AMCO
I'm Sorry Dave
- Intent: A tricksy alternative to proper interdictors.
- Image Source: Unknown Device by shun endo.
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Mass Shadow | Gravity Well Projector | Inderdiction Field
- Manufacturer: The Globex Corporation | Vanguard Hypernautics
- Affiliation: Globex Security Division | Vanguard Hypernautics
- Market Status: Open-Market; may not be legally available.
- Model: HIS-11 Enigma-pattern Pseudointerdictor
- Modularity: Significant; various sizes/models.
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Electronics.
- Enigmas can be scaled from mines and Small Craft all the way to the largest of capital ships; the larger the ship, the larger the field it is able to generate. Larger/more advanced (as a rule of thumb, see the production rating of the submission in which the Enigma is used) models tend to be harder to recognise for the smoke and mirrors it is - without ordering a ship to bypass failsafes and jump to Hyperspace, that is.
- The Pseudointerdiction Fields generated by Enigmas trip up failsafes... and that's about it. A vessel with faulty, disabled, or synchronised (see the Strength "Coordination") failsafes would be able to pass through the field without so much as a tremor, no HIMS needed.
- Smoke and Mirrors: The Psuedointerdiction Field of an Enigma is indistinguishable from a normal gravity well to most sensors; one could just disable outright the failsafes hardwired into virtually all Hyperdrives... but what if just this once it's a real mass shadow?
- Cheaply Compact: The Enigma is smaller, cheaper, and much less energy-intensive than proper gravity well projectors.
- Coordination: Hyperdrives can be synchronised with specific Enigmas, preventing its failsafes from being triggered.
- Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: A Pseudointerdiction Field doesn't actually do anything but deceive failsafes; no HIMS needed here.
- Sensory Supremacy: Sensor suites that are more advanced than any given Enigma is likely to see through its deception.
Interdiction technology has seen much innovation over the millennia, both in regards to efficiency and general efficacy; the Globex Corporation, in its own idiosyncratic way, opted to do something else. Less proper gravity well projector more elaborate combination of jamming and signal creation, the Enigma is little more than smoke and mirrors, albeit smoke and mirrors that come in differing models and functions to prevent easy patches.
Should it see widespread use, some clever engineer or another will inevitably figure out a countermeasure cheap and easy enough to be included in standard-issue hyperdrives; for now, at least, it remains a useful tool in the hands of a clever commander.
