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[Tabithda]

I have been modding in a creature of mine that has no fat layer.  Unfortunately this seems to have the undesired effect of making the creature always think that the temperature of its surroundings are "freezing", even if there is no water in all the murky pools and all the grass is dry.  Even in the arena where the temperature is very high it still registers at "freezing"(while for an average human in the arena the temperature registers at "hot").

I was not entirely sure at first that the lack of fat was the issue, but after I tested it by being other creatures that have no fat and removing fat from humans I am pretty sure that the lack of fat is the reason for this inability to properly detect temperature.  At first I thought that I could just give my creature's skin whatever property fat has that makes it properly detect temperature, but after combing through the raws I could not find anything that suggests why fat is required for proper temperature detection.

With that said, has anyone else noticed this?  And if so, does anyone know why only fat lets a creature properly detect the temperature around it?

[Kweri]

If I had to guess I'd say it's the INSULATION tag on the fat tissue. http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Tissue_definition_token

I haven't done any testing on this myself, however.

EDIT: Looks like the only other "special" property unique to the fat tissue layer is THICKENS_ON_ENERGY_STORAGE.

[Old Greg]

If the creature has no hair or feathers either, it'll have no insulation at all.

Try adding:
     [SELECT_TISSUE:SKIN]
                [INSULATION:100]

Under [BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:STANDARD_TISSUES], or whatever you have in its place.

[soul4hdwn]

what happens if two "layers" of insulation (both literal and figurative layers)?

[Old Greg]

I guess just more resistance to temperature. Most creatures have two layers (fat & hair or fat & feathers).

[Tabithda]

OK, I did some testing with the INSULATION and THICKENS_ON_ENERGY_STORAGE tokens in the arena and have found the following:

1)The INSULATION token did nothing at all, even when at [INSULATION:200].  The THICKENS_ON_ENERGY_STORAGE token also did nothing.

2)The temperature seems to drop over time in the arena.  The temperature for creatures with fat is "hot" at first but after some time registers at "cool", while the temperature for creatures without fat is "cold" at first and "freezing" later on(excepting fire imps who for some reason are always at "freezing").

Aside from INSULATION and THICKENS_ON_ENERGY_STORAGE I cannot find anything else that would suggest why fat is needed for proper temperature detection.  I am beginning to suspect that the lower melting temperature of fat might have something to do with it.

EDIT: Just tested it, gave skin a melting point the same as fat(skin normally does not have a melting point) and suddenly the temperature for creatures without fat were registering at "hot" just like creatures with fat.