Does Heatsink Location Matter?

[BOYCOTT S-T-E-A-M!]

I know from the one gameplay tip during loading that having heatsinks in your legs and standing in water will give increased cooling, but does heatsink location matter otherwise?

For instance, if I have a PPC in my arm would having a heatsink there be useful or can it be anywhere and be just as useful?

[BlackDev]

I remember one tipp of the loading screen saying that you will cool down faster if you put a heatsink in the legs and stay in the water. Beyond that I don't think it matter that much

[Instinkt]

Heatsinks in the legs are more effective if they are under water - however, most builds have double heat sinks, which won't fit into the legs.

When they are in the Engine itself, they seem to be more effective.

I don't know if they are more effective if they are in the same body part as the hot running weapon (anyone knows?!), but generally it might be a wise idea to put the heatsinks with the valuable components. For example if you can make one arm empty, by putting your heatsink into the other arm where you have a weapon, you can use the empty arm for shielding, which makes you last longer in battle without losing firepower.

[BOYCOTT S-T-E-A-M!]

Originally posted by Instinkt:

For example if you can make one arm empty, by putting your heatsink into the other arm where you have a weapon, you can use the empty arm for shielding, which makes you last longer in battle without losing firepower.

Thats what I've done currently. My torso doesn't really have weapon mounts so I've stuffed it with heatsinks and left my arms empty otherwise. The loss of an arm sucks, but they are effective shielding.

[Instinkt]

Yea thats the way to go.

Don't forget though, once you lose an body part, you will produce black smoke which can show the enemy your position. Still, its a good practice.

[TyphonCh]

Here's tell funny thing about heatsinks. You need a minimum of 10 heatsinks to drop. Anything less than a 250 engine requires additional external heatsinks. The 10 heatsinks in a 250 + engine are 'Truedubs' meaning they actually give 2.0 heat dissipation. Double heat sinks placed elsewhere (including the ones in the free spaces in bigger engines) in your mech are only 1.4 heat dissipation for 3 slots.
So the rule of thumb is never go below a 250 engine unless you absolutely have to. Lights suffer the most from this.
Single heat sinks did get a nice buff last patch so it might be worth it to use them. I wouldn't know... all 112 of my mechs use double ;)
But to answer your question, no. It won't matter if the PPC in your arm has a heatsink next to it. Heat is measured as a whole.

[Instinkt]

Good info TeamChevy, thanks

[DRAGONFIRE_Sr]

Even with heatsinks in the legs, I havent noticed any benifit from them wihile in water, that said, normally at the time, I'm in a fire fight and not looking for cooling times! I build my mechs with HS in the torsos, then legs and arms as needed, but I will match HS to weapons in the arms, so that I can carry ammo for missles or balistics, and maintain my heat management when I loose the arm weapons and its heatsinks.

[ingga.raokai]

Originally posted by TeamChevy86:

Here's tell funny thing about heatsinks. You need a ... in your arm has a heatsink next to it. Heat is measured as a whole.

i thought once i heard about crit-padding?

[BOYCOTT S-T-E-A-M!]

Thanks for the all information everyone! Very helpful.

[TyphonCh]

Originally posted by ingga.raokai:

Originally posted by TeamChevy86:

Here's tell funny thing about heatsinks. You need a ... in your arm has a heatsink next to it. Heat is measured as a whole.

i thought once i heard about crit-padding?

That's a whole other can of worms altogether! I'll try to explain it as best I can.
All equipment in the game has 10 hit points. Except engines they have 15. Let's say, theoritcally, the Centurion-AL. It has 2 energy points in it's right arm. Let's put 2 medium lasers and a heat sink. The other slots are the actuators + free slots
When you lose the armor to a component (in this case, it's arm) your internal structure and weapons/equipment can take damage and potentially be destroyed.
Structure is the base health for a component, so it can technically be destroyed without any hits to your mounted items.

This is where it gets tricky... and unique to MWO! Once your internal structure is exposed you're vulnerable to 'crits'. Whenever you take damage to an exposed component, there is a %22 chance to crit once, %14 chance to crit twice and %6 to crit three times. (I'm probably wrong on those numbers but it's close)
Adding extra equipment to a component is essentially adding extra hit points to that area, and reducing the chance any damage taken will be rolled (RNG) to something more vulnerable, like your main gun or your squishy side torso XL engine.
Honestly if you want a real in depth answer to how it works head to mwomercs.com and go to the new player help section of the forum, and start a topic about how crits work. They are way more guys more knowledgeable than me there
Happy hunting o7

[Zeleglok]

It terms of heat efficiency it's only important if you put heatsinks in legs. You can do so in clan mechs or IS with single heatsinks. Single heatsinks IS builds are pointless though. However, it's a good intention to put heatsinks in components with weapons cause it makes your weapons less likely to be critted and taken out

[Farix]

You want to put heatsinks in this order: Engine (if the engine has slots for them, side torsos, then arms. In most cases, you are running double heat sinks (DHS) do the the extra performance, but their size prevents them from being installed on the legs (which has only two crit slots while the DHS takes up 3) The reason for this is because heat sinks in the engine takes up no additional crit slots, they only add weight. Arms are most likely to be blown off, so they should be the last place you want to put heat sinks, side toros are the second most likely part of the mech to be blown off.