Tarnhelm Class Cloaking Device

[img]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/puranas-national-factbook/images/thumb/8/88/Klingon_Birdofprey_GIF.gif/498px-Klingon_Birdofprey_GIF.gif[/img]
Name:  Tarnhelm
Type:  Cloaking Device
Faction:  Imperial Union Of Planets
Notes:  Descended from old Confederation experiments, the Ternhelm class cloaking device is derived from spatial warp drive technologies.  Early on, it was noted that untuned sensors could have issues scanning beyond the subspace bubble generated around the ship to allow for transluminal travel.  While this was eventually forgotten after subspace sensors were developed which bypassed this limitation, the recorded data was retained well until after the founding of the Imperial Union Of Planets.
A half decade following the founding, the Union’s engineers were going over old records to try and find ideas to help improve their military capabilities when they stumbled upon an old reference to the issue with sensors.  Exploring what had originally caused this, they stumbled upon a method that rendered a ship invisible to known modern sensors from the outside.
Similar to the spatial warp drive, a Tarnhelm creates a subspace bubble around an object that isolates it within its own space-time separate from the outside universe.  The key difference is a Tarnhelm’s bubble is designed to be non-propulsive in nature and is tuned for the invisibility effect.  Unfortunately, as with the base faster-than-light engine being power hungry, the modifications required to create the cloaking effect only served to increase the power drain.  While a dedicated power source of sufficient output could, in theory, counter the power draw issue, currently no Union ship designs are engineered with this as a standard - resulting in other high power systems, like energy weapons, either decreased in strength or outright disabled.  On top of this, power sharing issues aside, known shielding technologies are rendered ineffective while a cloak is engaged as the field interferes with a shield bubble forming properly.
Union research continues to improve cloaking technologies and hardware.  Theories for design changes range from allowing intangiblility to a hull conforming field to being less power intensive and beyond.  However, with priorities elsewhere, these all currently remain conceptual experimental designs for the time being.
Category:Multiversal Conflicts
Category:Technology
Category:Defenses