Deflector Shields

[Natalya]

I made this up for star ships... In Star Trek u always see ships getting shot, but blocking the attacks with deflector shields. Well, here are some rules to simulate them.


Deflector Shields



Deflector shields are imagined to completely encircle a custom creation, like an invisible bubble. But when something shoots them, they flare up and prevent it from hitting whatever they protect, usually a space ship but sometimes they can encircle buildings or entire planets. For Brik Wars, I treat these as a sort of armour. When someone attacks a construction that has its shields up, the attacker rolls to see what kind of damage their attack does, and the defender rolls for the shields.

- If the attack is greater than or equal to the shield, the attack penetrates the shields and the shields go down.
- If the attack is weaker than the shields, the attack does nothing.

If you penetrate the shields and they go down, subtract the shield strength from the attack, then resolve the remainder against the structure of the construction, or against a previously targeted surface element. So lets say you rolled 7 for your attack, and the defender with MK II shields rolled a 4. You knocked down their shields and continue with a strength 3 attack against the structure of their ship. Their shields will stay down for the rest of your turn, their next turn, and won't come up again until their the start of turn after wards. (Provided you don't destroy their ship while the shields are down.)

There is also a factor for excessively powerful attacks against the opponents shielding. How this works, is you take their maximum possible roll for their shields (lets assume a MK III shield which the maximum is 18) and take 2/3 of this number. Well, 2/3 of 18 is 12, and has been that way for years. This is the threshold for an automatic penetrating hit. What I mean here is if your attack ends up doing 13 damage against a MK III shield, the shield goes down no matter what. Even if they rolled let's say 15, their shield goes down. On auto-penetration you still resolve for the fact that the shield weakened the attack, but the attack will continue through no matter what at at least half strength. So our strength 13 attack does 6 damage (You round down in case of odds) against the structure, and the shields are down. Resolve for the structure normally.

Explosives vs Shields:
Explosives automatically detonate on the shield and do not under any circumstances hurt the structure unless they are at least 1 MK higher than the shield MK. If they blow up on the shield, resolve damage against the shield normally, but even if the shields go down the structure does not take an attack. If the explosive is 1 MK or more higher than the shields MK, then resolve the damage against the shield and structure normally.

Plasma, Ion, and Electric Weapons:
These weapons automatically disable the shield if their weapon size is equal to or greater than the shield's MK. Everything else is resolved normally, but they also get the 50% attack strength minimum against the structure.


Soo, what do y'all think?

[Adean]

8O......... Mmmmkay. OR! You could just say that, 'This thing has deflector shields, so I'll roll a die to see if your shot breaks through or not. Then when something big happens, we'll think of something cool that'll happen.... like the shield generator will overheat and electrocute everything around it or something.....'

Rules are ossum for competitive play, but when it's by yourself or if you just wanna goof off with friends, it's best just to make stuff up. Cuz it's OSSUM SAUCE!!!!

Still, I'm amazed that you thought all this stuff up. It's pretty cool. I'm pretty sure we have a thread on energy shields and stuff. You should check it out.

[IVhorseman]

the 2001 rules had similar shields. it was basically armor you could buy for a creation that added a few dice to the armor, but didn't work if the attack came from within an inch of the creation.

[Theblackdog]

I feel like shields need to have some gameplay features which distinguish them from regular armor. Like: A vehicle with a shield generator generates only a partial barrier. You can "target" the generator on a single enemy unit to block all of its fire, but all the other enemy units on the field will still get a clear shot at your armor.

[Dr. X]

Yay! Shield rules!

Those are great ones. But one thing. The 'Mk' level doesn't depend on anything, except CP cost, right? But what about the projector and buffer? And what about ray and deflector shields? And explosives should penetrate deflector, but ray shields.

Suggested rule modifications:

How about, say, the power source depends on the size of the platform, and the buffer depends on the size of the projector/generator. The bigger the better.


Power source depends on size of platform. Chart:

Size 1: PwRating 1: examples; trucks, APCs, tank-ish things, smallish flyers, etc.

Size 2: PwRating 2: examples; large tanks, starfighters, rocketships, etc.

Size 3: PwRating 3: examples; juggernauts, small buildings, a giant teabag, space frigates, etc.

Size 4: Pwrating 4: examples; Large buildings, capital ships, Natalya's verylarge ship thingy, etc.

Size 5: PwRating 5: examples; Military installations, The Base, Space Dock, airports, entire freeways, etc.


The rating of your buffer (see below) depends on the size of you generator/projector. Chart:

Size 1" (1 inch = longest dimension of generator): Buffer Mk1

Size 2" (2 inch = longest dimension of generator): Buffer Mk2

Size 3" (3 inch -you can prolly guess by now-): Buffer Mk3

Size 4": Buffer Mk4

Size 5": Buffer Mk5

Size 6": Buffer Mk6

Size 7": Buffer Mk7

Size 8": Buffer Mk8

Size 9": Buffer Mk9

Size 10+": Buffer Mk10


So, use this chart to find the Mk (Natalya's Mk) level of your shield:

FORMULA: PwRating + Buffer Mk = (Natalya's MKlvl)

2-3: MK1
4-6: MK2
7-8: MK3
9-10: MK4
11-12: MK5
13-14: MK6
15: MK6 + 1d6


And when you build your platform with a shield generator on it, just choose either a ray shield or deflector (Again, see below for more on ray+deflect). This cannot be changed in the middle of the battlefield, and you might want to put some sort of marker to remember if it's ray or deflector.


BELOW:

Detail on shield technology, which will no doubt resolve countless arguments with your little brother:

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Deflector shield. These shields are constructed of a lattice of projected molecules tuned in on an energy frequency close to most lasers. They can therefore absorb energy weapons. However, the absorbed energy has to go somewhere. Normally, the energy is dumped into buffers located at the shield projector, which then dissapate the energy elsewhere. There is no possible way to reflect the energy off the shield, like a mirror, because of the nature of the shields molecular structure. It cannot be modified enough to be able to reflect energy or rays, although it can be polarized to allow energy weapons to pass through from the inside and not the outside. There is no 'genetic code' password thing for getting through the shield, it is impossible. Deflector shields can also absorb explosions from missiles or bombs, however deflector shields do not reflect solids, so a missile could pass right through the shield and destroy the target. If a missile hit next to it, though, the explosion would not penetrate the shield. The shrapnel and debris would, though. Also, fire is deflected by deflector shields. Although the shield does dissapate energy, it cannot deflect solids. That is to say, a bullet, missile, bomb, or trooper could pass right through the shield. However, people passing through the shield may be exposed to minor radiation.

Ray shield. These work in much the same way as deflector shields, however the molecular structure of the shield is of a different kind and intensity level. The ray shield converts matter into energy, that is to say, it disentigrates solids. The energy produced is again routed to the buffer, and dissapated. However, this shield does not convert energy into matter vice versa, so it will not stop lasers or energy weapons due to the entirely different atomic composition. Gases can also pass through. In general, ray shields take about twice as much power to run.

For both shields, endurance depends on two factors; the buffer and the power source. A larger buffer can dissapate more energy at a time. If too much energy is absorbed into a shield, ray or deflector, the buffer cannot dissapate the energy fast enough and the shield collapses, usually resulting in an explosion of the buffer. The larger the buffer is, the more energy it can handle at one time, resulting in progressively higher endurance levels. The second factor, the power source, is more important. A higher power source means that the shield has a more intense atomic structure. So a shield with a more intense energy field absorbs the energy more efficiently. For example, say a laser hits a deflector shield. With a tiny power source, the energy of that laser bolt would be transferred to the buffer raw, and very quickly. The buffer would have more energy and less time to dissapate, resulting in more likely failure depending on the intensity of the energy blast. Shields with more power can use extra to dissapate some of the energy at the point of impact, the more extra power the more it dissapates. It also slows down the speed at which the energy is transferred to the buffer. So with these two advantages, power source is very important. Now shields have a power source running requirement. The minimum amount of power needed to project a ray shield is twice the minimum needed to project a deflector. Now, say the power provided for a ray shield was twice the amount of the minimum. All the extra power would go into dissapating and slowing the energy at the point of impact, resulting in an easier time for the buffer and higher endurance levels depending on how much power minus the minimum needed to project is provided. I won't go into extreme detail here, but you get the point.

Now, when you build a shield generator and projector, the buffer is generally considered PART of the projector. So the larger your projector is, the better your buffer will be.
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EMP does NOT kill shields:
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EMP, or ElectroMagnetic Energy, will not 'take out the whole system'. EMP blasts are most effective on electronics and avionics that employ Vacuum Tubes, although they will mess with any unprotected electronics. Most shield generators, projectors, and buffers all have EMP-proof plating placed over them. As for the shield itself, EMP is electromagnetic ENERGY and therefore absorbed or just passes right through most deflector shields. EMP bursts will pass right through ray shields. Do not think of ray shields as a solid wall thing, that is a misnomer. Ray shields are a sort of disentigrating field, to put it very simply. Laser bursts and energy weapons will pass though, but solids will not. If a missile were to hit a ray shield, it would be absorbed immediately, however some of the high explosives inside could detonate when the front of the missile absorbed. The shrapnel and the brunt of the explosion would be absorbed, but some of the explosion and fire would pass through. EMP, being energy and not a solid, would pass through. In short, EMP will not effect shields unless the shield is a ray shield AND generator/projector/buffer is horribly exposed, which is unlikely on andy modern shield system.

I'm talking REAL EMP here, not futuristic star wars "EMP" like you see in Battlefront.
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It is very hard to overlap ray and deflectors (Or any two shields, meh):
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Quote from my floppy penis:

"remember the layering of a great armor system!
outside: Ray Sheild
middle: Deflector Shield
plating: EMP plating"


Actually it is very hard to 'layer' shields around eachother. This is due to the interference that two high-intensity energy fields generate. In close proximity, the energy of the shields is absorbed by one another, usually resulting in a catastrophic meltdown of the buffer. So the energy from one shield is absorbed by the other, constantly, and the other is at the same time releasing energy into the first one. Such huge energy levels overload the buffer.

However, it is possible on very large installments, such as bases. The shields can be projected far enough from one another that the energy interference does not overlap. This is only possible on truly large installments, however, and one shield will have to be much small than the other.
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[Blitzen]

I made this up for star ships... In Star Trek u always see ships getting shot, but blocking the attacks with deflector shields. Well, here are some rules to simulate them.

Thou shalt not use a single letter in place of a word with more than one letter. You have been minus 1'd.

[pesgores]

I think they're too cheap.

[Blitzen]

In addition, deflector shields <i>deflect</i>. I think they should work like the lightsabers we had, but without direction. Or, in accord with the rest of BrikWars, deflect and hit a random cow in the face.

EDIT: In further news, I have revoked the Non-Dimmy membership I was going to award you (NatalyaAF). That's what u gets you.

[Natalya]

Uhh sure whatever Blitzen.


@ Dr.X
Umm that's not how I had considered shields to work. See, if you had a molecule field surrounding a building for example, what would stop the molecules from falling and hitting the ground? The way I think this would work potentially in real life is to have powerful magnetic field generators that produce a very strong magnetic field around whatever the shield is protecting. An ion or plasma blast for example would encounter the magnetic field, and disperse on impact, following the field lines around the star ship. Now you'd need two or more field generators working at the same time so that the field lines wouldn't intersect with the body of the ship itself. The reason ion and plasma weapons would disable shields is because plasma and ion beams are very hot and hot charged particles will weaken a magnetic field because they generate their own fields. This causes the shield generator to work over-time to disperse them, and therefore it overheats and the shields go down. Shields would be designed to fail like this because if the generator overheats, that's not as serious as if something actually hits the ship.

As for missiles or bullets, missiles would be ripped apart by the field, causing them to explode. (This leaves the shield to try to deflect the molten shrapnel around the ship, but hot metal also generate its own magnetic field, so if there's enough of it this too can overload it.) Bullets would end up being swung around the ship along the magnetic field lines, much how grains of iron will arrange themselves along the field lines of a magnet. Large enough shells would make it through and hit the ship anyway because of their momentum, but they would still be slowed down some by the magnetic field. (Hence why if you have a gun whose WS is bigger than the MK, it penetrates automatically.) But this style of shield really does deflect stuff to travel around the ship.

So I guess the theme here is that you don't actually damage the shield... Rather to take down the shield you fire at it with a weapon that will cause it to work over-time, especially weapons like plasma cannons and ion guns, because the shield generator will put more energy than it's designed for into trying to stop this stuff from hitting the ship, while the plasma or ions are weakening the magnetic field so the generator has to work even harder, and pretty soon it overheats, and shuts off to prevent damaging itself. This is why it will come back after a turn, because it cooled off. Higher MK levels means a more powerful generator with better cooling, but the technology is rather simple. The shield goes down whenever it has been penetrated however, to represent that it overheated itself because it's designed to try to stop whatever attack that came at it was at all costs, even if it will overheat in the process, or if the attack can't be stopped.

Now I suppose plastic bullets or something would make it through the magnetic field, but they would be melted by getting shot out of the gun, and probably wouldn't be able to do much damage. Aluminum also would not be affected, but it isn't suitable for making weapons either because it doesn't withstand very much heat. If it was used for a rocket, the rocket fuel would melt it. Minifigs not wearing any armour or carrying any metallic objects would be able to pass through the field unharmed.

The shield would also be linked to the weapons systems, so that whenever the ship fired, it would de-activate for fractions of a second, to let whatever was fired make it out of the shield's range.

[Dr. X]

That big long thing I wrote was intended for Brikwars and things like that (I made it up on the spot), it wasn't speculation on real life. I agree there would be no such thing as ray and deflector shields in real life, if shields are ever invented.

We're talking shields here but we don't know how they might end up working (if at all) in the future. The magnetic field idea is a great one, it does seem much more feasible.

But we're really just speculating; we can never know how (or if) shields will work for sure, but I think it's fun to make big long complicated-sounding theories anyway. Try asking a physics professor if you really want to speculate hardcore.

I don't know what kind of technology there will be in the future, but there could be a way to project highly charged or superheated particles into the air and keep them there, possibly using magnetic fields to keep them there, or, as you said, use the magnetic field itself as a shield.

Plasma, which is kind of like ionized gas with freely moving electrons, could be also used as a deflector shield. Though I have no idea how it could be projected and contained.

As I said before, in that long thing I was just talking about how shields might work in Brikwars or another fictional universe. Disregarding that, I actually really like the magnetic field idea. But what about lasers? Lasers are, at least I think, just highly amplified light, that could cause damage with heat. I'm not sure if magnetic fields would affect that (light) at all, but I wouldn't know. I'm not a crazy german scientist.

[Rody]

Plasma, which is kind of like ionized gas with freely moving electrons, could be also used as a deflector shield. Though I have no idea how it could be projected and contained.

plasma IS ionised gas not just like it, and it is very easy to contain and manipulate(make it go up, down, spin, whatever) using magnetic fields.

[Rayhawk]

EDIT: In further news, I have revoked the Non-Dimmy membership I was going to award you (NatalyaAF). That's what u gets you.

It does my heart good to see Non-Dimmy membership being put to its intended use more often lately, as the arbitrary bludgeon I'd always hoped that Blitzen would make of it.

[Natalya]

Whoah, totally forgot about lasers. You're right about that one. D:

@ Rayhawk:
I can totally see the Non-Dimmie forum. |;

[Bonn-o-Tron]

Whoah, totally forgot about lasers. You're right about that one. D:

@ Rayhawk:
I can totally see the Non-Dimmie forum. |;

Yes, but wouldn't you rather post in it, as well?

Actually, you're not missing much

[superdave]

Well, 2/3 of 18 is 12, and has been that way for years.

This is my favorite part.