Changes regarding heat

[Snikersnee]

I feel like the stock heating is way too forgiving. I know there are mods that fix this, but I think it should be in stock. For example, the cubic octagonal strut, 

has a max temperature of 2000 kelvin. That is equal to 3140.33 Fahrenheit, or 1726.85 Celsius. Assuming it's made of steel, steel usually melts at 2500 Fahrenheit, or 1370 Celsius. Already, it is pretty heat resistant. BUT, considering that it is so small and made out of very thin pieces of the metal, it's max tempurature should be lower. A lot of parts are like this, like strut connectors, modular girder segments, etc. In my eyes, objects not designed to survive the rigors of reentry shouldn't. In real life, any debris that survives reentry is in really small bits, so even big deorbited space stations are reduced to a mere meteor shower. 

How do I think they should fix this? Lower max heat tolerances, making heat shields a necessity. Add maybe an ablation panel. Something like the OX-STAT photovoltaic panel, but black and with an ablator. Adding these to the bottoms of wings and fuel tanks will make spaceplanes look 10x cooler. (And it will stick with the black/white theme of KSP and NASA.) And finally make explosions and rocket exhaust produce more heat. 

TL;DR Stock heating is unrealistic and in my opinion should be made harder. Also maybe add another heat sheild.

EDIT: Yes I'm aware of the inflatable heat shield being added in KSP 1.1, I just thought that a small, radially  attached heat shield like the one in the picture would be nice. (The picture is of the space shuttle's heat shield tiles) 

Edited February 21, 2016 by Play_LORD

[Sir_Robert]

If you want your game to be harder, mod it. Let's keep it a little forgiving for the newbies

[KrazyKrl]

Just because a part is small; does not mean the max temp should be lower. The only thing that should be lower, is the thermal mass of the object. IMO, high-heat tolerance parts are like superalloys that have specific coatings, or cooling methods (Like air ducting in turbine blades.)

Heating is kinda buggy in some places still anyhow... like docking ports not transmitting heat. 1800K Docking Port Sr. not dumping heat to its mate for example.

Edited February 21, 2016 by KrazyKrl