shields

[Kaziarl]

Ok, so this is something I came up with for a simm forum, and I was just curious what you guys thought of it.

First of all, there's the experimental shields. When I say experimental, I mean it. They've been online a couple times, but never in combat until now. Unlike traditional shields which project the shield perimeter around the ship, these new shields weave ribbons of energy together to dissipate the force of enemy weapons away from the impact point, reducing the overall strain on the shields in a similar way to how Kevlar dissipates the force and the speed of the bullet. (The woven thread in Kevlar is what gave me the idea actually)

During the battle in the upper atmosphere of Cyble, one of the shields weaknesses came to light. Since the shield works by dissipating the force over a large area, if you apply force to an equally large area (such as when the blast from the depth charge enveloped them) the shields are overwhelmed.

I know it's not a well formed idea yet, I'm just curious what you guys think of it? Complete bullocks? Could it work?

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

It's an interesting concept, spreading the 'impact' out instead of just taking all the force in one area. Like Kevlar as opposed to metal armor. I like it. But it does make sense that a large enough force would cripple the shields - Kevlar may help against a bullet but it's not much use against an RPG.
Anyways, I like the concept. It definitely deserves more thought.

 

[Kaziarl]

Thanks. I'm glad you found it interesting. I do have other similar ideas, but I worry that most of them sound better in my head... lol.

Anyway, I was thinking about this one. We've seen them manipulate force fields and shielding technology to an extremely intricate degree. I vaguely recall them using forcefields as a tool in surgery. (Although that may have been in a book, and not count.)

But how difficult would it be to modify and align the shield generators to "weave" something on that kind of scale?

 

[SWHouston]

As I recall, when I've seen "our" shields deflect a shot, one saw the impact point, then, the whole Shield "capsule" sorta lit up, seemingly "dissipating" the intensity away from that impact point. Or, that's what it looked like to me. So, the issue of dilution/dispersion seems to have already been dealt with.

But, beyond that, your woven/layered concept is interesting.
There are VARIOUS types of shielding in canon...
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Shields
Had you thought to weave/combine some of those, or create a new version ?

Have a good Day !
S.W.

 

[Kaziarl]

As I recall, when I've seen "our" shields deflect a shot, one saw the impact point, then, the whole Shield "capsule" sorta lit up, seemingly "dissipating" the intensity away from that impact point. Or, that's what it looked like to me. So, the issue of dilution/dispersion seems to have already been dealt with.

But, beyond that, your woven/layered concept is interesting.
There are VARIOUS types of shielding in canon...
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Shields
Had you thought to weave/combine some of those, or create a new version ?

Have a good Day !
S.W.

Ok, I can't think of the right terms off the top of my head, so please bare with me.

You know how when you have an explosion go off, and you've got a small crater (or big, depending on the explosion) and then you've got a larger area around it that might be charred, but not necessarily damaged as much as that little crater? Thats kind of what I thought we were always seeing on the shields. Since even when the effect arcs to the side, and even rear shields once or twice if I recall correctly, but it was always the point of impact that took any damage what so ever.

 

[SWHouston]

Ok, I agree...
At the point of impact, the damage is greater...
lessening with possible charring or no apparent damage as the energy is dissipated outward from the center of force...

Now, how does that relate to "weaving" the shields ?

 

[Kaziarl]

Well, this is why I brought it up here. I think it would make it more resilient. Much the same way Kevlar is more resilient to a bullet then a thin sheet of metal. But to be honest, I don't really know so I'm asking the people who probably know more then I do.

 

[seekertwo]

Maybe not a weave....but, if you use the force fields to create a lot of off-set angles and spikes (like one of those spiky Christmas tree stars), you could redirect the force of the opposing weapon away from a direct impact on the shield to a glancing blow....like playing pinbal with a photon torpedo....

 

[Kaziarl]

like playing pinbal with a photon torpedo....

That sounds like a very dangerous game of pinball.

 

[SWHouston]

I agree Kazirl, with the positions of both ships probably changing quickly due to Tactical Manurers, a "glance off" could impact another "friendly" ship, should there be multiple actors in the battle. The only glance off I remember, was in Enterprise, where a Torpedo glanced off Asteroid. It appears that Shields for all general proposes, are "absorbing".

Then, I think that your "Kevlar" theory has already been addressed. That being in Secondary or Tertiary Shielding, producing a layered effect. Beside frequency, this may also be included in what was referred to as "random" in TNG (several times I think).

Now, back to the weave !

 

[Flashover]

OMFG FIRST POST WTFBBQ

A thought. Instead of layers of shields, interlace two or more shields of different frequencies, and rotate said frequency often.

Project your shield, this is the primary shield:

-------------------------

Set it so there are gaps between the scan-lines, less than a microsecond wide.

Project a second shield of a different frequency in those gaps:

**********************


So in effect looking at the shield you have

-----------------
*************
-----------------
*************
-----------------

And so on.

Anything that hits the shield spreads the load over two fully independent shield generator networks. Each network is fully isolated from the other... independent generation, cooling and computer nodes.

The disadvantage of this design is the additional complexity, and the loss of valuable mission payload volume. It also requires Tactical Officers and Engineers trained in the specific system hardware and software. It's not a plug-and-play upgrade, it takes significant time and resources at a Yard to install.