Approved Tech Shipwide Capacitive Defense Network

[Leora]

Image Source: None
Intent: To create a new method of defense against ion weaponry for starships.
Development Thread: None
Manufacturer: Ignus Black
Model: Shipwide Capacitive Defense Network
Affiliation: Approved Ignus Company clients
Modularity: Size. Fitting to each ship requires a different number and size of capacitors, cabling, and nodules.
Production: Minor
Material: Silver, Copper, Ceramisteel, Insulated Wiring, Capacitors
Strengths:

• Absorbs the energy from ion weapons and stores it, allowing the ship to last a couple of minutes longer against sustained ion barrage, from a similar sized vessel, than the average ship.
• Uses stored energy to charge essential systems, chiefly for quick recharging of shields.
• Can be used on any ship 50m or larger.

Weaknesses:

• Can only hold so much charge, meaning eventually it becomes incapable of defending the vessel from ion charges. This varies based on ship and number/size of capacitors. Sustained barrage of ion canons will quickly overload the capacitors making the system nonfunctional and causing the ship to succumb to the ion blasts as per normal.
• Size of capacitors and numbers necessary can be detrimental towards the size of the network on a ship, meaning it takes up a decent amount of space that wouldn't normally be associated with such devices. I.E. this system takes up space that would otherwise be used for extra shields and armament.

Description: It is common place on storm ridden worlds to find lightning rods positioned on buildings, especially tall ones, as well as ships. The rods work by a rather simple principle: electrical energy takes the path of least resistance. In this case, the rods act as attractors for the lightning, which strikes them and runs down insulated wires to an electrode usually buried within the ground in order to dissipate the energy from the lightning in a safe and effective manner. This protects the structure from being destroyed.

The Shipwide Capacitive Defense Network works on the same principle as lightning rods. By placing a series of nodules across the surface of a ship, with the nodules protected from the hull by a layer of ceramisteel, the nodules act like lightning rods, except with the intention of collecting the energy discharged by ion cannons. The energy is drawn to the nodules, and then fed through insulated copper wires to a network of capacitors, or a single capacitor in a small ship, which then stores the electrical energy. These capacitors are hooked up to either weapons systems, life support systems, or shields, but almost always the shields, as the capacitors store energy to quickly recharge them.

These systems take up a lot of space, both with the wiring and the storage of the capacitors. It necessitates the removal of some components of a ship if retrofitted into a ship, and makes a ship larger than intended, most often, when included in new ship designs. Subsequently, the system essentially increases the cost in materials and labor of a vessel. Additionally, capacitors can only hold so much power, meaning that eventually they can become overloaded and subsequently become ineffective. The capacitors have shunt trips installed to stop them from taking so much energy as to explode, but they all have their limits.
Primary Source: None

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Hello, I'll be the factory judge reviewing your submission. If you have questions, please feel free to respond to this thread once we are underway.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Neat piece of tech, I got a few things to work through before stamping it though.

Size of capacitors and numbers necessary can be detrimental towards the size of the network on a ship, meaning it takes up a decent amount of space that wouldn't normally be associated with such devices.

Does this imply that by installing the defense network, it means that a ship loses space it could otherwise use for armament, extra shield generators or other advanced systems? If so, I'd like you to add that specifically to the weakness.

Weaknesses:

• Can only hold so much charge, meaning eventually it becomes incapable of defending the vessel from ion charges. This varies based on ship and number/size of capacitors.

I'd like you to buff up this weakness.

Right now you got a system that gives a noticeable edge in a PVP/Fleeting environment, but the weaknesses do not offset the strengths inherent in the design. Not in a PVP environment at any rate.

Maybe mention that a sustained, focused and heavy barrage of ion weaponry can offset the trip switch and overload the capacitors. Instead of having it explode the ship, you could say that it takes out a heavy chunk of your shield. Your ship wouldn't be dead, but it makes using the system a bit more risky and would force people to be careful around utilizing it.

 

[Leora]

[member="Tai Fa"]
Modifications made. Your suggestion isn't supported by science, as it defeats the point of shunt trips being installed. lease So I clarified that sustained barrage will force the ship to succumb to ion blasts the same as it would without the system.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Awesome. Pending Factory Mentor Review.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Darth Ignus"]
Do you have an example of what might overload a ship equipped with these? For ease of making such an example, let's say it's a 1600 meter star destroyer.

 

[Leora]

[member="Braith Achlys"]

A basic equation for how long they can last before the system is rendered inert:

T= [(X-.33X)/(.5Y)]*.06

T equals time, where X equals the size of the ship being attacked, and Y equals the number of ion cannons targeting the ship. This is assuming approximately 1/2 will hit under standard conditions. Advanced targeting systems could increase the .5 variable to .75.

With this calculation, a standard 1600m ISD pitted against an equal ship with the system would yield X=1600, Y=60 and the result of T would be 2.2 minutes of sustained barrage before the system trips and becomes inert in the ships defense.

This formula factors in weapons and size of ship comparably, meaning a 50m freighter would see little benefit against an ISD, but would still benefit in most smaller engagements.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Braith Achlys"]

A basic equation for how long they can last before the system is rendered inert:

T= [(X-.33X)/(.5Y)]*.06

T equals time, where X equals the size of the ship being attacked, and Y equals the number of ion cannons targeting the ship. This is assuming approximately 1/2 will hit under standard conditions. Advanced targeting systems could increase the .5 variable to .75.

With this calculation, a standard 1600m ISD pitted against an equal ship with the system would yield X=1600, Y=60 and the result of T would be 2.2 minutes of sustained barrage before the system trips and becomes inert in the ships defense.

This formula factors in weapons and size of ship comparably, meaning a 50m freighter would see little benefit against an ISD, but would still benefit in most smaller engagements.

We are a roleplaying site, so the general participant isn't going to want to, or in some cases be able to, utilize this formula to construct a post when this comes into play. Please simplify this so that the average writer on the site can utilize this in roleplay or otherwise react to its use.

A viable method of providing an example (which is what I'm looking for) would be to describe its effective use in a roleplay scenario - no formulas, as little hard numbers as possible. For example, if I were to hit this with sixty ion cannons (and we assume every shot hits), how effective would this be compared to a ship that lacks this system of defense?

Simply stating in your submission that this allows a ship to last a few minutes longer against continued exposure to ion barrages from a similar/same sized ship would be fine, too.

 

[Leora]

[member="Braith Achlys"]
I didn't think that math was hard, but ok. I've updated strength number 1 in the submission to say it allows a ship to last a couple of minutes longer against sustained barrage.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Approved.