Fred
Retired Staff
KFY W2903 Variable Defense Pods
The Type-29 fleet program called for a streamlining of the Star Army's current fleets in adjustment to the method of warfare observed in the last couple of years. Greater emphasis was placed on Strategic Pool ship classes such as the Nozomi-class scoutships and the Sakura-class gunships for longer ranged missions away from the command core of a fleet raised a concern over a cheap and efficient way to provide the smaller vessels with more staying power as they were placed in situation with less support. The same could be said for civilian spaceframes that needed defensive systems of their own, but that it was undesirable to mount military grade weaponry.
The 'Variable Defense Pods', based on the Od-series of Starship Orbital Support Drones, allowed a relatively cheap way of changing the mission loadout of a vessel without giving existant Star Army vessels (both military and civilian) a need for an exhaustive overhaul while diversifying their capabilities.
These series of 'defensive pods' come in three varieties - similarly to their more offensive-oriented weapon pod counterparts : Point shield generator pods, which would serve to cover gaps in shielding or to add a second layer of protection over a vulnerable section of a vessel; Shield Augmentation pods, whom would serve to reinforce shield strength and effectiveness to insure the ship's shields would be able to survive harder hits; and Ablative Armor Repair pods, whom would repair the ship's ablative armor layer to cope for what hits did get through.
The pods otherwise function just like the variable weapon pods : they are generated the same way, displatched to float around a vessel and adjust their position to react to threat or damage sustained.
The Variable Defense Pods are one of the new defensive systems that are to be a part of the new Type-29 Nekovalkyrja Escort (tentatively dubbed Kochou-class at the moment) that I currently am designing. It's an unapplied idea for variable pods that can be used easily and is based on existing technology (the SOSDs, which are cool and don't seem to be of much use).
While the defensive pods do leave Star Army vessels without their usual short-to-medium range weaponry, they should be able to increase their staying power a lot more. It does leave them without an effective way to destroy smaller units such as power armors, but, I felt this could only benefit the players of Power Armor pilots, whom would have a much more solid role in future engagements.