Shields and shield technology

pontiac · Post by **pontiac** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:36 am

Wiki page: Terminology:Shields

I added some content to the shields entry in the wiki yesterday, but i'm not quite sure if the things that are currently there are in sync with the background info JackS provides.
So i'm starting this thread for discussions about this topic.

Ponitac

lee · Post by **lee** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:47 am

> the huge space required for the emitters

Can they be that large? They would get in the way of thrusters and weapon outlets then ...

Maybe locate them at the side of the ship?

pontiac · Post by **pontiac** » Tue May 17, 2005 12:36 pm

lee wrote:> the huge space required for the emitters

Can they be that large? They would get in the way of thrusters and weapon outlets then ...

Maybe locate them at the side of the ship?

True. Hmm, but there need to be a disadvantage somewhere so smaller crafts can't simply use quad-shield system (as seems to be now in the game).
Maybe power usage or mass (agility)? I'm pretty sure JackS can give better arguments though

Pontiac

Post by **klauss** » Tue May 17, 2005 3:49 pm

Â¿What about cost? They could be too costly to add four of them to a small ship...

smbarbour · Post by **smbarbour** » Tue May 17, 2005 4:42 pm

I don't think cost would be a feasible hinderance. If cost is the issue, then having tons of money would allow you to upgrade to a 4 emitter system.

Also, the current Unit definition format has 8 shield locations available. Are there plans to have 8 emitter ships (such as capships and bases)? I'm not sure how you would display them graphically. Perhaps in this manner: (Please pardon the crude ASCII

)

Code: Select all

  AB CD
 AB X CD
AB XXX CD
  XXXXX
EF XXX GH
 EF X GH
  EF GH

Where X represents your ship, A is Top Left Front, B is Bottom Left Front, C is Bottom Right Front, D is Top Right Front, E is Top Left Rear, F is Bottom Left Rear, G is Bottom Right Rear, and H is Top Right Rear.

pontiac · Post by **pontiac** » Tue May 17, 2005 5:24 pm

smbarbour wrote:Where X represents your ship, A is Top Left Front, B is Bottom Left Front, C is Bottom Right Front, D is Top Right Front, E is Top Left Rear, F is Bottom Left Rear, G is Bottom Right Rear, and H is Top Right Rear.

Since we have 3 dimensions and there is sure enough space on capships for the placing of emitters i would say this (or a similar) placement would be preferable (We could even use only 6 emitters

):

Code: Select all

     F
       
FL  TOP  FR

BL  BOT  BR

     B

F ... Front
B ... Back
L/R ... Left/Right
TOP ... Top
BOT Bottom

Pontiac

smbarbour · Post by **smbarbour** » Tue May 17, 2005 5:41 pm

I was just using the field names from the file. I could see a 6 or 8 emitter design. Perhaps a 6 for capships as you show dropping the top and bottom allowing the 4 side emitters to cover top and bottom with front and back being hemispherical (Assuming a rounded shield design, the full shield would be pill or capsule shaped). Bases would use the 8 emitter design I described (Spherical broken into quarter hemisphere segments)

pontiac · Post by **pontiac** » Tue May 17, 2005 5:53 pm

Sounds resonable

One thingh though: The sphere or 'pill' form isn't a necessity.
Technology is advanced enough (read that as: "The Vegastrike engine supports it"

) to create form fitting shields. But they still look bubblelike, duh

Pontiac

smbarbour · Post by **smbarbour** » Tue May 17, 2005 6:16 pm

Here's an issue to ponder...
How do ships pass through the shields? When you dock with a base or unit, you must be passing through the shields, right? Or is it that the shields are SO form-fitting that you will not hit the shields until you actually collide with the ship?

(Warning: reference to Stargate SG-1)
Maybe it could be described similar to the shield that is generated by the "false gods" (sorry, I'm not sure how to spell the name of the "snakes"). There was an episode where energy and bullets would deflect/be absorbed by the shield but slow projectiles could penetrate it.

BTW, I don't think that jump gates should have shields. It's a little distracting to see the shield flash on a jump gate. Planets are the same, but it just looks like lightning in that case.

pontiac · Post by **pontiac** » Tue May 17, 2005 6:30 pm

Passing through is one point already covered in the wiki page (but only for bullets/beams).

But there was something with a shild frequency that one need to pass trough ... van't remember exactly.

Ponitac

Silverain · Post by **Silverain** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:12 am

$.02,

Something I read on the boards a while ago, was that the primary difference for 2 & 4 emitter systems was just design specs of the hull itself. I.e. hull 1 is designed to fit a 2 emitter, hull 2 designed to fit a 4 emitter. This is good for gameplay, in that a particular hull has design strengths and weaknesses, with no one hull being 'best' and no one hull being 'worst'. A hull could be designed for 4 emitter, but only contains a low value reactor. A hull could be designed to fit only a 2 emitter shield, but has a high reactor, and multiple weapon points (i.e. aggressive warrior not defensive fighter).

<idea>
Something I came up with some time ago (but may not fit with actual ship stats) was that the 2 emitter system was the 'civilian' design, used by most civilian ships that only require basic protection.

The 4 emitter design is the 'military' version, suited to military fighters and larger ships.

Post by **klauss** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:35 am

Makes total sense:

The mass distribution in front of an emitter must conform to some basic specs in order to not interfere with the emitter. So, by design, emitters must be placed in specific places and cannot be placed anywhere. Some hull designs allow two such simultaneous placements (hence, you can mount two-emitter shields). Some allow four of them. You can't mount two-emitter shields into most four-emitter-capable hulls since, due to the hull being designed with four-emitter shields in mind, the hull outside of the narrow arc of a shield 4 emitter does interferes with the shield 2 emitter you want to install. It could be possible that sometimes completely compatible hulls could be made, which allow 4 and 2-emitter shields, but it's rare due to design conflicts among the two approaches and the general lack of interest in such flexibility by starship manufacturers.

energyman76b · Post by **energyman76b** » Wed May 18, 2005 2:37 am

Hi,

here is a simple reason, why you can not put 4-way emitters on a small craft:

The shields have to absorb a lot of energy, also the emitters themselves should have some kind of 'backthrust', so, a small craft can not have more than 2 emitters, because it is lacking the internal strenght to deal with this forces. 4 emitters would just twist the ship, until it breaks apart

Same would be true for 4 emitter ships trying 6 emitter shields and so on.

CubOfJudahsLion · Post by **CubOfJudahsLion** » Wed May 18, 2005 4:01 am

The most important technologies in the VS universe are based upon the unexplained ability to distort space, or so I gather. In fact, they distort it a whole lot. You get FTL travel with speeds that are far below c. I think it's safe to assume that the mechanisms that prevent damage to the ship and its occupant are taken for granted by now (you buy a ship as casually as you buy a sandwich, and space travel is an everyday thing.)

How this technology works has not been for us to know, so far. While I suspect a 'hard' science fiction-type explanation of sorts is still being elaborated in the background, it's also convenient not to be too detailed (to allow for plot flexibility, to prevent retconnings and to prevent the story from falling into the trap of getting lost in the mechanics it created itself--this is also known as the 'pregnant Ranma' problem.)

Duality · Post by **Duality** » Wed May 18, 2005 7:38 am

I wonder if we can have ships that have different types of these shields:

Whole- When laser shots hit the ship no matter the direction, the whole shield % goes down.

2 Directions- Front, and Back.

4 Directions- Front, Back, Left, Right shield deflecting.

6 Directions, Front, Back, Up, Down, Left and Right.

Now that would add a lot more aspects to it.