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this thread is something a counterpart to my Techmanual, which i recommend to all phase world players. unlike my techmanual, which tries to provide consistant 'technobabble' for the many technologies in Phase World, Robotech, and Aliens Unlimited, this thread presents new technologies and uses of technologies not yet seen in these titles, but that suggest themselves from the techmanual material.

none of these are canon, although you are free to use them in your games if you wish. i recommend careful looks at the ramifications of using anything i post here before including it though, to help keep your games balanced.



Conformal Sheilding:
Shields use gravitic distorsions to sense and disperse/block incoming attacks. most shields are ovoid in shapes, large 'bubbles' around a ship. (usually 40 feet on all sides from the widest/tallest/highest points.). this arrangement provides a twofold advantage. first, it provides optimized protection. with such a wide bubble it is easy for the generator to sense and effect incoming attacks before they strike the hull. second, it allows the generators to be built compactly, situated in one or two area's of the ship, which allows ease of installation and repair. however, it has a few disadvantages. because the generators must project a gravitic sensor feild and a deflection distorsion so far from the generators themselves, it wastes much energy. this is due to the inverse square effect, the farther one projects the weaker it becomes. to obtain sufficent strength at the bubble, much energy is required.
in addition, it restricts movement. Shields react when they sense other sheilds. normally this is not a problem because ships rarely approach that close in a space battle, but when attempting to navigate over a planets surface or in a debris field, shields must often be deactivated to allow a vessel to travel freely.


Conformal shields sidestep this problem. They use a distributed generator design, spreading multiple smaller generators across the hull. the shield generated follows the contours of the ship, no more than a few feet from the hull itself. this saves energy, but at a cost. the reduced distance means that the generators cannot always detect and effect incoming fire quickly enough to prevent it from hitting the hull, reducing the overall protection. this has kept it from general use. the reduced energy use however allows it to recharge at a higher rate than normal shields and can often go overlooked by enemy sensors.

conformal shields are not common. no major power makes use of them, preferring ot use the more protective bubble type despite the few flaws. most groups that use conformal shields are smugglers, pirates, and other freebooters, which often operate in tight spaces or can exploit the possible appearance of being unshielded when they are not. the only group that commonly uses conformal shields are the Free Worlds Council, which has refitted many of it's ships to be able to switch between both standard 'bubble' mode and conformal mode as needed. this ability has often given the FWC an edge against TGE forces.

Game stats:
can be either unifield or variable shield format. the Shield has an AR of 16, any sttack striking over the AR inflicts half damage to the shield, half to the ship. conformal shields recharge at twice the normal rate. Conformal shields are -20% to be detected by enemy sensors, the ship will appear to be unshielded.
like regular shields, conformal shields cannot be raised while at FTL, as they disrupt the FTL field.


Screens
Screens are much less advanced than shields, and are usually one of the first active defensive technologies developed by starfaring races before mastery of gravity control allows shields.

screens are powerful magnetic feilds that disperse particle beams and plasma, and cause the premature detonation of explosive devices. they provide no effect on lasers and purely kinetic weapons like railguns, and provide no protection from psionics or magic.

no advanced race makes regular use of screens once shield technologies are fully developed, although races without CG technology will make extensive use of them on larger vessels, particularly warships. a few pirates, and rebels make use of screens for additional protection, but these are rare.

Game Stats:
all particle beam, plasma, and explosive weapons (like missiles and cannon) do 1/2 damage to the ship. lasers, railguns, magic and psionics do full damage. the use of screens is like a radio beacon to sensors, +20% to detection.
screens may be raised while at FTL.
screens can be combined with sheilds, providing both effects. (the magnetic feilds extend far beyond the shield 'bubble'.)


i expect to have more eventually.

Author's notes:
The idea of conformal shields is not new, you can see them in Star Wars and in Star Trek (particularly the movies). I decided to include these rules so you could add a similar feel to your phase world games if you liked. the AR mechanic suggested itself from Star Trek VI, where despite being sheilded the enterprise takes several hull hits from the bird of prey.


Screens show up more in novels and games, often as a 'realistic' replacement for shields. some settings used both (like the early star trek movies).

Pretty, shiny!

ansibles maybe. neutrino's might be good for a short range "stealth" comm system given their ability to pass through things.

Very nice! I like it!

Can they be left on all the time or not?

I play with active and passive. Passive seems to be like what your descirbing, detects the incoming and stops it. Whilethe Active is always on, it doesn't need to detect stuff coming at it cause it'll stop it anyways.

Esckey wrote:Can they be left on all the time or not?

I play with active and passive. Passive seems to be like what your descirbing, detects the incoming and stops it. Whilethe Active is always on, it doesn't need to detect stuff coming at it cause it'll stop it anyways.

not an easy question there, but i'll do my best to explain.

the conformal shields are written to be a variant of normal phase world 'bubble' shields. you can run them the same way you run normal shields.


if you read my techmanual, which i recommend, i explain shield operation.

a shield is a set of negative energy generators (AKA contra-grav generators). when turned on (AKA "shields up") they generate an ultra low strength field around the ship. this field blocks nothing but when attacks pass through it registers as a feedback effect. this feedback is used by the generators to calculate the location, velocity, and energy of the attack, and generate a spatial distortion in the path of the attack, which deflects the attack, thus keeping it from hitting the hull. the spatial distortion requires more energy behind it than the attack itself, otherwise it fail\s to protect. since most ships cannot feed the power through to the generators fast enough, the generators function off a set of powerful capacitors. when an attack is blocked, power is drained from the capacitors. this is the reason why shields can only take so much damage before failing.


the concept of the 'always on' shield, one that makes a static, constant spatial distortion for defense, is something of a fallacy. because of the energy involved, such a shield would either be very weak , or last only a short amount of time. in addition, because the shield would not be tailoring it's response to the incoming attack, it would only protect up to a point, and any attack over that point would not be stopped by the shield.


though rules for such might be something i could post here.

Shell Field
a Shell Field is a form of shield technology. unlike conventional shield systems, a shell field creates a gravitic distortion, like that used to deflect attacks in conventional shields, but instead of a temporary point effect, it is a constant shell, surrounding the generator. a Shell Field, because of its constant power draw, does not use capacitors like standard shields, but is hooked directly into the power grid of the vessel or facility it protects.
a Shell Field, because of it's fixed output, cannot protect against attack as effectively as conventional Shields. a shell Field is rated to defend against up to a specific strength of attack, but any attack over that strength passes through unhindered. this combined with the larger power requirements of generating a constant protective field, makes Shell Fields inefficient as defensive systems.
however, Shell Fields have one advantage conventional fields lack. because they generate a constant shell, as opposed to point effects on individual locations, a Shell Field can contain an atmosphere, liquids, or solids. this has made them popular for mining, colonization, and prisons.


Rules:
each shell field has a rating. this rating represents the maximum amount of damage the field can block. any damage under or at this level does no damage. any attack over this rating inflicts damage to the protected object equal to the total damage minus the field rating. Shell Fields rarely exceed 200 mdc rating, due to power needs.
a Shell Field can be used to block gas, liquid, or solids, containing them within the boundaries of the field. however, this blocks all air,liquid, or gas, no exceptions. to allow anything to leave or enter the boundaries of the field, the field must be turned off. (the one exception is in ramming, which counts as an attack. if the ram's damage exceeds the rating of the field, the object passes through. however, the object takes damage equal to the rating of the field.)

Your rules that you have written here make a lot of sense! Thanks for sharing them. I know we are all looking forward to reading more information.