I did my own tests with a GRH-5H. A mech which is currenty very strong due to its -10% Heat Gen quirk.
TLDR:
According to my calculations the Heat Containment nodes are superior to Cool Run nodes in a short brawl-like battle. The Cool Run nodes might be better in a long range fight and may generate a decisive advantage over time (in minutes). However, all testings revealed that the exact heat mechanism & heat fighting skills of a mech is different to the my calculations based on the numbers published by PGI.
Long version:
Lets start with the very basics. Base heat capacity of a mech is 30. Heat capacity and heat dissipation rate for DHS is given in the quote and reflects the Dec 2016 patch notes.
Quote
Double Heat Sinks (Inner Sphere)
• External Heat Sink Dissipation Rate increased to 0.15 (from 0.14)
• Engine Heat Sink Dissipation Rate remains at .2
• Heat Capacity increased to 1.5 (from 1.1)
Double Heat Sinks (Clan)
• External Heat Sink Dissipation Rate remains at 0.15
• Engine Heat Sink Dissipation Rate remains at .2
• Heat Capacity increased to 1.5 (from 1.1)
• Component Health reduced to 6.6 (from 10)
I did my calculations and testings on a
GHR-5H with an
XL325, 4xML, 3xLPL, 18 DHS.
(A) Basics
Let us compare some differently skilled variants:
GHR-5H (1), only with Quirk, no skill nodes
GHR-5H (2), HG
GHR-5H (3), HG+CR
GHR-5H (4), HG+CR+HC
Legend:
HG = -10,5% Heat Generation
CR = +10% Cool run (Heat Dissipation)
HC = +15% Heat Containment
All maxed out.
The GRH-5H comprises:
Base Heat Capacity: 30
Engine DHS: 10 = 20 heat containment and 2 heat/sec dissipation
Ext DHS: 8 = 12 heat containment and 1,2 heat/sec dissipation
For (1) this sums up to:
Heat Containment: 62 heat points
Heat dissipation: 3,2 heat/sec
( Damage and Heat (pre June patch values)
4x ML = 20 damage & 16 heat points
3x LPL = 33 damage & 21 heat points
Full Alpha Damage: 53
(1) Heat by full alpha (+ chassis quirk): 33.3
(2,3,4) Heat by full alpha (+HG): 29,4
(3+4) Heat Dissipation (+CR): 3.52
(1,2,3) Heat Containment: 62
Assuming the Heat Containment skills is based on the base capacity plus all heat sinks:
(4) Heat Containment: 71.3
While doing a full alpha (0.9 duration for the ML, 0.67 for the LPL) the mech builds up heat and in parallel dissipates heat. For the sake of laziness I calculated the following values for a
pilot firing every full second a full alpha. Means: I subtracted the 3.2 / 3.52 heat dissipated within this second from the heat build up while firing.
Corrected Heat Generation is then:
(1) Heat by full alpha (+ chassis quirk): 30.4
(2) Heat by full alpha (+HG): 26.5
(3+4) Heat by full alpha (+HG+CR): 26.15
As you can nicely see, the cool run node increases heat dissipation by 0.35 heat points per second. Not much.
(C) Damage output until shutdown
Lets assume you are getting caught with your mech in a 1 vs 1 battle. How often can you alpha and what is your damage output?
Alphas until shutdown:
GHR-5H (1), Quirk: 2.04
GHR-5H (2), HG: 2.34
GHR-5H (3), HG+CR: 2.36
GHR-5H (4), HG+CR+HC: 2.72
Damage until shutdown:
GHR-5H (1), Quirk: 108
GHR-5H (2), HG: 123.8
GHR-5H (3), HG+CR: 125.2
GHR-5H (4), HG+CR+HC: 144.0
Cooling down again:
100% heat until 0% heat:
GHR-5H (1), Quirk: 19.38 sec (62 -> 0)
GHR-5H (3), HG+CR: 17.61 sec (62 -> 0)
GHR-5H (4), HG+CR+HC: 20.26 sec (71,3 ->0)
(D) Summary
Basically your mech becomes cooler with every node invested into heat management. The effect of the cool run nodes is small in short battle with lots of consecutive alphas. The benefit in terms of damage output is also small. The increase in dissipation (+10%) is 3,2 to 3,52 heat per sec. This is on this mech the effect of roughly two additional heat sinks. However, heat containment showed a very nice increase in damage ouput. This is, of course, caused by the assumption that heat containment is based on the base values plus all DHS. Generating less heat is basically the best parameter. Mechs with heat quirks are superior to mechs without (-> Cent-AL, Wolverine-6K, GHR-5H, Jester etc.). So when should a pilot skill Cool Run and when Heat Containment?
A brawl mech needs Heat Containment. Typically the life of a brawl mech is quit short. Push in, alpha strike as much as you can, kill and die. In this short period Cool Run makes almost no sense. Imagine a push with your fellow teammates and a very intense 20 sec fight. The Cool Run gives you a benefit of roughly 6.4 heat points within this window. Second cool shot in that specific situation is of much greater value.
For lights I would also go with Heat Containment. Short intense battles followed by periods in cover in order to cool down.
A long range sniper needs Cool Run. Typically long range battles are fought over minutes, not seconds. Mechs boating ER-LL, ER-PPCs, LLs should go for Cool Run and put less points into Heat Containment. In this specific situation your DPS is probably higher than with only Heat Containment fully skilled.
Of course it is not possible to skill Cool Run nodes without Heat Containment nodes and vice versa. For the sake of demonstrating the effects of these skills I did not include this into my calculations.
(E) Testing grounds
I took a GHR-5H (variant 4) for a ride in the testing grounds on a heat neutral map. According to the calculations above, it should be possible to fire 2 alphas and within the 3rd it would shutdown. Surprisingly I could fire 3 alphas without shutdown, touching 95% heat. The mech didn't move, nor did I use JJs. So no influence here.That indicates that the heat mechanics are different to what is known from the patch notes.
Edited by Joey Tankblaster, 19 June 2017 - 05:04 AM.