Overheat

The Overheat system limits ship firepower and adds heat management as a core design factor. Larger guns and engines generate more heat, requiring proper cooling to avoid catastrophic failure.

Heat Generation

A variable-caliber single-barrel main gun with its external armor

Weapons

Larger guns generate more heat, for example a 32 projectile gun will generate more overheat than a 12 projectile gun.
Engines constantly produce heat while running.
Fire blocks increase heat and detection range

⚠️Before piloting ships with engines:

Add at least 1 Cut Copper per 10 engine blocks. Failure to do so will likely cause your ship to explode!

Cooling Systems

Radiators (Heat Dissipation)

Blocks: Cut Copper and Copper Grates

Dissipation depends on the number of faces exposed to air. Each face exposed is exponentially less effective -- two exposed faces grants 100% of the stated dissipation value (10/s for a full block). Further exposed faces adds a bonus to its dissipation rate.

An aft-mounted radiator section.

Heat capacity blocks tucked carefully into the main turret of a tank.

Heat Sinks (Heat Capacity)

Blocks: Copper Blocks, Chiseled Copper

Increases the total heat capacity. More of these blocks means you can absorb more heat before you need to dissipate it. Even high-dissipation builds require some capacity to prevent heat spikes from causing catastrophic damage.

Capacity blocks function even when not exposed to air.

Trade-offs

Radiators and heat sinks work against each other. Each block gives +10 heat to its type but reduces the opposite stat by 2.5 heat. This means you need to design for high capacity so you can tank heat, or high dissipation so you cool more quickly, or you could consider a hybrid construction.

Special Cooling Blocks

Smokestacks (Campfires)

These have high heat dissipation for small size. There is no capacity penalty but they are limited to one per 1000 blocks. They cannot be used on submersible crafts.

Dispensers

Dispensers exposed to air offer additional dissipation, granting an advantage in dissipation to exposed turret mounts.

Additional Heat Information

Higher heat means your detection range increases. Fires additionally increase your ship's heat production and your detection, as well.

The [Heat] sign displays ship heat status in real time so you can adjust accordingly.

Copper blocks lose effectiveness as they oxidise, for each oxidation step they become less effective, in order to promote craft maintenance, this can be counteracted by waxing them.

Waxed Copper blocks maintain maximum effectiveness regardless of their oxidation state to allow for more aesthetic options.

Submersible Heat Dissipation

All Prismarine blocks are used as a heat dissipation block for submersible airships and submarines.

Prismarine blocks must have at least one facing exposed to water to function, and will not dissipate heat when exposed to air.

Prismarine Blocks will lower your total heat capacity by a higher amount per block relative to their total dissipation value than Copper, and are designed specifically to counteract engine heat generation of submersible crafts while submerged.

A submersible airship's forward heat dissipation apparatus. Courtesy of DukeOfAveline.

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