected 0.1 heat/second per heat sink. Next, I ran a test to verify that the Coolrun unlock increases the rate of heat dissipation by 7.5%.After we divide by the expected 1.075 multiplier, we get the same result as before, which probably isn't a coincidence. It looks like Coolrun works as expected. Also, given the consistency between these two more-or-less totally different tests, it looks like (for whatever reason) one SHS dissipates around 0.0969 heat/second instead of the stated 0.1, or else medium lasers generate around 4.13 heat instead of the stated 4, or both values are different than expected. In any case, we are dealing with the same "heat per laser" in each test, so we can just define the heat produced by a medium laser to be 4 (in some units that we make up) and state that one SHS dissipates 0.0969 of these units per second.Now for the important (DHS-related) part. All of these tests were run on an Atlas.Before interpreting the figures for total heat dissipation rate, we should scale them by the heat dissipation rate of a SHS (measured earlier to be 0.0969 heat/second) so that we can see how many effective SHS we are getting, regardless of whether a medium laser produces 4 heat (in absolute terms) or not. In other words, we should divide by 0.0969. The results are plotted below:The theoretical prediction (in green) is for the mechanic described in the third paragraph, i.e.,[effective SHS] = 2*[HS included with engine]+1.4*([HS placed in engine slots]+[HS located outside engine])As you can see, the agreement is excellent. So far, I have not repeated this test with any other chassis. Your input would be appreciated.

Edited by Amaris the Usurper, 08 November 2012 - 05:02 PM.