Changes between Version 3 and Version 4 of content/HumanTechnology

Timestamp:

Dec 8, 2010, 5:05:20 PM (14 years ago)

Author:

bknecht

Comment:

—

content/HumanTechnology

@@ -65 +65 @@
 
 
-== Armor ==
+== Spaceship Armor ==
+Ships have various means to protect themselves against attackers. Not all means work against all dangers equally well.
 
 === Hull ===
-=== Super Conductive Overlay ===
-=== Shield ===
+The hull of a spaceship is built to withstand impacts of asteroids, space junk and projectile weapons. If the hull is damaged certain systems might fail and in extreme cases cause an explosion within the power reactor of the ship. Hull breaches caused by heavy damage lead to loss of pressure in cockpit and other parts of a spaceship where life support is provided. This is one of the reasons that fighter pilots always wear a lightweight space suit in order to protect them from the loss of pressure and provide them with necessary oxygen and warmth.
+
+The hull is susceptible to energy weapons and especially to disruptor beams.
+
+=== Super Conductive Overlay (SCO) ===
+The super conductive overlay is put on a spaceship's hull and does not change its looks significantly. The SCO provides additional protection to the hull against energy weapons. It cannot be destroyed, but fails, when the hull is damaged significantly. Repairs on the hull are more complicated when there is a SCO.
+
+In order to protect the hull, the SCO relays the energy of a particle or laser beam to a capacitor inside the ship. It practically absorbs a certain percentage of of the beams energy which can then be used to power other parts of the ship. If the SCO capacitor is fully charged, the SCO can no longer absorb any energy and the damage dealt by energy weapons will not be redirected any longer.
+
+=== Energy Shield ===
+Energy shields consist of ionized gases kept around a spaceship by the means of a weak magnetic field. The magnetic field is controlled by the shield generator and so is the ionization of the gas.
+
+Due to its complexity an energy shield can only be spanned around small spaceships. It has not yet been possible to create a reliable energy shield around battle cruisers.
+
+Also during high acceleration and deceleration phases the shield becomes temporarily ineffective due to inertia.
+
+Energy shields are used to protect mainly against disruptor weapons, which beam can damage a spaceship's hull significantly. A disruptor beam is nearly nullified by a strong energy shield. However the shield needs to recharge after a couple of hits as the absorption of a disruptor beam deals damage to the ionized gas.
+
+== Summary ==
+Following table shows qualitative measures of how much '''damage''' a certain category of weapon deals to a certain kind of protection.
+||                  || Hull w/o SCO  || Hull w/ SCO || Energy Shield ||
+|| Projectile       || medium        || medium      || none          ||
+|| Laser / Particle || medium        || low         || none          ||
+|| Disruptor        || high          || high        || medium        ||
+
+This table shows qualitative measures of how much '''protection''' a certain category of armor gives against a certain kind of weapon.
+||                  || Hull w/o SCO  || Hull w/ SCO || Energy Shield ||
+|| Projectile       || medium        || medium      || none          ||
+|| Laser / Particle || low           || high        || none          ||
+|| Disruptor        || very low      || very low    || very high     ||