How do shields and approaching vessels interact?

[Della]

Shields stop damage, ok. But what happens when another craft tries to touch or collide with a ship's hull? Does the shielding stop it?

Case in point: what happens when a Junker drone tries to reach the hull of a Kretor-class scout ship?

Is it harmlessly repelled? Damaged or destroyed? Can it pass through? If not, can it force through someway?

The Kretor has hazard shields and hard bubble shields. Hazard shields are anti-radiation and therefore a non-factor.
Bubble shields sound like Spatial Distortion-type shields. Since shields are designed to deflect attacks and debris, but not slow crafts moving under their own power, I was thinking that they might manage to break through, but I wanted to get a hold of everyone's opinion before posting.

 

[Fay]

I am very interested in the answer to this question. It is quite relevant for something that I am planning, but I didn't think of how shields would affect the outcome of my plans.

 

[Wes]

Well, for CFS based shields, I would think the object hitting them would be deflected and likely take significant damage from the extreme forces.

 

[Abwehran Commander]

A bubble style shield based on electromagnetic physics will stop physical and energy impacts.

 

[Exhack]

It also depends on shield type. One might be able to pass through a bubble-shaped shield to conduct repairs, but it's very difficult to do that with a conformal field.

 

[Fay]

To do repairs, don't you just turn a shield off?

Also, is there some sort of device that negates shield effects so that missiles and torpedoes can pass through? Or a weapon that can nullify shields alone?

 

[Della]

We're not talking about impacts, but about crafts approaching under their own power.
A fast-moving missile would probably be deflected or even torn apart by shields, but slow-moving crafts IMHO would, at best, just be stopped.

Kinda like with a wall. If you drive a car against it at 100 km/h, it's a mess. But if you approach it slowly by foot, you don't get hurt, it just stops you.

 

[Soresu]

It'd basically be like a giant missile striking your shields. While damage COULD be taken yes (to both ships the one ramming structural, the defender extreme shield stresses on their generators from deflecting the blow), due to much better materials used in ship construction, design frame, hull etc etc it would likely survive. Provided it isn't a kamikaze and a simple graze. Now...if both ships had shields on? You're talking serious business.

 

[Aendri]

But if we're going into that, it brings up the whole new dimension of shield interaction. Shield react to other shields, and their presence, so that would have to be taken into account.

 

[Della]

While all this is interesting, the point in case is, as I already explained, a bunch of small drones about 1-2 meters in diameter trying to attach themselves at the hull of a large ship with an active shield.

no shield-to-shield interference, and they certainly do not count as "big missiles" because they're not charging, it's not a kamikaze attack. They're just trying to reach the ship's hull. Not smash into it.

 

[Exhack]

If most distortion shields in the SARP work in a manner similar (but not exact) to Holtzman shields from the Dune series, then a slow-moving object might be able to push through. Unless the shield specifically states that it creates an effectively impassable barrier, I think this would be fairly acceptable.

 

[Soresu]

We're not talking about impacts, but about crafts approaching under their own power.
A fast-moving missile would probably be deflected or even torn apart by shields, but slow-moving crafts IMHO would, at best, just be stopped.

I was responding to this Della.

Also, if a torpedo is stopped upon striking a shield as it seems to be, I'd think drones would either be fried, or bounce off. When organic beings come into contact with CFS systems they get scorched or worse. Being metal they'll likely survive allbet with some damage or light scouring. But be unable to penetrate the shields unless under sufficient force or with a delivery system.

 

[Legix]

This is a pretty decent topic that is sorta missed elsewhere. I had to do a bit of digging to understand what types of shielding are utilized on SARP, so it might be high-time to make this information more readily available with the ship guide/somewhere. More or less the same as per most of my necros.