Unreviewed D.R.A.G.N.E.T.

[Bido Roz’lyn]

D.R.A.G.N.E.T.

(Dynamic Repulsor-Assisted Gravitic Null-Exclusion Tuning)​

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent:
  • In Character:
    • Create an old, well-refined Dornean software package designed to modulate tractor beam emissions so that they can bypass intervening fluids, particulate matter, and dispersed debris while coupling to a desired target.
    • Provide a viable countermeasure against Shrouds and similar tractor-beam countermeasures.
  • Out Of Character:
    • Codify the underwater tractor-beam technology previously depicted during the Elysium Dominion of Castilon.
    • Provide a specialized tractor-beam enhancement for future Dornean technologies and vessels.
• Image Source: N/A
• Canon Link:
  • Tractor Beam
  • Shroud
  • Shroud Maneuver
  • Shearing Plane
  • Stage Three Torpedo
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source:
  • Wipeout | Elysium Dominion of Castilon — Post 42, Page 3⁠
  • R.A.C.E.R.
  • O.S.I.V.P.
  • T.E.C.M.I.S.
  • P.A.F.I.E.S.
  • O.T.A.R.O.C.S.
  • S.W.O.R.D.-F.I.H.S.
  • Dorneans

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Dornean Braha'ket Fleetworks Conglomerate
• Affiliation: Dorneans, anyone
• Market Status: Open Market
• Model: D.R.A.G.N.E.T.
• Modularity: n/a
• Production: Mass-Produced
• Material:
  • Binary Code
  • Trinary Code
  • O.S.I.V.P.
  • T.E.C.M.I.S.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Tractor Emission Modulation and Refinement: By varying the beam's frequency, intensity, phase, field geometry and repulsor-assisted modulation, D.R.A.G.N.E.T. can tune the projected tractor field so that obstructing matter has substantially less influence upon it than the intended target.
• Fluid Bypass: The software was originally developed by Dorneans to allow tractor beams to penetrate bodies of water without attempting to appreciably displace or couple with the enormous mass of fluid lying between the emitter and target.
• Shearing Plane and Shroud Resistance: By modulating tractor beams to bypass interference, D.R.A.G.N.E.T. is commonly capable of overcoming anti-tractor beam countermeasures. Such countermeasures include, but are not limited to:
  • Shearing plane
  • Shroud maneuver
  • Stage three torpedo
  • Debris clouds
  • And other countermeasures
• Shroud Maneuver Countermeasure: Because Shrouds rely upon clouds of reflective material to disrupt tractor-beam operation, D.R.A.G.N.E.T. can tune the tractor emission to minimize coupling with the dispersed Shroud material and continue through it toward the intended target. This makes D.R.A.G.N.E.T. a highly effective countermeasure against conventional Shrouds.
• Enhanced Targeting: This software integrates with T.E.C.M.I.S. and O.S.I.V.P. to help improve tractor beam targeting array efficacy against:
  • evasive maneuvering,
  • shroud disruption,
  • ECM,
  • Sensor defeating technologies
  • and other countermeasures.
• Inertial Compensation: Modified inertial-compensator calculations allow the modulation pattern to continuously adjust for moving fluids, shifting particulate clouds and mobile debris.

STRENGTHS

• Bypass Interference – this software modulates tractor beam emission frequencies to commonly bypass physical obstructions such as debris fields, fluids, or various physical countermeasures.
• Anti-Deception – this software is integrated with R.A.C.E.R., O.S.I.V.P. and T.E.C.M.I.S. as measures to combat against deception technologies. Such technologies include things such as ECM asset spoofing, sensor distortion, slicing, jamming, etc.

WEAKNESSES

• One object at a time – to be specific, this software is used to bypass obstructing interference, but it does not grant tractor beams the ability to capture more than one object at a time. That limitation is still relevant when using this software.
• Solid Wall Obstruction – this software is great for bypassing obstructions such as debris fields, clouds, fluids and common physical countermeasures. However, if the target is completely shielded by a solid physical mass, the tractor will likely not be able to reach through. (Ie: this software cannot be used to yoink people out of their ships from afar)

DESCRIPTION

D.R.A.G.N.E.T. was developed to solve a very Dornean problem:

Tractor beams worked perfectly well in space. Dorneans did not live exclusively in space.

For a civilization whose industry, military infrastructure and transportation networks extended deep beneath the oceans, a tractor beam that became unreliable whenever several thousand tonnes of seawater happened to be between the projector and its target was considerably less useful.

Early attempts to simply increase tractor-beam power proved inefficient. The problem was not merely whether the target could be detected. The projected tractor field itself had to traverse an enormous quantity of unwanted matter before reaching whatever the operator actually intended to manipulate.

Dornean engineers consequently pursued another solution.

Instead of overpowering the obstruction, they taught the tractor beam to bypass it.

D.R.A.G.N.E.T. continuously manipulates the characteristics of compatible tractor emitters, varying their output and coordinating them with repulsor technology to reshape the projected field. Rather than allowing the tractor effect to couple indiscriminately with everything along its path, the system tunes that interaction so that diffuse, fluid or discontinuous matter experiences comparatively little coupling while the beam remains capable of strongly interacting with a suitable solid target.

In water, this allows the tractor field to penetrate through the fluid and take hold of a submerged vessel without attempting to drag the surrounding ocean along with it.

The technique proved equally useful elsewhere.

Dust clouds, sand, ice crystals, metallic particulates and sufficiently scattered wreckage all represented variations of essentially the same engineering problem. D.R.A.G.N.E.T. could continuously alter its modulation profile to negotiate those environments, effectively threading the tractor field through them until it encountered the object upon which the beam was intended to act.

This capability also produced an unusually effective countermeasure against Shrouds.

A Shroud interposes a cloud of reflective material around a vessel in order to interfere with tractor-beam operation. Against an ordinary tractor system, this can disrupt the beam's ability to effectively engage the vessel within.

D.R.A.G.N.E.T. instead treats the Shroud itself as an obstruction to be bypassed.

Once the surrounding cloud has been characterized, the software alters the tractor emitter's output to minimize interaction with its dispersed material. The modulated tractor field can consequently penetrate the cloud and couple directly with the vessel inside. Conventional Shrouds remain capable of degrading performance, particularly when exceptionally dense or combined with other countermeasures, but their fundamental operating principle is poorly suited to defeating a system originally designed to project tractor beams through kilometres of seawater.

One of the more unusual demonstrations of the technology occurred during the Elysium Empire's operation on Castilon. When the HMS Kay Arenais sank thousands of feet beneath the ocean, technical crews aboard Admiral Burtch's squadron discovered old tractor-beam settings buried deep within their archives. The records described a method by which military tractor beams could bypass water and grab solid objects, using repulsor technology in conjunction with modified inertial-compensator software.

Five warships were subsequently configured accordingly.

Their tractor beams penetrated the ocean, took hold of the submerged Kay Arenais, and began hauling the much larger vessel toward the surface.

What appeared to the crews involved to be an obscure emergency modification was, in reality, a descendant of a very old solution to a very old Dornean engineering problem.

D.R.A.G.N.E.T. merely represents the modern, standardized form of that solution.