90 replies to this topic

[Defender0]

They'll stop energy-based weapons or anything going above a certain speed, lower speed items can pass through relatively unhindered.
 

Actually, onyx sentinel shielding works very very similar to this.

[Aunt Gruntie]

Damn, I was this close to calling that.

Seriously though, good choice. I'm actually far more interested in Ember's hardlight theory, the discussion never really got resolved.

My personal take on shields in my own writing was that they're basically like custard. They'll stop energy-based weapons or anything going above a certain speed, lower speed items can pass through relatively unhindered.
Totally unscientific and the continuity was appalling but it felt like an approximation of what the reality could be like.

 

So basically shields have surface tension? Kinda like water? Something travelling at high speeds into water will be torn apart like it hit concrete

[Defender0]

So basically shields have surface tension? Kinda like water? Something travelling at high speeds into water will be torn apart like it hit concrete

Essentially, unless the object has more energy than the shield can dissipate/absorb, in which case the shields are overloaded and fail.

[Moustachio86]

So basically shields have surface tension? Kinda like water? Something travelling at high speeds into water will be torn apart like it hit concrete

Exactly. Like my own personal version of an ODST, for example.

I got around the fighter issue by having bases/carriers have an individual section which can be lowered to allow vehicles through without leaving the whole structure vulnerable On things like tanks the shield stops just short of the barrel for similar reasons.

I guess that (aside from just 'not thinking about it') other universes would suggest 1-way shields, though the shiva-nuke story among others suggests that's not the case for Halo.

[Emberblaque]

So basically shields have surface tension? Kinda like water? Something travelling at high speeds into water will be torn apart like it hit concrete

Nice analogy.

 

@Moustachio It doesn't look like there's any substance that enters the plasma phase at room temperature. Blows my hypothesis out of the water. If there's a way to prevent hot plasma from burning someone at such close distances, it could still be very dense, precisely confined plasma.

[m468]

There are what is called "Non-Thermal Plasmas" some of these exist at or near room temperature. One basic example is the ionized gas that is contained in small packets inside the displays of plasma televisions.

[Emberblaque]

I read about that but apparently they're still extremely hot compared to room temperature. And the plasma used in commercial applications apparently is mostly gas of which only a small portion is ionized, allowing it to adopt some of the properties of a plasma without the temperature extremes. I don't know if that would work with hardlight, if it would be influenced enough by magnetic fields to remain essentially solid.

[Faced]

Interesting.......

[HolyMith]

Ill just start with hardlight since people had a lot to say about it. So ill indulge in some theoretical physics for fun.

What if "hardlight" is not really "light" but supercondensed photons with enough density to have substance? Understanding of course that, at this point the photons would no longer be photons but a version of them that had mass, but that may be the case since, for example, the suppressor fires "projectiles" made of what is thought to be hardlight, which performs like a bullet.

This would require the photons to be sped up to impossibly fast speeds (violating relativity) in order for them to locally interfere with each other. This would likely need some immensely powerful EM field, shaped the way you want it (like a bridge for example) then you inject the photons into it. Photons only have relativistic mass, so to inrease that you would have to give them more and more KE. I think.

[HolyMith]

Wouldn't the Covenant ships need a ridiculous amount of power to energize their shields, weapons, and engines?

 

So based on this logic the Covenant would basically have nuclear reactors to the UNSC's steam engines.

 

There is a difference between the total power of a plant and the effective power. That is determined by it's efficiency. Theoretically, you would say the UNSC power core is more powerful (generates more Mars Bars per second), but it is far less effective that the Covenant one. This is because a helluva lot more of the produced energy gets used in a Covenant ship. The UNSC loses far too much. But all things considered, I still think the Covenant ships would need a more powerful and more efficient core (compared to an equivalent UNSC vessel) what with all that plasma slinging about and those energy shields.

 

 

In my head all British sound like Hugh Laurie until proven otherwise, so yeah, when I read your writing I hear a voice. Pretty sure everyone has internal monologue...

 

I picture Hugh Laurie with an American accent, thanks to house. What a strange world.

 

 

Plasma is the 4th state, not a radiation, toxin, or temp.

 

 

 

And Don't make me repeat that particle beam weapons are stopped by kinetic barriers.

http://masseffect.wi.../Particle_Rifle

 

Particle beams use high velocity particles which have mass (excepting photons i.e. lasers) which would be stopped by a kinetic barrier. Plasma would also be stopped by a kinetic barrier as it is compised of ionised gas, which also has mass.

[HolyMith]

Damn, I guess you will just have to figure out what the quotes and replies were. Too lazy to correct it.