DocFlamingo
Malcontent
Hey all! Working on my first SciFi novel and wanted any feedback people might have on some hand-waved technology. Don’t be gentle, I can take it. Basically, I was interested in knowing if people thought these explanations were patently absurd or workable.
For this example, I’ll take my “Shield” technology. I know it’s fallen out of favor in most written SF now but I think that much of the self-consciously “Hard SF” is what’s killing the genre. It’s all dated in a few years of publication and, frankly, who care what we’re SURE can be made to work…
Dissipater Field: A defensive energy field comprised of charged particles immersed in a magnetic field, used to counter the effects of energy weapons. D-Fields are “hull-huggers,” meaning they are formed approximately 1 meter off the ship’s outer hull (with a thickness ranging from 0.5m to 5m) and conform to its shape. Ships with active D-fields are recognizable by a dim red glow surrounding the craft.
Particle density can be manipulated in order to reinforce the shield in the direction of attack or allow “ports” for the ship’s own weapons or launch craft to pass through. A ship mounted D-Field can charge quickly from capacitors, in about 1 minute per 10,000 tonnes of ship mass. Ground based, “suspended” versions require numerous generators and 1 minute per 10m2 of surface area.
Repulser field: A defensive energy field used to deflect physical objects away from a vessel, both in navigation and combat. Repulsers are a type of gravimetric convection field, forming a roughly spherical shell around the craft that can be dozens of meters thick. Equally suited for ship-mounting and ground-based instillation; the field is invisible to the eye, oscillating frequencies several hundred times per second.
Ship-mounted repulser fields typically remain active whenever the ship is in motion to protect against navigational hazards. Though possessing a sharply defined outer edge, they are volumetric and continue down to within a few meters of the hull. The field has a sponge-like effect, growing in strength the closer one approaches the ship. This hampers the progression of incoming projectiles with increasing force, causing them to move to a less dense region away from the vessel.
This density convection effect allows the vessel’s own launch craft and projectiles to pass through the shield easy, even gaining an acceleration boost. The field must be lowered to retrieve launch craft however. Repulser field have no appreciable effect on energy weapons either incoming or outgoing.
For this example, I’ll take my “Shield” technology. I know it’s fallen out of favor in most written SF now but I think that much of the self-consciously “Hard SF” is what’s killing the genre. It’s all dated in a few years of publication and, frankly, who care what we’re SURE can be made to work…
Dissipater Field: A defensive energy field comprised of charged particles immersed in a magnetic field, used to counter the effects of energy weapons. D-Fields are “hull-huggers,” meaning they are formed approximately 1 meter off the ship’s outer hull (with a thickness ranging from 0.5m to 5m) and conform to its shape. Ships with active D-fields are recognizable by a dim red glow surrounding the craft.
Particle density can be manipulated in order to reinforce the shield in the direction of attack or allow “ports” for the ship’s own weapons or launch craft to pass through. A ship mounted D-Field can charge quickly from capacitors, in about 1 minute per 10,000 tonnes of ship mass. Ground based, “suspended” versions require numerous generators and 1 minute per 10m2 of surface area.
Repulser field: A defensive energy field used to deflect physical objects away from a vessel, both in navigation and combat. Repulsers are a type of gravimetric convection field, forming a roughly spherical shell around the craft that can be dozens of meters thick. Equally suited for ship-mounting and ground-based instillation; the field is invisible to the eye, oscillating frequencies several hundred times per second.
Ship-mounted repulser fields typically remain active whenever the ship is in motion to protect against navigational hazards. Though possessing a sharply defined outer edge, they are volumetric and continue down to within a few meters of the hull. The field has a sponge-like effect, growing in strength the closer one approaches the ship. This hampers the progression of incoming projectiles with increasing force, causing them to move to a less dense region away from the vessel.
This density convection effect allows the vessel’s own launch craft and projectiles to pass through the shield easy, even gaining an acceleration boost. The field must be lowered to retrieve launch craft however. Repulser field have no appreciable effect on energy weapons either incoming or outgoing.
