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[UMC] Shield Module Drones

Actually, it is nifty. If this actually serves as a ship's primary protective shield system against damage (rather than complement it), I would see this as a rather unique approach.

I mean, that's essentially using drones/weapon pods... but relying on them for shielding. I remember having tried to submit something like that when I was first designing Miharu but it was unapproved because actual shields and shield augmentation/point-defense shielding could not stack together and might in fact interfere with each other.

Drones being overmatched can be discarded/destroyed and the ship can simply release more drones as a way to "temporarily make shields last longer" via roleplay so this might fit. Wes would have to be the final judge, though.
 
While they do admittedly seem like a good idea, I'm worried about the abuse potential they carry. You could have fleets carrying these, and all the rear ships could bring their drones to the front ones to absorb fire...thus potentially turning an close victory into a flawless one with almost no casualties. Additionally, what happens if drones pack one infront of the other? Can multiple layers of drone shields block things like aether doomsday devices? And wouldn't all this add overwhelming complication to an already tricky DR system?

To quote what I wrote in Exhack's submission:
I'm not to keen on this system since it will create an unwelcome precedent in the new DR system: Double shielding. I can see this leading to other...forms of double shielding. If more people begin adopting these layered and specialized shields, we might see combat calculations become exponentially more complex and confusing than they currently are.

This is one of those things that has far more abuse potential than it adds to roleplay.
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I share Jess's sentiments.
 
... Wouldn't that be the point, though, Jess?

It's strategy... The UMC's superior tech field should be exploited against enemies like Yamatai's refined Aether and such.

Plus, if the rear ships send their drones in to give the front ships a uber charge the rear ships won't have anything. Thus able to be attacked easily. Again, strategy.
 
Gamerofthegame said:
Superior in shielding, Wesley.

Yamatai is superior in production and weapons.

Neps... Um... Neps are superior in morale, probably.

Etc.
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Nepleslians are superior in firepower. Now thread, back on topic.
 
I for one have no issues with these. They offer the alternate option of their use, and also what Fred stated. I'd intended to make a slew of defensive tech for the UMC given the odds and ends of all the systems we have, but, I'm not doing so now. I can however appreciate this submission though for the tactical applications it opens up, and offers.
 
As long as this is something that ends up being the primary shielding system of a vessel instead of being used to supplement it ("Shields down! Deploy shield drones!") I really have no issues with these.

Basically, as long as the application on the small scale, I'm cool with it. I'm a bit leery of seeing these used to make giant impregnable barriers in space in a similar fashion that Wes uses his Dead FTL zones.
 
I'm not willing to force these devices to be the primary shield system of a ship due to their very weak rating of efficiency, also, the fact that they're a solid and easy-to-pick-off target. They're meant to protect key assets, or to defend against obvious attacks.
 
Do these systems have standard shield thresholds, or any at all? Because if they don't, it should be pretty easy to approve them.
 
Mmm, the shield classes are noted in the tables near the bottom of the article.

(I hate the new system, wtf thresholds, lol. I don't understand e'm)
 
Thresholds are the same thing as shield DRs in the previous iteration, Tomoe. It's the amount of damage per hit that a shield can stop.

The trick is that anything the shield stops ends up damaging it, which is why shields have a point value too. Once the point value goes down, the shielding collapses.
 
Bump time, with a musical interlude until someone comes along and gives advice or approves this confounded thing~

Journey - Don't Stop Believing said:
"Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin anywhere
Just a city boy, born and raised in south detroit
He took the midnight train goin anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night

Working hard to get my fill,
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin anything to roll the dice,
Just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Dont stop believin
Hold on to the feelin
Streetlight people"
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