Verification of new power proposed system

[Nickizzy]

Wanted to varify how the new system will work heat wise, didn't want to post it on page 25.

I think this is how it will work:

Weapons/Shields/Thursters- Generates heat, if it gets to hot it will overload/not work.

Reactors- acts as a negative heat zone, take some heat away from other systems and destroys it(?)

Besides the weird negative paradox there, it seems like it's now entirely regen focused. Systems have to be constantly cooled, reactors have to constantly disperse heat somehow, there seems to be no storage system.




On a side note, it would seem less confusing if it was the opposite.

Reactors made heat, systems used it to work. Heat is something you want.

Or reactors make power, systems use power and generate heat, radiators disperse heat. Heat is a byproduct of using power that has to be dispersed. This also means ships dispersing a lot of heat can show up brighter on radar and such, and if ships store heat without releasing it they can stay hidden. This would use the current power storage system, and a similar system for storing heat, as well as a system based on surface area for dispersing heat.

Spoiler: Antiradiator exploit

Radiator blocks would disperse heat by going out in each axis until it hits another block, or up to 100 blocks. The heat dispersión would start off exponential, so 1 and 2 block gaps wouldn't do much compared to 15 and 20 block gaps, but would settle down, so the difference between 99 and 100 wouldn't be so drastic, and single blocks wouldn't give stupid amounts of efficiency. So a grouping effect might help, in sheets or rods.

Oh dear, it turned into a suggestion. Let's "discuss" it.

 

[Edymnion]

As I understood it, the reactor itself will create heat, as will systems like weapons.

You then also have coolant tanks that you connect to your reactor via conduits that reduce the heat.

So everything generates heat, and you have coolant tank systems that work on removing that heat.

 

[0ldSkull]

There's no paradox. Reactors, like any power supply in our current familiar "real" technology, are not 100% efficient; heat is always produced as a byproduct of generating or transforming power. A reactor (or power supply) has an operating range in which it can adequately dissipate this heat via a cooling mechanism (e.g. using convection, a fan, or coolant).

As a greater demand (load) is placed on it, the reactor becomes less efficient and produces more heat compared to the usable energy output. As the load approaches and exceeds the reactor's "operating specification," it reaches a point at which the cooling system can no longer keep up with the heat being produced. This is when problems start to occur, even in our current reality--a power supply may start to bulge, smoke, melt, explode etc.

Some folks have expressed in the main thread that "power" and "heat" should be separate identifiable factors in the new system. A basic familiarity with the laws of thermodynamics serves well here. Power and heat are directly related, as ultimately all of the power produced is transformed into heat (some directly by the reactor, and some elsewhere such as when weapon fire impacts a target). The proposed system as written expresses the model to the player in terms of heat only, which I think gracefully allows the player to manage things in terms of one variable rather than two which would already affect each other.

 

[NeonSturm]

Most real reactors work better at a "certain output level" and need time to reach this optimum.

Reactors could have a basic heat production level while they are active.
"Ship AI" to Captain: Pirates enter the radar range! Should I power up our third and forth reactor before they enter combat range?

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I like radiators, maybe they could disperse heat into different directions.

They grow with ²visible surface area² instead of with the ³obscured third axis³ which isn't rendered.
They can also be weak points for attack, if you have no dissipation chamber with a 3-planes 3D cross in a 200m³ hole inside your ship.

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But I like to think about heat as "level2 energy" which is less efficient to use.

Uses in real life: remote heating pipelines for public swimming pools.
Uses in StarMade: pre-heating of exhausts, thermal-electrical energy transformators with low efficiency …​

[doublepost=1487004285,1487004189][/doublepost]Edymnion Coolant tanks are storage

 

[Edymnion]

You're right, I read it wrong.

 

[Nickizzy]

reactor itself will create heat

But it's only jobs seems to be to reduce heat. So the reactor is only there to control miles of cooling tanks.

There's no paradox.

The paradox is that the reactor as a whole takes bad energy from the system instead of adding any other sort of energy to it.

 

[0ldSkull]

The paradox is that the reactor as a whole takes bad energy from the system instead of adding any other sort of energy to it.

Where do you think the "bad energy" came from? Heat is a byproduct (and an end result) of supplying power.
There's no numerical indication of ammunition being created or loaded, yet your cannons shoot. There's no measurement of missiles going into tubes yet they still fire. No fuel going into thrusters but the ship moves. You don't need to see every little detail in order to know that something exists when there is indirect evidence.

(Most real-world computers do not provide a measurement of power supplied. But you can see that your computer is working, and tell how hard it's working by the amount of heat being produced.)

To look at it another way: Real electrical power supplies don't inject energy into a circuit either. They provide a potential from which the circuit draws power. The power supply has a limit which can be exceeded, at which point usually excessive heat is produced and damage starts to occur.