HK-36
The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Introduction: Throughout his lifetime HK has often relied on use of deflector shields to maximize his defenses, these ranged from Verpine, Echani, and Mandalorian variants in the days of Ancient Republic to more modern deflector units like the ones used in Protectorate Power Armor. As such, he came to value their utility in combat and the extra layer of protection they provided, as well as variety of other resistance and immunities to damage that he may not withstand so easily without them. It was no surprise then as research and development department of Abregado grew and so did the resources HK could allocate to further technology manufacturing, that the machine ordered for his Gados underlings to work on an updated version of deflector shields he has came across before so that he could utilize their boon once more, now with a new updated edge provided by modern advancements.
Technical History: The Abregado Combat Shield system, as it came to be called is heavily based on three concepts carried through rather old Electrical Capacitance Shield, Ionization Buffer, and the much more newer Power Defense Armor shield systems. HK first came into contact with an Electrical Capacitance Shield during the days of Ancient Republic when he utilized such shield systems to protect himself from electricity based attacks, most often when coming in contact with Sith whose first instinct was to throw Force Lightning at the droid, Capacitance Shield worked marvels then as it captured the electricity and dispersed it slowly over time. The Ionization Buffer came much later, it was a way of negating ion-based attacks, a useful property for a droid as ionic weaponry was often used against HK, and although it was not his only defense against such tactics, it became an efficient one, it was why HK visited the concept before and managed to update the buffer's design, manufacturing his own contemporary variant with ARGH. Power Defense Armor had built into them modern deflector shield units in range from light, medium, to heavy based on which suit they were integrated into, it was these systems that the Abregado Shield was built on as they served as its foundation. On this skeleton features of capturing and dispersing electricity as well as resistance against ionic attacks was added until it all blended together and resulted in the Abregado Combat Shield, a deflector unit designed specifically to withstand ionic and electrical attacks.
Variants: Abregado Combat Shield comes in three different variants, depending on size of a power unit they are able to tap into. The smallest variant, Standalone, is what a common deflector shield unit looks like, an additional component to be clipped onto one's belt with its own separate power pack, making it highly portable and convenient as to use one all that is required is to clip it on and activate it. The next variant is the Integration Model, more complex in design it is meant to be attached to a power unit already built into an armor suit or a droid body, while there is no difference between how many shots Standalone and Integration variants can deflect, Integration variants are often connected to bigger power supplies and don't require them to be changed quite so often, their power units could be connected to other systems tapped into it as well which becomes convenient when considering their Cycling ability detailed later on. The third variant is the Vehicle variant, these shields are vehicle and starship based shields, meant to be mounted within a structure unfit for personal use and connected to a much more bigger power supply than Standalone and Integration variants. The strength of the Vehicle variant shields often differs based on the size of vehicle they are mounted into and capacity of the energy source they are connected with,
Buffers: The ionization buffers used by these shields function based on electromagnetic properties, the deflector surface they project could be compared to the magnetized sealing field of a lightsaber containing the plasma blade within. This electromagnetic layer is finely charged and confined so that it does not interfere with user or immediate objects, otherwise it would begin to pull equipment off of one's belt, it is only when energy or objects come into contact with the shield's surface that they become magnetized and repelled. For ionic attacks this means the ions are dispersed and captured by the shield, routed on to other systems, same for electrical attacks which flow and cascade around it like water down a drain, meanwhile energy and plasma based attacks are magnetized and the two charges interact with each other, reflecting blaster shots, lightsaber strikes, and even fire away, this is not perfect of course as prolonged contact of an outside energy or plasma against the shield would force it to quickly burn through its charges and drain its energy. Physical attacks and other electromagnetic interference are another weakness of this buffer system, while physical objects are repelled as plasma and energy based attacks are, this is not as efficient against them due to more draining process of magnetization unless the material coming to contact with the shield is a ferrous or otherwise naturally magnet-sensitive material, the materials are often merely slowed down then rather than completely repulsed, based on the velocity with which they hit the shield, draining more energy from it with each shot than a standard blaster rifle would. The resistance to electromagnetic interference comes from the finely charged and confined electromagnetic matrix of the deflector shield mentioned before, while this is useful against more passive electromagnetic presence, for example electromagnets, it also means that the shield can protect its user against EMP grenades, however this can be done only once before the shield deactivates as interfering with an electromagnetic pulse of such capability overcharges the shield causing it to drain all of its charges and vent excess energy to avoid overheating.
Cycling System: The Electrical Capacitance systems function much like the previous ones, channeling excess ionic and electrical energy captured by the shield to store it within its own capacitor to be safely released, however this time around they have been coupled with Power Cycling system which takes this excess energy and channels it back into the shield's charge and power unit, restoring some of the power lost to operating the shield in the first place while reinforcing it as well. This process is not perfect however as energy is vented along the way to avoid overheating of both Charge Capacitor and Power Unit and lost to simply operating these systems, which means only a fraction of energy captured by the Ionization Buffers is recycled into the power unit for future use. Still, what this means is that the more ionic and electrical attacks are thrown into the shield in attempts to shut it down the stronger it only gets and the more power is available to the power unit it is connected to. This has its limits, of course, as too much charge built up in the shield's capacitor will force it to vent the excess and damp all of its charges to avoid overheating and enter emergency power setting, same if too much energy accumulates in the power unit it is connected to. Cycling into emergency power setting is a failsafe which lowers majority of the shield's defenses until another ionic or electrical attack enters its field and allows it to recharge once more or until the shield's charges recharge naturally, however it takes few minutes to enter this state after the charges are dumped and excess power is vented, creating an opening through which electrical and ionic attacks can enter without being harassed by the deflector shield.
Other Strengths: In Integration and Variant models of the shield there is also a built in Deflector Matrix Focus system which allows the user to channel the shield into a specific point as long as the surface area designed is sufficient, this can be for example palm of one's hand, forearm, or the front of the ship. If the surface area is too small, for example tip of one's finger, then the shield will simply distribute over it anyway until sufficiently large area is covered. Doing so, while minimizing the area protected by the shield, reinforces its electromagnetic structure up to twice its usual strength, making it useful for deflecting more blaster bolts, protecting a specific limb against plasma energy as its not something too overpowering, or preparing a vessel or vehicle for ramming action. As mentioned before the shield is naturally capable of recharging, this is done by pooling energy from its power source to build up charges in its charge capacitor, however as this shield more or less relies on someone using ionic or electrical attacks against it for it to use their energy against them, this process is done rather slow, even slower than an average deflector shield would recharge, unless a particular battle or engagement this shield is used in is especially long, chance are that once all of its charges are depleted it will not recharge to full during the same battle unless an ionic or electrical attack is used against it.
Weaknesses: One of the shield's bigger weaknesses is its lack of proper protection against non-ionic or electrical attacks, while it does offer average protection against energy based attacks, it's just that, an average protection, large portion of commonly available personal deflector shields on the markets would most likely offer better protection against blaster fire and other plasma based weapons than this shield does. Even then the protection it offers can be quickly drained by sustained contact with energy weapons or plasma attacks, for example beam weaponry, high rate blaster fire, or prolonged contact from a lightsaber, anything more than a glancing blow. The protection offered by this shield in regards to physical attacks like slugthrower weaponry can be described more accurately as resistance, unless the object is ferrous, for example iron, or any other material sensitive to magnets, the shield will have a hard time deflecting it, slowing it down instead to minimize damage from its impact, and then the process of magnetization of a quickly moving projectile is so draining on the shield that it would manage to slow down or reflect fewer of them, about three or four, than the average of six standard blaster bolts. Same for protection against Electromagnetic Pulses, the shield can stop one but doing so causes it to dump its charges and go into emergency setting. While recharging and having its charges drained quickly the shield can also be rather taxing on the power system it is connected to, however it is rare for the shield to drain it right away unless it is a Standalone model, this is more of a weakness that comes into play when designing systems that are meant to be integrated with this shield, unless a proper answer is provided to address it the shield could potentially get in the way of other systems connecting to the same power sources, limiting how many additional systems particular vehicle, ship, or a droid with this shield could have.
Conclusion/Summary: In conclusion, this is a modern electromagnetic-based deflector shield built on three previous systems and concepts of deflector shields used in Protectorate Defense Power Armor, Electrical Capacitance Shields, and Ionic Buffers to offer average protection against blaster fire, increased resistance against electrical and ionic attacks with capability of capturing energy of such strikes to reinforce the shield and power up other systems, and only limited physical and electromagnetic protection. While increased protection against ionic and electrical attacks is a great boon for vehicles, droids, and other electronic-reliant systems, most soldiers on modern battlefields would find its only average protection against energy weaponry, and the fact that it can be drained of its charges rather quickly by prolonged fire or contact with stream of plasma disheartening.
- Intent: To create a standardized personal deflector shield system for Abregado forces for future engagements and submissions, designed to be specifically effective against ionic and electrical attacks
- Image Source: N/A
- Canon Link: Based off of Electrical Capacitance Shield, Combat De-Ionizer, and Ionization Buffer
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: Based off shield systems in previous ARGH made Ionization Buffer and Protectorate Defense Power Armor
- Manufacturer: Abregado Rae Guild Of Hammers
- Model: Abregado Combat Shield
- Affiliation: Closed Market, Open for Abregado, Firemane, and the GA
- Modularity: Standalone Variant- shield unit with its own separate power pack, can be clipped onto a tool belt and used right away. Integration Variant- variant of the combat shield intended to be built into other systems, for example droids or armor suits, to integrate and rely on their power sources. Vehicle variant- Larger variants of the integration model meant to be used for future designs of large war droids, vehicles, and starfighters, their power requirements and protection offered by the shield often varies depending on the size of the vehicle they are built into.
- Production: Minor
- Material: Durasteel, Bronzium for aesthetics, electrum circuitry, otherwise standard shield system components
- Ionization Buffers
- Electrical Capacitance System
- Power Recycling and Routing Systems
- Emergency Low Power Cycling
- Electromagnetic Stabilization Field
- Average Strength Magnetism Based Deflector Shield
- Deflector Matrix Focus
- Ionization Buffers- buffers based on previous similar models designed to capture ion-based attacks by the shield and negate them, giving the user resistance against such attacks as long as the shield is active.
- Electrical Capacitance System- based on previous Capacitance Shield, these systems capture and store energy caught by the shield's field, slowly venting the excess over time, like its predecessor this includes pure electrical attacks but due to recent advancements and developments
- Power Recycling and Routing Systems- coupled with the capacitance systems, they relay the energy captured by the shield and route it back to the power system the shield is connected to, powering it back up, this translates into electrical and ionic attacks prolonging the shield's lifetime by recharging it with each strike or powering up other systems the energy source is connected into. This has its limits of course as too much power can start to overload the power source, forcing capacitance systems to quickly vent all their power and causing the shield to lose its charge instantly in order to save its power unit, therefore ionic and electrical attacks can still shut this shield down eventually if the excess power captured is not drained in other way, it just takes much longer than normal energy based or physical attacks would take.
- Emergency Low Power Cycling- when in danger of overcharging or power levels are critically low the shield can enter an emergency setting, venting out all of the power it stored if there is any left and cycling to activate only until ionic or electrical attacks enter its field. While this allows kinetic, energy, and electromagnetic attacks to affect the shield's user it prevents it from being totally shut down, so that when an electrical and ionic attack is captured its charge can be relayed into the power unit and power the shield back up. This process takes a couple of minutes however, creating an opening for ionic and electrical attacks to sneak through before emergency setting activates.
- Electromagnetic Stabilization Field- if the shield is not in emergency setting its shield can counteract and stabilize electromagnetic interference, a defense against EMP grenades, however doing so causes it to drain all of its charge and enter emergency setting until recharged.
- Average Strength Magnetism Based Deflector Shield- based off of deflector systems found in Protectorate Power Armor these shields can resist about 6 standard blaster shots before entering emergency setting, half of what the heavy variant of power armor was capable, due to the magnet-based shield systems they can also protect against physical attacks of metal based weaponry, however this is mostly costly as it protects against 3 or 4 average slugthrower shots before draining its charges and often it does not deflect the projectiles completely but merely slows them down.
- Deflector Matrix Focus- feature found only in the Integration and Vehicle variants, matrix focus allows the user to route majority of the shields to a specific point or area, for example palm of the hand or front of the ships, this lowers the area the shield covers but doubles the protection it offers at that specific point.
- Ionic and Electrical Protection- electrical capacitance and ionic buffers offer increased protection from electrical and ionic attacks, making them highly inefficient while this shield is active.
- Limited Electromagnetc Interference Protection- the field has an electromagnetic stabilization effect, interfering with outside electromagnetic interference, for example EMP grenades, to protect the user from their effects.
- Limited Physical Protection- due to magnetism based deflection the shield can partially reflect quickly moving physical objects by magnetizing and repulsing them
- Capacitance and Power Cycling Systems- The electrical and ionic energy captured by the shield is partially transferred to first restore the shield's charges and then the excess is routed to its power unit to restore some of its energy. The process is not perfect as portion of the captured energy is vented out along the way to keep the systems from overheating. Should too much energy be channeled into the shield's charge unit or power unit and the system would come to risk of overheating the shield enters process of cycling into emergency system, losing all of its charges in the process as they are vented out to cool the system and drain excess energy.
- Deflector Matrix Focus- strength found only in Integration and Vehicle variants, the focus of shield's matrix can change to a specific location, for example gauntlet of the armor it is integrated into or front of the shield it is built into, doing so decreases the area the shield covers but doubles its strength at most depending on how small the area it covers now is. In Integration variants this is done almost instantaneously, in Vehicle variant however this will take a few seconds for matrix to adjust.
- Recharging- the shield can tap into the power source it's connected to and recharge over time even in emergency setting, this process is done rather slowly unless quickened by an ionic or electrical strike.
- Average Energy Protection- the shield provides only mediocre protection against plasma based weaponry, deflecting no more than 6 shots before its charges are drained, it's not the weakest protection against plasma but there could be more efficient deflector shields to deal with such attacks out there. This defense lowers still when confronted by continuous beams of energy, for example some beam weaponry, or extended contact from a lightsaber, meaning the shield can't deflect much other than a glancing blow from the saber in its normal setting and even when Matrix Focus is used to reinforce the shield's defense in a particular spot prolonged contact with the energy blade would drain its charges quickly. Same applies to high powered weaponry like disruptor rifles, the shield can't protect from more than one or two shots of it.
- Limited Electromagnetic Interference Protection- while the shield can protect from a single EMP grenade, doing so also immediately overcharges the shield and forces it to deactivate for some time before going into emergency low power setting as all of its charges are drained and excess energy is vented to avoid overheating.
- Limited Physical Protection- faster the projectile is moving and the more force it requires to repel the quicker the energy drains, as such the shield can't reflect more than 3 shots of standard caliber slugthrowers and maybe 1 shot from a sniper rifle, even then the shots are most often only slowed down to decrease their damage rather than reflected altogether, making physical attacks very efficient at getting through this shield. Slower moving objects like touching the user won't trigger the shield.
- Power Drainage- the shield can be rather taxing on the power unit it is connected to, especially when actively being drained, for example while stabilizing and electromagnetic pulse or dealing with contact from a lightsaber, or actively recharging. While this could be counteracted by electrical or ionic attacks recharging the shield and its systems quicker, adding these shields to a vehicle or armor suit often limits how many other systems can be put on top of it while the standalone variants with their own power supply tend to require their power unit to be replace rather often.
- Limited Charge Capacity- to protect the power unit the shield is connected to from draining quickly and entirely when the shield recharges or deals with a draining attack the system the shield has its own charge capacitor to store the charges used for activating its protective systems. However this charge storage is rather limited which is why it drains so quickly with continuous exposure to attacks, for example prolonged contact with a lightsaber or beam based weaponry.
Introduction: Throughout his lifetime HK has often relied on use of deflector shields to maximize his defenses, these ranged from Verpine, Echani, and Mandalorian variants in the days of Ancient Republic to more modern deflector units like the ones used in Protectorate Power Armor. As such, he came to value their utility in combat and the extra layer of protection they provided, as well as variety of other resistance and immunities to damage that he may not withstand so easily without them. It was no surprise then as research and development department of Abregado grew and so did the resources HK could allocate to further technology manufacturing, that the machine ordered for his Gados underlings to work on an updated version of deflector shields he has came across before so that he could utilize their boon once more, now with a new updated edge provided by modern advancements.
Technical History: The Abregado Combat Shield system, as it came to be called is heavily based on three concepts carried through rather old Electrical Capacitance Shield, Ionization Buffer, and the much more newer Power Defense Armor shield systems. HK first came into contact with an Electrical Capacitance Shield during the days of Ancient Republic when he utilized such shield systems to protect himself from electricity based attacks, most often when coming in contact with Sith whose first instinct was to throw Force Lightning at the droid, Capacitance Shield worked marvels then as it captured the electricity and dispersed it slowly over time. The Ionization Buffer came much later, it was a way of negating ion-based attacks, a useful property for a droid as ionic weaponry was often used against HK, and although it was not his only defense against such tactics, it became an efficient one, it was why HK visited the concept before and managed to update the buffer's design, manufacturing his own contemporary variant with ARGH. Power Defense Armor had built into them modern deflector shield units in range from light, medium, to heavy based on which suit they were integrated into, it was these systems that the Abregado Shield was built on as they served as its foundation. On this skeleton features of capturing and dispersing electricity as well as resistance against ionic attacks was added until it all blended together and resulted in the Abregado Combat Shield, a deflector unit designed specifically to withstand ionic and electrical attacks.
Variants: Abregado Combat Shield comes in three different variants, depending on size of a power unit they are able to tap into. The smallest variant, Standalone, is what a common deflector shield unit looks like, an additional component to be clipped onto one's belt with its own separate power pack, making it highly portable and convenient as to use one all that is required is to clip it on and activate it. The next variant is the Integration Model, more complex in design it is meant to be attached to a power unit already built into an armor suit or a droid body, while there is no difference between how many shots Standalone and Integration variants can deflect, Integration variants are often connected to bigger power supplies and don't require them to be changed quite so often, their power units could be connected to other systems tapped into it as well which becomes convenient when considering their Cycling ability detailed later on. The third variant is the Vehicle variant, these shields are vehicle and starship based shields, meant to be mounted within a structure unfit for personal use and connected to a much more bigger power supply than Standalone and Integration variants. The strength of the Vehicle variant shields often differs based on the size of vehicle they are mounted into and capacity of the energy source they are connected with,
Buffers: The ionization buffers used by these shields function based on electromagnetic properties, the deflector surface they project could be compared to the magnetized sealing field of a lightsaber containing the plasma blade within. This electromagnetic layer is finely charged and confined so that it does not interfere with user or immediate objects, otherwise it would begin to pull equipment off of one's belt, it is only when energy or objects come into contact with the shield's surface that they become magnetized and repelled. For ionic attacks this means the ions are dispersed and captured by the shield, routed on to other systems, same for electrical attacks which flow and cascade around it like water down a drain, meanwhile energy and plasma based attacks are magnetized and the two charges interact with each other, reflecting blaster shots, lightsaber strikes, and even fire away, this is not perfect of course as prolonged contact of an outside energy or plasma against the shield would force it to quickly burn through its charges and drain its energy. Physical attacks and other electromagnetic interference are another weakness of this buffer system, while physical objects are repelled as plasma and energy based attacks are, this is not as efficient against them due to more draining process of magnetization unless the material coming to contact with the shield is a ferrous or otherwise naturally magnet-sensitive material, the materials are often merely slowed down then rather than completely repulsed, based on the velocity with which they hit the shield, draining more energy from it with each shot than a standard blaster rifle would. The resistance to electromagnetic interference comes from the finely charged and confined electromagnetic matrix of the deflector shield mentioned before, while this is useful against more passive electromagnetic presence, for example electromagnets, it also means that the shield can protect its user against EMP grenades, however this can be done only once before the shield deactivates as interfering with an electromagnetic pulse of such capability overcharges the shield causing it to drain all of its charges and vent excess energy to avoid overheating.
Cycling System: The Electrical Capacitance systems function much like the previous ones, channeling excess ionic and electrical energy captured by the shield to store it within its own capacitor to be safely released, however this time around they have been coupled with Power Cycling system which takes this excess energy and channels it back into the shield's charge and power unit, restoring some of the power lost to operating the shield in the first place while reinforcing it as well. This process is not perfect however as energy is vented along the way to avoid overheating of both Charge Capacitor and Power Unit and lost to simply operating these systems, which means only a fraction of energy captured by the Ionization Buffers is recycled into the power unit for future use. Still, what this means is that the more ionic and electrical attacks are thrown into the shield in attempts to shut it down the stronger it only gets and the more power is available to the power unit it is connected to. This has its limits, of course, as too much charge built up in the shield's capacitor will force it to vent the excess and damp all of its charges to avoid overheating and enter emergency power setting, same if too much energy accumulates in the power unit it is connected to. Cycling into emergency power setting is a failsafe which lowers majority of the shield's defenses until another ionic or electrical attack enters its field and allows it to recharge once more or until the shield's charges recharge naturally, however it takes few minutes to enter this state after the charges are dumped and excess power is vented, creating an opening through which electrical and ionic attacks can enter without being harassed by the deflector shield.
Other Strengths: In Integration and Variant models of the shield there is also a built in Deflector Matrix Focus system which allows the user to channel the shield into a specific point as long as the surface area designed is sufficient, this can be for example palm of one's hand, forearm, or the front of the ship. If the surface area is too small, for example tip of one's finger, then the shield will simply distribute over it anyway until sufficiently large area is covered. Doing so, while minimizing the area protected by the shield, reinforces its electromagnetic structure up to twice its usual strength, making it useful for deflecting more blaster bolts, protecting a specific limb against plasma energy as its not something too overpowering, or preparing a vessel or vehicle for ramming action. As mentioned before the shield is naturally capable of recharging, this is done by pooling energy from its power source to build up charges in its charge capacitor, however as this shield more or less relies on someone using ionic or electrical attacks against it for it to use their energy against them, this process is done rather slow, even slower than an average deflector shield would recharge, unless a particular battle or engagement this shield is used in is especially long, chance are that once all of its charges are depleted it will not recharge to full during the same battle unless an ionic or electrical attack is used against it.
Weaknesses: One of the shield's bigger weaknesses is its lack of proper protection against non-ionic or electrical attacks, while it does offer average protection against energy based attacks, it's just that, an average protection, large portion of commonly available personal deflector shields on the markets would most likely offer better protection against blaster fire and other plasma based weapons than this shield does. Even then the protection it offers can be quickly drained by sustained contact with energy weapons or plasma attacks, for example beam weaponry, high rate blaster fire, or prolonged contact from a lightsaber, anything more than a glancing blow. The protection offered by this shield in regards to physical attacks like slugthrower weaponry can be described more accurately as resistance, unless the object is ferrous, for example iron, or any other material sensitive to magnets, the shield will have a hard time deflecting it, slowing it down instead to minimize damage from its impact, and then the process of magnetization of a quickly moving projectile is so draining on the shield that it would manage to slow down or reflect fewer of them, about three or four, than the average of six standard blaster bolts. Same for protection against Electromagnetic Pulses, the shield can stop one but doing so causes it to dump its charges and go into emergency setting. While recharging and having its charges drained quickly the shield can also be rather taxing on the power system it is connected to, however it is rare for the shield to drain it right away unless it is a Standalone model, this is more of a weakness that comes into play when designing systems that are meant to be integrated with this shield, unless a proper answer is provided to address it the shield could potentially get in the way of other systems connecting to the same power sources, limiting how many additional systems particular vehicle, ship, or a droid with this shield could have.
Conclusion/Summary: In conclusion, this is a modern electromagnetic-based deflector shield built on three previous systems and concepts of deflector shields used in Protectorate Defense Power Armor, Electrical Capacitance Shields, and Ionic Buffers to offer average protection against blaster fire, increased resistance against electrical and ionic attacks with capability of capturing energy of such strikes to reinforce the shield and power up other systems, and only limited physical and electromagnetic protection. While increased protection against ionic and electrical attacks is a great boon for vehicles, droids, and other electronic-reliant systems, most soldiers on modern battlefields would find its only average protection against energy weaponry, and the fact that it can be drained of its charges rather quickly by prolonged fire or contact with stream of plasma disheartening.
