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Approved Tech Aegis II Anti-Concussion Field Generator

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
PRODUCTION INFORMATION

  • Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs

  • Affiliation: Silver Jedi, Directorate, Closed Market

  • Model: Aegis II Anti-Concussion Field Generator

  • Modularity: No

  • Production: Mass-Produced

  • Material: superconductor wire, phrik casings, various electronic components
SPECIAL FEATURES

  • Variable Output

  • Many redundant, local small field generators

  • Automatic field management
Strengths:

  • Physical Resilience: Like its previous iteration, Aegis II dramatically improves the physical integrity of its host object by creating umbrella-shaped magnetic force fields by that can absorb and disperse kinetic energy from such things as shells, missiles, and ramming attacks.

  • Automated: Aegis II incorporates automation technology derived from the Aspis Shield System, allowing Aegis itself to react to sensor feed and adjust field power and density levels to optimal positions based on written protocols ad priorities set by the Aegis's overseers. Because the machines and programming can react quicker than most organic operators, this can make sudden shifts in fire and enemy maneuvers less effective.
Weaknesses:

  • Power Hungry: Aegis II uses a fair amount of energy, typical to that of an equivalently-sized ray shield, meaning that it is typically isn't activated except as needed and requires a dedicated power source, or more frequently, the shifting of an equivalent amount of power from a different subsystem within a starship.

  • Sensor Signature: Creating such a large magnetic field creates a very large sensor signature, one that is all but impossible to hide, and one that generally can be easily picked out and homed in on even among heavy sensor jamming.
DESCRIPTION

The Aegis II is refinement of the older Aegis Anti-Concussion Field Generator designed to provide additional protection against physical and kinetic threats to starships, large vehicles, and installations. While on principle it is very similar to the orginal, it is notably different from the original in that it uses a large network of more refined smaller generators and projectors and combines this network with sophisticated automation.

Each field generator and its local field projectors protect the host in two ways with a defense in depth principle. Like the Nordoxicon-38 Field Generator, part of the field is projected outside of the host, typically by about a meter or so. This outer zone ionizes particles, especially magnetic objects, that enter this field, causing it to inherently repel that object. This is most useful at slowing down the velocity of projectiles, such as hypervelocity cannon shells or smaller missiles, reducing the amount of kinetic energy they will produce when they impact the hull. In certain instances, depending on the angle of attack, this deflection could even alter their course enough to miss or glance off the target, though this is highly situational. However, a large enough force or mass can overcome this field's power and allow the striking object to hit the host itself. This is where the field's second property comes into play. Like the Rampart Anti-Concussion Field Generator, the Aegis II produces a network of interlinked, umbrella-shaped magnetic fields that can absorb kinetic energy and disperse it across the entire field, eventually depriving the incoming mass of all of its kinetic energy, reducing or nullifying its ability to penetrate deeply into the host itself. As with the original Aegis, the charges of the fields can be altered to double up or shear for better effect against specific threats at the cost of protection from a variety of threats. By innovation wasn't limited to the physics of the field itself, but also its command and control.

By placing many smaller generators and projectors across the host, Lucerne Labs ensured a degree of redundancy, making it unlikely that the entire system could ever be taken out by a single strike or malfunction. Using multiple generators and fields also meant that power could more easily and more quickly be transferred to different portions of the anti-concussion field, allowing it to better withstand prolonged penetrating strikes at local sites, such as from either from ramming or sustained projectile fire. To better take advantage of this new capability, Lucerne Labs adapted and partially reconfigured the programming from the Aspis Shield System to control this generator. This automated control system is not a replacement for a traditional, organic perator. Rather, the automated portion reacts to stimuli fed to it by the ship's sensors and then shifts the ship's anti-concussion felds in accordance with hardwired protocol or under parameters set by the organic field operator who oversees the ship's shield systems. As an example of this, the Aegis II may immediately detect and react to a salvo of shells zipping across the battlefield from a hypervelocity cannon and immediately increase the local field's inherent density power as well as start to move coverage from another field so that the immediate projector that isn't under as much strain. Ideally, this would allow the ship to better weather the attack before it impacts the host's physical armor. Generally, the benefit of this arrangement is that the fields can be shifted at far greater reaction times than most organics are capable of executing. The corresponding downside is that the automated reaction can elicited even when it is not advantageous to the host, such as spoofed sensor signals that suggest an attack is coming from the port side, even when no threat is really there. Because of that tendency, Aegis II still require a strong organic oversight and shouldn't be left to automatically manage its fields on its own.

While the Aegis II is in many ways more capable than its predecessor, it continues to have suffer from drawing large amounts of power when activated. Some users mitigate this partially by altering the power level to the situation at hand: the anticoncussion field doesn't need to be very strong when a ship is passing by or through a micrometeoroid cloud, but it will need more power to keep the ship unharmed from a barrage of hypervelocity shells. In instances like the latter, however, the intense power draw typically means that another system needs to be taken offline if it doesn't already have a dedicated reactor for it. The new capability of using a wider network of projectors also creates a larger sensor signature that can be more easily detected from a distance, making the ship potentially easier to detect at range, and providing a solid lock on the ship once spotted even during sensor jamming or using other methods to disguise its location.
 
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