temperaturecCurve?

[seanth]

There's a powerCurve for solar panels, and atmosphereCurves and velocityCurves for engines. Is there an existing temperatureCurve so that we could make parts that stop operating/operate poorly as the temp gets too high or too cold?

I ask specifically in relation to a greenhouse-like part I have in mind where it would be important to keep it within a thermal optima for it to work correctly.

I suspect this does not currently exist.

-STH

[Greys]

For engines and solar panels there is not currently a temperature curve. Engines generally operate best above a given temperature, and fail above another, and the first one doesn't apply to rocket engines at all. Solar panels are significantly impacted by heat but all but one stock panels are animated so we can't really do anything about temperature, it has to be accounted for by the design.

One catch to what you're asking is that velocityCurve, atmosphereCurve, and powerCurve don't just exist, you can't use them anywhere. Vcurve and Acurve only exist in ModuleEngine, and Pcurve only exists in whatever module makes solar panels work. None of those curves mean a dang thing to ModuleGenerator, which is the only stock partModule which can be used to make a greenhouse work. If you're looking at writing your own partModule then they still don't exist but more importantly, you can make whatever dang curves you want and have them do whatever you want. Temperature is pretty easy to get a hold of, so making a curve that accounts for it is no more complicated than making a curve that attenuates output by light intensity/distancefromsource.

I would caution you; the stock heating model is not very good, you'll probably find that having a heatCurve to consider adds a new layer of unfun to the mix. There's a guy in the main addon-dev board making a replacement heat system that you might find more appealing

Edited September 30, 2013 by Greys