#More Visual Aids for Thermal Systems

10 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

radiant heart
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I've included a number of mockups in this post for potential thermal system QoL, as well as some of my suggestions to improve existing visual aids.

In the first three images, I've done a mockup of a "Local Thermal System Information" box, which would display a thermal system's basic information when mousing over it both in blueprint mode and build mode, including missing part warnings similar to the shipwide warnings in the bottom left of the screen. I've also greyed out thermal systems in the images when they contain no external dissipation sources. TCMs count as external dissipation in this case (and heat storage), but the missing part warnings are still shown.

The other big visual shortcoming I've noticed is with heat exchangers. Way too many times, I've seen newer players think they can dissipate heat by themselves, so they attach them directly to overclocked parts, only for them to overheat. I would suggest either making this situation not show up as a heat connection, or placing a ⚠️ symbol in the immediate area as a precaution.

I put a good bit of work into these mockups, I hope they communicate my ideas thoroughly enough :p

image.png image.png image.png image.png
abstract talon
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Maybe to make it more visible the lines could be red when showing incomplete systems, could help when people don't know that most parts won't let heat transfer through that part

radiant heart
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I thought that using red as a color could potentially be ambiguous given that red is commonly associated with heat and could be mistaken for a functional thermal system

abstract talon
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i guess but red also at least in BP mode is an error in the build

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could go as far as using red and green then

edgy iron
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hypothetical min/max (excluding boost) would be nice too

echo jay
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These are good ideas and mockups! The complicating factor that I can think of is that a part with multiple ports can belong to multiple different networks.

radiant heart
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That’s a good edge case to consider, I’ll see if I can create some more mockups because I have some ideas of how to resolve that

opaque river
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I saw once suggestion where all the inputs led to a highlighted circle in he part's center.
I wish I remembered who to credit, sry

uneven citrus