Shields

[Ivan2006]

Fact: We will have shields on our ship.
Fact: Shields will be important to survive space combat.
Fact: Noone has any idea what is planned for shields.
Conclusion: We need a topic for it.

My Idea:

Have different kinds of shields which can be used in combination.
Each shield is made out of components which are modular and determine the different stats.

Kinds of shields:

• Electromagnetic shield:
  • Most basic shield there is.
    Energy weapons get dampened. (lower power for stronger ones, but weaker ones get completely stopped)
    Metal projectiles get slowed down. (a gatling gun or railgun bullet will most likely be stopped completely or made so slow it doesn´t do any harm. does not protect you from rocks!)
    Explosives have a chance of getting defused when passing the shield (or exploding prematurely).
    Can completely stop something like a light railgun or a light laser, but you´d have to pimp your emitter a lot to have it stop a mass driver or plasma cannon.
    Basic sensors and/or communication systems can´t be used while having this shield active.
    Draws energy constantly; hits don´t change it.
    Doesn´t take demage.
    When failing due to energy insufficiency, it can be restarted immediately after energy flow is restored.
  Deflector shield:
  • Medium tech required. (for a shield, that is)
    Stops any kind of matter, including bullets, rocks or missiles.
    Is useless against energy weapons.
    Bullets and rocks get reflected and missiled get their impact sensor activated.
    Energy is stored in an internal buffer.
    Energy intake is proportional to the stuff it is currently reflecting, leaving you with having to refill its internal buffer faster than it gets drained.
    In addition to that, it uses a small ammount of energy constantly.
    If the internal energy buffer gets empty (e.g. because of heavy fire or power shortage), the shield fails and can´t be turned on again until the internal buffer is completely full again.
    Conclusion: Main purpose is to protect you from the occassional asteroid. It can serve in combat, but using it without an energy shield can make you look like a noob.
  Energy shield:
  • Medium tech, as well.
    Stops energy weapons.
    Has a "health", which slowly replenishes if a replenishment module is installed.
    Energy intake <25% of maximum: Shield goes down by itself.
    Energy intake =25%: Shield stays at current health.
    Energy intake >25%: Shield replenishes itself.
    If the shield reaches 0% of health, it fails and can´t be turned on again for ~10 seconds.
  Plasma shield:
  • Medium tech.
    Smaller projectiles are vaporized and reduce plasma gas intake for the shield while also increasing energy intake.
    Energy weapons are absorbed and reduce energy requirements for the shield for 1 second. (note: if the energy requirement is reduced to a negative number because of many energy weapons hitting, it fails)
    Larger projectiles (like MAC rounds) are only partially melted, reducing kinetic energy when hitting the hull, but creating thermic demage.
    Explosives create a 3-20 seconds lasting hole in the shield of varying size (dependent on explosion power and shield power) which other projectiles and/or energy weapons can be fired through.
    In order to run, this shield requires not only a central generator, but also plasma emitters on the hull off the ship.
    If the shield fails due to power shortage, the plasma bubble collapses and demages your hull.
    If the shield fails due to overload, the central generator blows up (explosion radius ~3-5 blocks) and the shield collapses.
    If no plasma emitters are in a certain range of a point of the shield, the shield does not work there.
    The shield blocks basic electromagnetic communications and sensors in both directions, but more advanced ones (e.g. subspace technology) doesn´t get stopped at all.
  Standard shield:
  • Somewhere between medium and high tech.
    It´s designed as an allrounder, stopping any threat to your ship.
    Rocks bump away.
    Bullets are reflected.
    Energy weapons are absorbed.
    Missiles get their collision sensor activated and explode, if they don´t explode on impact for whatever reason, they will bounce off.
    Any defense action costs health.
    Health is only (slowly- max. 5% per second if you pimp a small shield to the extreme) replenished if a health replenishment upgrade (increases energy intake) is installed.
    Energy intake is equivalent to 50% intake of an equally powerful energy shield, without health replenishment upgrade.
    The shield fails if either the health reaches 0% or the power is insufficient.
    After failure, it takes ~20 seconds (basic configuration) before restart is possible.
  Hard light wall:
  • Medium tech.
    While not technically a shield to protect your ship, it still uses shield technology.
    It requires a frame which surrounds the shield. The hard light wall can be configured to:
    • a) let nothing through
      b) not let highly charged or highly accenelrated objects (a.k.a. ammunition) through
      c) not let air through (useful for gateless hangar bays or airlocks or even demage controll)
      d) let neither ammo nor air through
    If air is blocked and air pressure is different on the two sides of the shield, additional energy is used.
    The same applies if ammo has to be stopped.
    Blocking normal entities is far more cheap in terms of energy, but still requires some.
    Also, an upgrade can be installed to give the shield some EMP-powers, making it useful in situations like big diplomatic conferences where you don´t want anyone taking their gun with them.
  Void shield:
  • Like, very high tech.
    Basically sucks everything up by sending it into subspace.
    Anything touching the shield disappears.
    No sensors can be used while in the shield and no communications are possible.
    If 2 void shields touch each other, anything in both void shields will disappear.
    Like the deflector shield, it has an internal energy buffer.
    Anything getting destroyed by the shield hightens the energy intake for the next 10 seconds by the energy needed to dissipate it. (energy is calculated of mass, speed and heat)
    In case of power shortage, the void shield fails and self destructs while "voiding" anything in a radius of 3-10 blocks (dependent on maximum shield power (hightens radius) and demage control modules (lowers radius).
    WARNING: Activating the void shield in atmosphere will make it try to suck up the entire atmosphere, requireing the entire power of a brand new ZPM each second. BAD IDEA!!!
    If a void shield emitter gets destroyed while operating, everything inside the shield gets voided.
    Conclusion: Pretty powerful, but incredible high flawed, making its operation together with lower tech than itself very dangerous.

Useful suggestions will be added in the OP.

[Shadowcatbot]

So what happens if you acidently turn your void shield on while doing peaceful negotiations with someones closeby ship?

Kerchop?

[cats]

Good. Good good good. Good ideas. EVERYTHING IS GOOD. Is "good" even a word anymore? BAH!

On a less pointless note, there should be MOAR shields. Between the void and the deflector/energy shields, there should be a do-everything workhorse that's not so exotic. Call it a Zero-Point shield or an Ion Net. It'll protect you and your ship from projectiles and energy weapons until it runs out of energy.

[Iv121]

Maybe a bit more realistic and less op. Void shield ? ... The rest kind of remind me the ones I did on the old forum.

[cats]

Maybe a bit more realistic and less op. Void shield ? ... The rest kind of remind me the ones I did on the old forum.

That word "realistic"... I was under the impression that shields functioned under the Rule of Cool. Maybe call the Void Shield a Slip Merging Device. Have it so it uses the ship's FTL drive to redirect the weapon fire into hyperspace.

[Iv121]

Which is still a bit OP. If it costs energy to do than you came back to normal shields that absorb stuff on impact until it's out of energy. Probably redirecting stuff to hyperspace is less effective than just letting it crash into the shield :P.

By realistic I mean possible to expect in our current way of thinking, so that when you try to explain it people see that all bits fit together which creates a feeling of authenticity

[Prototype]

Perhaps make a shield that can absorb so much damage, then it has to be restated, perhaps do tiers in terms of how much damage it can take, and how long it takes to reboot.

[cats]

Which is still a bit OP. If it costs energy to do than you came back to normal shields that absorb stuff on impact until it's out of energy. Probably redirecting stuff to hyperspace is less effective than just letting it crash into the shield :P.

That "normal" shield would be the Ion Net or Zero Point Shield. Slip shield could be used on larger, heavier things, like heavy ion cannons and MACs. They take up huge amounts of energy and space, though. Pretty useful when you want a nuke to disappear.

[Shadowcatbot]

So what if 2 Void Sheilds collided? Both of them would try to disintegrate the other would this just like instantly drain the power or stuff?

[taz93]

So what if 2 Void Sheilds collided? Both of them would try to disintegrate the other would this just like instantly drain the power or stuff?

Some thing cool like the shields are negated due to massive power drain and the two ship crash into each other.

[Ivan2006]

So what happens if you acidently turn your void shield on while doing peaceful negotiations with someones closeby ship?

Kerchop?

What happens if you are having diplomats on your ship and accidently turn on your intruder-defense system?
Actually, that´s the same question.

PS: The Void shield does, in fact send everything somewhere else, but I wouldn´t have it be hyperspace (it´s not clearly enough seperated from normal space), make it subspace.
On general opinion, it´s a bit OP, so I´ll give it a few more downsides.

[Ivan2006]

So what if 2 Void Sheilds collided? Both of them would try to disintegrate the other would this just like instantly drain the power or stuff?

Some thing cool like the shields are negated due to massive power drain and the two ship crash into each other.

Also now added to OP.

[Shadowcatbot]

So goal numero uno, Get void sheild = Play meteor!

[cats]

So goal numero uno, Get void sheild = Play meteor!

To me, a void/hyperspace slip shield would be a secondary. Used only in very dire circumstances, like when you have a MAC round about to plow through your ship.

[Shadowcatbot]

What about if you have a Void Shield about to go through your ship?