[NAM] Aggressive Armor

Nepleslian Aggressive Armor: Where reactive armor can only react once it has been attacked, aggressive armor will actively seek out incoming weapons and attempt to destroy them. The entire system itself is fractal pattern of semi-permiable containment tubes, electromagnetic field generators, and a single plasma generator which works to heat a ferromagnetic fluid to a plasma state. Unlike reactive armor, aggressive armor does not require blocks to be placed on the entire hull. Instead a smaller control system is required which cuts down on total mass.

In aggressive mode the armor will pull plasma out of the containment tubes and throw it at any threat that is detected by the host ship. The long stream of plasma effectively emulates extremely thick armor which serves to destroy, detonate, or deflect a projectile. The capacity for the system to detect/destroy targets is entirely dependent on its host's ability to detect those targets.

Active mode pulls the plasma out from its containers and wraps it around the ship in a spinning cocoon of protection. The rotating provides additional defense by deflecting a penitrator's trajectory while the plasma works to destroy a projectile and dampen its inertia like a shock absorber. The plasma also has a considerable level of effectiveness against energy and plasma weapons through dispersal. Unlike the other modes of the armor, active mode causes some distortion to visual and electromagnetic spectrum sensors.

The aggressive armor is designed to be able to be added onto any platform with minimal modifications. All of the nessisary components are scalable down to a power armor sized platform however the system is dependent on an outside power source. The effective output is also greatly enhanced by a larger system.

Ferrofluid:

• When not in use or unpowered the containment systems are filled with a ferrofluid which is naturally contained by the magnetic properties of the containment system. When activated the fluid is drawn to the heat generated by the system where it is then vaporized and turned into plasma. The hot plasma is then pushed aside by the cooler Ferrofluid as it makes its way towards the hottest part of the system until the entire fluid content is converted to plasma. This process, depending on the size and power of the system, can take anywhere from between three seconds on a power armor sized ship to nearly forty on a full sized battleship. The fluid retains heat well so considerably less energy is required to keep its plasma state once activated and plasma that does cool off will revert to its Ferrofluid state and will return to the generator to be heated up again automatically.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrofluid#Automotive

Plasma Containment System:

• The surface intended to be protected is covered with a fractal pattern of semi-permiable tubes which hold an electric charge around their interior. The charge contains the plasma inside of the tubes while insulating the tubes from the heat of the plasma. These tubes are bonded to a host unit and have some flexibility if they are placed on joints though they are not intended to move on their own. Instead the semi-permeable membrane of the system allows the plasma to pass through when it is needed.

Plasma Control System:

• The surface to be protected is required to have at least one of the spherical plasma control systems installed. These bubbles generate electromagnetic fields which control the flow of the plasma, pulling it out through the semi-permeable membrane to be used for defensive operations. All of the equipment and software for operation is included inside of the system itself however control of the system is entirely dependent on the host of the system

Plasma Generator System:

• Built inside the material to be protected and connected to the plasma containment system is a containment chamber designed to compress and heat plasma through use of zero point energy potentials.

Armor Rating: 6
Damage Rating: 6

I get what this is. I do ... but it seems like a lot of work on the part of a shield. If I lance this baby with lightspeed-capable weapons, how quickly can it react? If it's anything like the link you gave (which I went to the top of and read more on), it won't react to its full potential instantly. This is an "aggressive" armor, but it also sounds like a pre-emptive armor too -- you can't just flick it on with the touch of a switch in the heat of battle.

What would this armor's rating be, anyway?

Big oops, I left in a referance to a sensor system embedded with the armor but ended up removing that peice without removing the referance. It is supposed to be guided by whatever it is installed on, limiting its reactions to the sensor and prosessing abilities of its parent.


I will add in a hard number for the time it takes for the system to heat up. Keep in mind though that once in a plasma state the fluid would be easy to move around. I added the link to ferrofluid so that no one would call bullshit on a fluid that moves to a heat source on its own accord.


Edit: Edits made, Ferrofluid added as a seperate entry with discriptions of time required to start and better control wording has been added to the control system.

So, this ends up being a system that pin-points where an attack might hit and intercepts it with liquified armor? *has a mental picture of a ship with many protruding hoses edging out of the hull to squirt clouds of liquid metal at incoming attacks and thus streaking trails of cloudy-semi-viscous material in its wake*

Eww... gross.

It sounds perfectly possible and very cool.

What's the reaction time and armor level?

I guessed the armor rating and damage rating at 6 but I would like to note that this is largely dependent on how much power is available for the system to use when compared to the surface area it has to protect.

I put in that the reaction time for the armor is based on the sensor and processing ability of the host but I will add in a muzzle velocity of sorts for the speed of the actual plasma leaving the containment system.


I would also like to point out that it uses plasma to intercept a weapon. The plasma has to come from somewhere so the raw material to make it is ferrofluid.



Edit: The armor itself does not do the finding of targets itself, that is for the host's sensors to do. I think I removed the last peice of text hinting that this has its own sensor system. Please correct me if I am wrong.


More Edit: I put in language that suggests the speed of the plasma when used is roughly equivilent to a railgun but I did not want to include hard numbers unless it is absolutely nessisary.

I asked those things already, Osaka. *bops*

This system effectively blinds a vessel's visual capability, doesn't it? It would rely on sensors to allow it to "see."

Well normally the plasma is contained within its containers so no sensor systems would be blinded at all.

Alternitively in active mode I assume there would be a bit of a glow as the plasma sticks to the hull but visual and electromagnetic spectrum sensors wouldn't be entirely blinded, just somewhat hindered.

The system does rely entirely on its host's sensors to see.




Edit: Sensor distortion language added to reduce confusion

Oh, okay. So there's not this thick, opaque shroud surrounding the vessel. Gotcha.

Speed of railgun ... doesn't tell us much. It DOES tell us that reacting to lightspeed weapons wouldn't work very well, if the weapon's source is close enough. When I think "speed of railgun," I'm thinking 10,000 m/s or something.

Well nothing is going to stop a mass moving at .9c effectively. Right now it is fast enough to be able to expand enough to be effective against STL weapons.

Also, physical armor of any type will be ineffective against anything deploying FTL technology though I have another submission for that when this is done.


I just wanted to drive home that this is not a point defense weapon designed to shoot down things long before they reach the ship.


Edit: Also added stuff in the containment system that says that the tubes are not mobile. They do not point at something, rather they just hold the plasma until it is extracted through a semi-permiable membraine.


More Edit: So is there something keeping this from being approved?

Same thing as usual -- I want Wes' comment first.

You do realize that plasma does not stay compressed for any length of time in a vacuum outside of its containment, yes?

Which is why electromagnetic fields are used to guide the plasma once pulled out of containment.