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[Skyfaller]

Engine DHS is one of the two sources of the imbalance in this game when it comes to heal & alpha boating performing. The first being the pinpoint damage mechanics of the game (this has been covered in other threads).

Consider the simple fact that because DHS makes the engine heatsinks become true 2.0 rather than 1.4 this alone makes the use of single heatsinks be an act of stupidity.

DHS Engine = 20 SHS
SHS Engine = 10 SHS.

For a single heatsink mech to match the cooling ability of a DHS engine he has to spend 10 critical slots and 10 tons.

Case study: Stalker 3F with 2 LL's, 4 med lasers and 4 SSRMs. Comparison between SHS and DHS.

SHS:

STK-3F SHS

35 single heatsinks. 8 free slots, tonnage maxed out.

Heatsink performance:
Heat Capacity: 65 (30 base cap + 1 cap per SHS in engine +1 cap per SHS outside engine).
Heat Dissipation: 3.5 heat /second (10 SHS dissipate 1 heat per second and there is no difference between external and internal SHS)

DHS:
STK-3F DHS

Used same basic build as SHS above but with DHS. Armor is the same, armament is the same. Edit: ewps I put 10 more tons of armor in CT .. irrelevant anyway given the tonnage still left over)

20 DHS total.
Differences: I had enough tonnage left over to add BAP, Command Console, 2 extra ammo for the SSRM's and upgrade engine to XL 310. As an added insult, this build still has 6 tons left over with which it could max out all its armor but I left that out in the build to illustrate.

Heatsink Performance:
Heat Capacity: 64 (30 base + 20 engine DHS (engine dhs=x2 cap) + 14 (from 10 external DHS @1.4 per DHS) )
Heat Dissipation: 3.4 (Internal engine DHS cools 0.2 per DHS and 0.14 per external)

Results:

The DHS has 1 less heat capacity and 0.1 lower cooling ability than the SHS build. However, the SHS build had to sacrifice an enormous amount of critical slots and tonnage to achieve this miserly performance advantage. The DHS build took advantage of its tonnage and crit slot savings to significantly upgrade the abilities of the mech, get more ammo, faster engine and could max its armor out.


If this is not a warning sign that the engine DHS performance is messed up I don't know what will.

Let's look at the 'what ifs':

IF all engines had SHS heatsinks and DHS option only allowed DHS externals..and the DHS were true 2.0's external...

DHS build heat performance:

Heat Capacity: 30 base + 10 engine (SHS) + 20 DHS = 60 CAP
Heat Dissipation: 1 heat/sec from the 10 SHS in the engine + 2 from external = 3 heat/sec

--- A loss of 4 cap and .4 heat/s yet the DHS still enable the DHS mech to save up on a lot of tonnage and crit slots. Considering the pro/cons of it, the DHS is still a far, far better option.

So what could be the solution?

Simple:

SHS need to have 2.0 capacity , 1.0 heat dissipation and DHS need to have 1.0 capacity and 2.0 dissipation regardless of if they're in the engine or not.

SHS for above Stalker 3F:
Heat Capacity: 100 (30 base + 70 from 35 SHS@2.0)
Heat Dissipation: 3.5 heat per second.

DHS for above Stalker 3F:
Heat Capacity: 40 (30 base + 10 DHS @1.0)
Heat Dissipation: 4.0 heat per second

In this example, the 3F with SHS is under-equipped, under-armored and slower than the DHS 3F becase it paid dearly with crit slots and tonnage to raise its heat performance to such level.

But lets compare apples to apples. The 3F with SHS has been matched in equipment with the DHS one.

STK-3F SHS matching DHS gear

To do that, I had to lower its SHS to 26. It was the only way to add BAP, Command Console and 2 SSRM ammo. The SHS mech has no tonnage left to max its armor so it will be under-armored compared to the DHS model.

Heat Capacity: 82 (30 base + 52 from 26 SHS @2.0)
Heat Dissipation: 2.6 heat per second (26 SHS @1.0)


Now it makes more sense does it not? 82 cap vs 40 cap... a big difference and the SHS wins. However, in dissipation, the DHS wins hands down @ 4 vs 2.6 on the SHS.

This change would make the SHS the ideal heatsink system for mech builds that are 'support' (missile, long range snipers,etc) and need to deploy their damage in bursts (front-load) whereas the DHS would be the ideal heatsink for mechs that need sustained fire as priority..aka the brawlers, harrassers and scouts.

Please make this change devs. It is needed and will solve a lot of balance problems.