Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To upgrade the Aspis-class Shield System
- Image Source: here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Aspis-class Shield System
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi Concord, Lucerne Labs Customers
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: Aspis II-class Shield System
- Modularity: Shields can be reconfigured as discussed below; can be used in conjunction with other specialized shielding technologies
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Polyplast casing, ray shield and particle shield components, anticoncussion field generator components, capacitors, Calor-series Bio-computers, Biolux Organoform Circuitry, micropoles, software code & various electronics
- Classification: General Purpose Starship Shielding
- Weight: Average
- Resistances:
| Standard Mode | Reinforced Ray (Ion) Shielding | Reinforced Anti-Concussion Field | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | High | Very High | Average |
| Kinetic | High | Average | Very High |
| Lightsaber | Very Low | Very Low | Very Low |
| Ion/EMP | Average | Average | Average |
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Dual Technology Based Shielding: Many traditional deflector shield systems use a combination of ray and particle shielding to provide protection against a variety of threats. Aspis II follows this rough similar arrangement, but instead of using particle shielding to provide protection against kinetic threats, it uses a network of anti-concussion field generators. It does retain very low powered and very energy efficient particle shields to consistently protect the craft against common space debris, particles, and other navigational powers, but it does very little impact on its combat performance.
- Distributed Shield Network: Aspis II uses many small local ray projectors and anticoncussion field generators instead of several large ones is the ability to direct individual projectors to concentrate their density at different portions of the ship and at different depths in relation to other shields being projected over the area. As an example of the possibilities, this could potentially allow a small area of quad-layered shields at an area being specifically singled out by enemy weapon's fire at the cost of lower shield strength elsewhere.
- Reconfigurable Shield Technology: Aspis II can transfer energy from its ray shielding components to boost the strength of its anti-concussion field generators, and vice versa - known respectively as "Reinforced Ray" and "Reinforced Anticoncussion" modes. Aspis II can also change the frequency of its ray shielding to provider greater protection against ion and EMP weapons at the cost of effectiveness against traditional laser and turbolaser weaponry in. This allows Aspis II-equipped vessels to optimize their protection against foes more prone to using one type of weapons technology.
- Variable Settings: Aspis II can be run in a manner to any basic deflector shield system found commonly on capital ships, providing its host ship with galactic standard strength and regeneration rates. However, it can also use different programming and overbuilt hardware components to replicate effects of different shield technologies. In "Reactive Mode", Aspis II maintains relatively low shield strength but a more rapid regeneration rate to build up an excess charge in its capacitors. This excess charge can be used to rapidly reinforce an area thought to be but it also takes in information from the equipped vessel's sensor systems to rapidly reinforce that saved energy to overcharge shielding in areas that are predicted to imminently take more damage, making that reinforced sector significantly harder to pierce with heavy weapons. Its other alternate mode is "double-layered". In this mode, an entire sector of shielding is lost and is instead projected several meters in front of another shield arc - thus doubling the layers of shielding in a given zone. This effectively allows it to act like spaced armor - the first shielding layer disrupts and breaks apart the cohesiveness of an attack (a warhead detonates before it's fully in range of a target or a laser cannon bolt may shift offcenter and dissipate some of its energy). As with the original Aspis, multiple Aspis IIs can be linked together, effectively allowing multiple "double-layered" modes to be stacked up upon each other to recreate multi-layered shielding common found on mon calamari designs.
- Auto-Control: Sensor feed from the using ship automatically adjusts shields to optimal positions based on written protocol or by priorities set by the shield operators. Because the machines and programming can react quicker than most organic operators, this makes surprise attacks or sudden shifts in fire less effective. Auto-Control can also redistribute the type of shielding receiving the most power, turn ray shielding into ion shielding, or choose any of the variable settings based on feedback from the shields and/or the ship's sensors based on preset conditions or under the supervision of an organic crew.
- Resistant (Energy Weapons): Overbuilt ray shielding reinforced by micropoles makes the Aspis II fairly resistant to most energy weapons.
- Resistant (Kinetics):: By using finely anti-concussion field generators instead of particle shields, Aspis II provides greater kinetic resistance than many traditional deflector shield systems by partially arresting movement by incoming objects before they impact the ship itself.
- Versatile: Aspis II's ability to use multiple regeneration modes along with overpowering either the ray shields or the anti-concussion field generators gives the using more options than traditional deflector shield generators.
- Lightsaber Prone: While the Aspis II is designed to protect against many threats, it was not designed to protect against lightsabers and some other exotic weapons.
- Lag: As shields are reconfigured to different circumstances, there is often a lag time, especially when the location, depth, or strength was radically different than the previous setting. This can manifests a complete lack of shield coverage for brief periods of time as the shields assume a new configurations.
- Autodeceived: The Aspis II's auto-control system can also be fooled by canny opponents because it only reacts to stimuli, rather than trying to figure out enemy tactics. This means that canny opponents can use feints, tactical misdirection, or electronic warfare to trick the Aspis II's auto-control feature
Shield systems are nearly a necessity on modern capital warships, especially with some of the larger weapons being fielded by galactic militaries having the strength and power to defeat almost any type of hull material given enough time. The Aspis II-class Shield System is refinement of an early Lucerne Labs shield technology, taking many of the basic automated control systems and physical systems structure but replacing the older shield generator technology in them with newer equivalents. Ray shields were bulked up and overbuilt to handle higher charges while particle shielding was largely replaced by dedicated anti-concussion field generators, which often can provide the ship with greater structural integrity than many particle shields. With these new generators came new programming, which allows the user to emphasize and prioritize certain components within the system, allowing better protection against energy, kinetic, or ion based threats. Similarly, the actual shield strength of each these generators can be set to be standard (replicating typical shield strength found on most ships), reactive (which provides a substantial energy reserve which can be quickly transferred to key areas around the ship), or double-layered, which not only increases practical strength in a general area, but also provides a buffer in the vacuum of space that allows it to function as spaced armor to better defeat many warheads and other exotic weapons.
None of these innovations make ships using Aspis II-class Shield Systems directly more powerful than ships using standard deflector shields: Aspis II comes in the same variety of power levels as limited by the ship's available power systems. But it does allow the host ship to better adapt to a variety of circumstances, giving Aspis II-equipped ships an edge on the ever-changing battlefield.
