Heat

Temperature

Just about everything on the asteroid has a temperature. It's normal for temperature to rise and fall a bit, but extreme temperatures can cause all sorts of problems for a base. Buildings can stop functioning, crops can wilt, and things can even melt, boil, and freeze when they really ought not to.

Wilting, Overheating, and Melting

Most crops require their body temperatures to be within a certain range in order to grow. Values outside of this range are not fatal, but will pause growth. If a building's temperature exceeds its overheat temperature it will take damage and require repair. At very extreme temperatures buildings may melt or boil away.

Thermal Energy

Temperature increases when the thermal energy of a substance increases. The value of temperature is equal to the total Thermal Energy divided by the Specific Heat Capacity of the substance. Because Specific Heat Capacity varies between substances so significantly, it is often the case a substance can have a higher temperature than another despite a lower overall thermal energy. This quality makes Water require nearly four times the amount of thermal energy to increase in temperature compared to Oxygen.

Conduction and Insulation

Thermal energy can be transferred between Buildings, Creatures, World tiles, and other world entities through Conduction. Conduction occurs when two things of different Temperatures are touching. The rate of the energy transfer is the product of the averaged Conductivity values and Temperature difference. Thermal energy will flow slowly between substances with low conductivity values (insulators), and quickly between substances with high conductivity (conductors).

State Changes

Water ice melts into liquid water when its temperature rises above its melting point. Liquid water boils into steam when its temperature rises above its boiling point. Similar transitions in state occur for most elements, but each element has its own threshold temperatures. Sometimes the transitions are not reversible - crude oil boiled into sour gas will not condense back to crude oil when cooled. Instead, the substance might condense into a totally different element with a different utility.

Tutorials

To learn more, watch Video: Insulation and see the Duplicant Temperature tutorial.