v1.2.3

[Fornax]

Thank you for releasing another update for Titans of Steel, Larkin. This game rocks!

I had a look at the patch notes and didn't see anything for taking a titan's external armor heat conductivity into account when suffering heat damage. Something like:

titan_temp+=heat_dmg * armor.hc //millenia.hc=1.15, titanium_hc=1.00, vicenium.hc=0.90, duralloy.hc=0.85

The idea was armor that lets heat out faster will also let it in faster too, and vice versa.

[LarkinVB]

Right, forgot about this suggestion. Will add this for the next update.

[Fornax]

Below are some ideas I had for handling heat.

Heat Units
A heat unit is a quantity of heat energy. Heat damage is measured in HUs. An object containing "zero" heat units is at 0 degrees, regardless of its mass. Heat units can be negative.

Titan Mass, Heat Energy and Temperature
There is a fundamental relationship between a titan's mass, heat energy and temperature. As a titan accumulates heat energy its temperature also increases at a rate governed by its mass. A titan's temperature can be calculated at any instant by the formula:

titan.temp = titan.heat_energy / titan.mass

This means that if a 40T titan gains 40 HUs its temperature will increase by 1 degree. A 70T titan would need to gain 70 HUs to have its temperature increase by the same amount. This is key because a small titan should heat up more quickly than a larger one when subjected to a point source of heat damage, because it has less mass to heat up.

Note that heat regulators are relative to titan size, so heat reduction by them would not be affected by mass.

Point Sources vs. Ambient Sources of Heat Energy
A distinction needs to be made between "point" sources of heat energy (such as being hit with a laser or flamethrower) and "ambient" sources (such as standing in a burning hex). Point sources transfer a single, instant, predetermined amount of heat energy to the target titan.

Ambient sources deal an ongoing amount of heat damage that is determined by the following:

1) Temperature difference between hex and titan chassis
2) Surface area of titan
3) Time

A formula can be given:

heat_damage_per_second (HUs) = (hex.temp - titan.temp) * titan.surface_area / some_constant

This formula also models passive titan cool-down when the titan's temperature is higher than the temperature of the hex it's occupying.

Titan Surface Area
Larger titans should acquire more heat damage than small ones from ambient sources because they have more surface area. Hot planets, lava, forest fires, and titan explosions contribute to the temperature of the hex a titan is occupying. The surface area of a titan could be modeled as a the surface area of a sphere, using the titan’s height as the diameter (some other shape might be better).

Engine Heat
Likely the largest internal source of heat in a titan would be its engine. Engine speed is also a factor; an engine producing as many PUs as possible will generate more heat than one at 50% output. Perhaps the best way to calculate engine heat is to use the number of PUs being generated multiplied by a quantity of heat energy.

[LarkinVB]

Physics are fine but I won't add this as a) I will not spend much more time on coding and b) I do not think it will add much to the game. Sometimes it is better to keep it simple.

[Fornax]

Leaving well enough alone is a good policy. I was excited about the new patch and felt the need to spew off some ideas.

[LarkinVB]

ORIGINAL: Fornax

Leaving well enough alone is a good policy. I was excited about the new patch and felt the need to spew off some ideas.

That's fine and I'm happy that there still is excitement about TOS. I'm willing to include nice ideas which I can add in a few minutes [;)]
You are ten years late for bigger changes. [:)]