Thermal Vent
Experimental upgrade that increases heat dissipation when successfully striking a target, at the cost of increased heat generation when missing.
— In-Game Description
Thermal Vent (colloqially known as TV) is an Experimental Effect that can be applied to Beam Lasers through Engineering, which increases heat dissipation when successfully striking a target. When striking a target, TV beams vent more heat than they generate up to a certain point, reducing both the thermal load on the weapon and the ship's own heat level. Despite its in-game description mentioning that heat generation is increased when the beam does not connect with a target, since Odyssey Update 3.0, TV beams are observed not to generate more heat over non-TV beams when missing a target.
The amount of heat vented by a TV beam is based on its thermal load—with more heat vented the higher the TV beam's thermal load is—and is also affected by damage falloff ranges. For this reason, a TV beam engineered with Overcharged Weapon or Short Range Weapon (which increase thermal load) will vent more heat below its damage falloff range, whereas a beam engineered with Efficient Weapon (which reduces thermal load) will vent less heat overall, on top of venting even less heat in its damage falloff range. For all practical reasons, Long Range Weapon engineering is the preferred choice for TV beams because it preserves the already high default heat generated, alongside consistent damage and thermal venting due to removing damage falloff.
TV is especially useful for ships with sensitive heat characteristics, such as the Mamba, ships equipped with other weapons that generate lots of heat, such as Plasma Accelerators and Railguns, or venting heat generated by the spin-up phase of a Shield Cell Bank. Gimballed TV beams are also useful in anti-xeno combat as Thargoids do not use chaff and have difficulty focusing fire on ships with low heat signatures.
Applicability
This effect is available for the following weapons:
Required Materials
Notes
- As Thermal Vent reduces the ship's own heat level, it can cause the ship's canopy to ice over.