Shielding

Shielding, also known as deflector shields, ray shields, particle shields, force fields, etc, is a technology in the game that can be used to protect ships, planets, people, and objects.
== Combat & Uses ==
There are various ways to use shielding technology within the game. TBD. 
== Types ==
There are multiple types of shielding that can be used in the game, each with weaknesses and strengths. Namely:
* Ray shielding (most common)
* Particle shielding (second most common)
* Force-fields (disruption shielding)
* Atmospheric shielding
=== Hybrid Shielding ===
While some ships can have multiple types of shield generators installed, some types of shields may be a combination of two or more shielding technologies
=== Armor plating ===
Some armor plating may contain technology similar to rudimentary deflector shields, by energizing the plating in such a way that it becomes either self-repairing or more resistant to certain types of weapons.
== Projection ==
There are five main ways that shields can be projected around an object, with bubble and fitted shields used almost exclusively for spacecraft and vehicles.
=== Bubble/Capsule ===
The shield encases the ship in a bubble-esque design, which may be more cylindrical or rougly follow the geometry of the ship. This projection type is typically a moderate to significant distance away from the ship's hull.
=== Formed/Fitted ===
Formed shields much more closely resemble the shape of the object they are protecting, and can either be tight fitted within inches of the ship, or project outward slightly (though not as far as bubble shields).
=== Sphere ===
Spherical shields are shaped like a sphere or oblique sphere/semi-sphere. Full spherical shields may be used as squad shields, personal shields, or planetary shields, while half-sphere (typically oblique) shaped shields are used to protect large areas of land or vehicles.
=== Combat/Tactical shields ===
These types of shields are small and typically shaped like discs or ballistic shields.
=== Wall ===
Can be used as walls, fences, atmospheric shielding on doors, etc.
== Technology ==
The technology behind shielding technology is complicated and varies based on the type of technology and design. Generally speaking, shielding falls into one of three categories, with various sub categories:
* Ray shielding
* Particle shielding
* Force fields (Disruption shielding)
=== Ray Shields ===
Create a field of energy around an object, good for absorbing energy attacks or high velocity kinetic projectiles. However, they are unable to stop slow moving projectiles. They may or may not be visible on their own. Ray shields work by dispersing energy and absorbing it. The harder an object hits a ray shield, the harder the shield hits back. 
Ray shields are harmonically linked to their generators, whatever affects the ray shields directly affects the generators. 
==== Limitations ====
As ray shields are fields of energy that absorb impacts, impact energy is dispersed through the field and must be absorbed by the field generators to stabilize the shield. As such, the primary limitations of a ray shield generator are it's ability to dissipate heat and absorb energy without damaging itself. Once bombardment on the shield surpasses the generator(s) sustained deflection limits, the generator(s) will gradually begin to heat up over time, eventually causing them to shut down. Ray shield generators can vary their output to compensate for this and extend their duty cycle/operation time, but this could cause energy projectiles (such as plasma weapons) to partially penetrate the shield and cause reduced damage to the hull. 
Very high intensity attacks can cause the shield generators to sustain damage, and in extreme situations, fail completely. Weapons that are very substantially more powerful than what a ray shield is rated to defend against may phase though a ray shield, either partially or completely.
==== Benefits ====
When fully operational and charged, ray shields can be instantaneously activated. They are the most common type of shielding and can be ionized in such a way that they are lethal or harmful to organic beings that come into contact with them. Additionally, because of their softness at low velocity impacts, they can be used as barriers between a vacuum and pressurized environment, or even underwater. On top of this, ships using ray shielding can launch fighters and most kinetic weapons while using them.
Ray shields require relatively little power compared to other shielding methods, especially on a large basis.
=== Particle shields ===
Project a slurry of matter around an object, and are always visible. Particle shields can stop almost any type of attack, even slow moving kinetic objects. Unlike ray shields, particle shields have a relatively consistent hardness, dependent upon output level of it's generator array. Particle shielding is typically not in a formed or fitted shield projection shape, and is most commonly a bubble. Retractable shield bridges, and security shields use particle shielding technology. Whilst hardness can be concentrated to certain areas of the ship, unlike ray shielding, particle shields generally form a singular complete bubble around an object. 
Particle shield generators are "detached" from the shield they are generating. In other words, they merely project a field and slurry of particles. 
==== Limitations ====
Particle shields do not generally suffer from the same thermal limitations that ray shields do, however they require substantially more power than ray shields do. As such the primary limitation of a particle shielding system is it's ability to provide enough power to offset the barrage it's taking. Because of this, particle shielding systems typically have large capacitor banks that can store additional energy, to provide very reliable protection. Unfortunately when the capacitors run out, if the level of fire the shield is taking is sufficient, the shield will begin to degrade, and projectiles will start to slip through, either due to the slurry deforming, or the generators power level lowering due to capacitors being drained.
When particle shielding is active, a ship typically cannot fire kinetic weapons or launch/land fighters. Technically, special particle shielding systems with advanced beamforming combined with lowering energy levels may create pockets of the shield that are semi-solid and allow objects to pass through, though this is rare. Additionally, technology exists to allow a ship to fire energy weapons through it's particle shielding, however the strongest types of particle shields completely block all penetration both ways.
Particle shields take longer to fully deploy, and large amounts of energy to start.
==== Benefits ====
Particle shields generally stop any physical object and almost all energy projectiles. 
=== Force Fields (Disruption shielding) ===
While the term "force field" can also be an alternative of the umbrella term "shielding", on a technical level it refers to a type of shielding which uses forces like magnetism or gravity to disrupt a region of space around an object. Disruption shielding is not naturally visible, but may be visible if it is surrounded by debris or other particles being affected by the shield. Out of the other categories, disruption shielding has the most sub-categories, for example: Gravity, electrostatic, magnetic, warp field, etc.
Additionally there are several sub-categories of shielding, which fall under ray, disruption, or particle shielding, or several. Atmospheric shielding for example, is typically a special variation of ray shielding and disruption shielding or particle shielding. There are also a handful of unique shielding technologies that do not fit into these categories (ie thermal shielding).
Most ships use some form of minor gravity shielding called navigational shielding to deflect small pieces of debris around the ship when traveling at sublight speeds to avoid damage, as at low velocity they would go through "soft" shields.
=== Phase-Through ===
Certain weapons, particularly superweapons and special weapons, may phase through some or all shield types, sometimes completely unaffected. This may happen due to effects such as quantum tunneling or others.
=== Ion Attacks ===
Ion weapons can overload shield generators, either by going through the shields and overloading the ship's hull, or by sending pulses through the shield that affect the generators. The later is most common with ray shielding.
Category:Game mechanics
Category:Technology