Directorate Officer
Image Source: N/A
Intent: To provide Lucerne Labs with an adaptable shield technology
Development Thread: If necessary
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Phalanx Shield System
Affiliation: Closed Market
Modularity: None
Production: Minor Production.
Material: particle and ray shield generators, various electrical components, micropoles
Strengths:
Projectable shield: The Phalanx's projectors, like those of the KL-44 or the larger, can be projected to provide additional protection to nearby objects within several kilometers or other areas of the ship's hull.
Fast Regeneration: Like the KL-44, the Phalanx's shield is designed to recharge quickly. This makes the Phalanx more capable of withstanding many attacks designed to overwhelm a shield by sheer volume of fire.
Weaknesses:
Local Drain: If a Phalanx projector is focusing its energy outside of its normal zone of operations, not only is its normal area not as protected (if at all), but it also expends energy less efficiently. This means that projected shields typically only last for short periods of time.
Low Strength: Because the Phalanx shield is optimized for a fast recharge rate, its baseline shield strength is corresponding weaker compared to many conventional shield systems, making it more likely to be overwhelmed by concentrated fire from heavy weapons than the average shield generator.
Description: The Phalanx is Lucerne Labs attempt to incorporate projectable shield technology, as demonstrated in the KL-44 Commander Shield Projector and the SLD-26, into standard capital ship shield generators. The base unit of the Phalanx is a pair of ray and particle shield generators combined into a single package. Unlike many capital ship shield generators, the Phalanx system uses many small generators rather than one large generator: typically one Phalanx generator and a local projector for every 50 meters of ship. This configuration allows the Phalanx to quickly regenerate shield energy, but it doesn't allow it to obtain as great of power at once compared to many conventional shield generators. This makes ships utilizing Phalanxs quite effective at withstanding swarming attacks from smaller ships at the cost of making them somewhat more vulnerable to concentrated attacks from heavier ships. However, this weakness can partially be offset by carefully handling the Phalanx's projectable ability.
Each projector can fully encapsulate objects or groups of objects up to 50 meters in diameter, or project a single flat shield of roughly 100 meters squared. This projected shield is most efficient the closer the protected object is to the ship's hull, with a maximum effective range of three kilometers. Anything beyond that quickly dissipates in a matter of a few seconds while providing no noticeable improvement in defense. Projecting a shield however takes away a proportionate amount of defense normally afforded to the local area it normally protects on the host ship. This means that the host ship most chose between bolstering the defenses of objects outside of the ship, or retaining a normal shield strength. Because of its efficiency at close distances to the host ship, the Phalanx is typically used to support small strikecraft fighting within the immediate vicinity of the host craft. These projected shields are also used to provide protection to vehicles and troops that entering and exiting the host craft. But the projected shields can also be projected over different sections of the ship, allowing Phalanxs to effectively layer shields in a given area. To aid this use, the Phalanx system includes mounting micropoles at key or strategic points of the hull, such as ship's bridge tower or engine block. This considerably improves the efficiency, and consequently the power, of the Phalanxes, in defending those areas from attack. The activation of the micropoles causes noticeable power drain from other systems. It's not uncommon for several weapons batteries to be taken offline to power micropoles. Because of the drawback of this boosting function, the use of the micropoles is very situational.
The Phalanx Shield System offers users options in defending different assets, but it does not offer any additional direct power advantage compared to conventional shielding systems. Because of that and its niche focus on protecting objects that accompany its host ship, the company does not expect it to become a common system outside of carriers and other support vessels. Those who accompany Phalanx-equipped ships will undoubtedly be happy with the possibility of being afforded additional defenses.
Primary Source: KL-44 Commander Shield Projector
Intent: To provide Lucerne Labs with an adaptable shield technology
Development Thread: If necessary
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Model: Phalanx Shield System
Affiliation: Closed Market
Modularity: None
Production: Minor Production.
Material: particle and ray shield generators, various electrical components, micropoles
Strengths:
Projectable shield: The Phalanx's projectors, like those of the KL-44 or the larger, can be projected to provide additional protection to nearby objects within several kilometers or other areas of the ship's hull.
Fast Regeneration: Like the KL-44, the Phalanx's shield is designed to recharge quickly. This makes the Phalanx more capable of withstanding many attacks designed to overwhelm a shield by sheer volume of fire.
Weaknesses:
Local Drain: If a Phalanx projector is focusing its energy outside of its normal zone of operations, not only is its normal area not as protected (if at all), but it also expends energy less efficiently. This means that projected shields typically only last for short periods of time.
Low Strength: Because the Phalanx shield is optimized for a fast recharge rate, its baseline shield strength is corresponding weaker compared to many conventional shield systems, making it more likely to be overwhelmed by concentrated fire from heavy weapons than the average shield generator.
Description: The Phalanx is Lucerne Labs attempt to incorporate projectable shield technology, as demonstrated in the KL-44 Commander Shield Projector and the SLD-26, into standard capital ship shield generators. The base unit of the Phalanx is a pair of ray and particle shield generators combined into a single package. Unlike many capital ship shield generators, the Phalanx system uses many small generators rather than one large generator: typically one Phalanx generator and a local projector for every 50 meters of ship. This configuration allows the Phalanx to quickly regenerate shield energy, but it doesn't allow it to obtain as great of power at once compared to many conventional shield generators. This makes ships utilizing Phalanxs quite effective at withstanding swarming attacks from smaller ships at the cost of making them somewhat more vulnerable to concentrated attacks from heavier ships. However, this weakness can partially be offset by carefully handling the Phalanx's projectable ability.
Each projector can fully encapsulate objects or groups of objects up to 50 meters in diameter, or project a single flat shield of roughly 100 meters squared. This projected shield is most efficient the closer the protected object is to the ship's hull, with a maximum effective range of three kilometers. Anything beyond that quickly dissipates in a matter of a few seconds while providing no noticeable improvement in defense. Projecting a shield however takes away a proportionate amount of defense normally afforded to the local area it normally protects on the host ship. This means that the host ship most chose between bolstering the defenses of objects outside of the ship, or retaining a normal shield strength. Because of its efficiency at close distances to the host ship, the Phalanx is typically used to support small strikecraft fighting within the immediate vicinity of the host craft. These projected shields are also used to provide protection to vehicles and troops that entering and exiting the host craft. But the projected shields can also be projected over different sections of the ship, allowing Phalanxs to effectively layer shields in a given area. To aid this use, the Phalanx system includes mounting micropoles at key or strategic points of the hull, such as ship's bridge tower or engine block. This considerably improves the efficiency, and consequently the power, of the Phalanxes, in defending those areas from attack. The activation of the micropoles causes noticeable power drain from other systems. It's not uncommon for several weapons batteries to be taken offline to power micropoles. Because of the drawback of this boosting function, the use of the micropoles is very situational.
The Phalanx Shield System offers users options in defending different assets, but it does not offer any additional direct power advantage compared to conventional shielding systems. Because of that and its niche focus on protecting objects that accompany its host ship, the company does not expect it to become a common system outside of carriers and other support vessels. Those who accompany Phalanx-equipped ships will undoubtedly be happy with the possibility of being afforded additional defenses.
Primary Source: KL-44 Commander Shield Projector
