Various deflector questions

[seanrobertson]

Hiya.

In the Trade Federation vs. UFP thread, I played with some [highly assumptive] figures in an effort to try and figure out how long a TF battleship (or droid control ship) could keep its shields raised at maximum, but I ran into a lot of problems in trying to come up with those numbers.

Probably the most important question is, how much power do deflectors actually draw? Does a shield that can withstand multi-billion terawatts have to output that kind of power to operate such a shield, where the relationship between output and strength is proportionate?

Second, can deflectors be modified to operate at less than maximum output when you do not need maximum shield power?

Say, for example, you're an Imperial corvette captain who is up against a squadron of fighters. A Rebel sympathizer on your ship disabled the hyperdrive and weapons somehow, but you killed him before he managed to nix the shields...

IOW, shields are your only means of survival, and the nearest ship is several days away (maybe your distress signal was weak). You're also not fully loaded with fuel.

The real kicker is, these Rebel fighters do not have any high-yield weapons, so the most they can muster against you is, I dunno...say, 80 terawatts.

Can you adjust your shields that they only consume enough power to keep you safe--maybe a few hundred TW, or whatever you deem necessary--or do you have to feed your shields many millions of TW because they simply do not allow such configurations? (That's assuming there's that 1/1 ratio of strength/output as per the first question.) This is of course a life or death situation: if you keep your shields fully raised, you might run out of power altogether before your reinforcements arrive, (implausible as that truly is in Wars).

Third question: a long time ago, probably in a Millenium Falcon vs. Defiant-type thread, I got to thinking about what we've seen "threaten" the MF:

First, we have an ISD's multi-megaton/shot baby turbolasers, which did not penetrate her shields with single hits (or potentially dozens of onscreen hits; LordChaos and Connor would know!) but were quickly adding up;

Second, we have TIEs in "ANH," which were a credible threat even though they were mostly to give the MF's crew the impression that they didn't get away too easily (which they realized anyway).

In the second case, the TIEs have a firepower probably in the low terawatt range...they're stripped of many components that other, more durable fighters carry, so this is potentially arguable; nonetheless, you'd think a TIE wouldn't have hundreds of times the firepower Kenobi's fighter did in AOTC (2 kT/shot maximum IIRC).

So, how did the TIEs even begin to threaten the MF? It wasn't an issue of fuel, since she had plenty of juice to hyperdrive her ass to Yavin.

I guessed that it had something to do with deflector angling. In TESB, she was able to focus most of her deflector power to the dorsal and aft quarters, but when facing enemy ships from all sides, the deflectors were raised around the entire ship most likely, weakening each shield's "strength."

However, I do not like the idea that shield strength drops by orders of magnitude when your deflectors are "evened out," so to speak. (That is very unlikely when you're talking about Wars capships, especially.) Any other thoughts on why the standard TIEs were even a semi-credible threat in that case, or in others (TESB maybe)?

One final question for now: in the EU, we occassionally hear about "bleedthrough" I'm told, perhaps in the NJO, but I do not remember the context. Did bleedthrough mean that a shield allows some incoming fire to damage the ship itself, or did it mean in the sense similar to the way a turbolaser hit Tantive IV's shields, the shields fielded some of that energy but collapsed, the bolt then crashing into the hull?

If the former, how well does that jive with everything else we know about shields from the films and other EU?

Oops, one more question, sorry: how powerful can fighter-level shields be? We know some small craft can have amazing shielding, but I'm thinking of TIEs, X-Wings, on up to B-Wings. I recall that, in the B-Wing thread, someone reliable told me that Bees have a good 50% greater shielding than an X or Y, which I'm inclined to believe...but what's the baseline there? That is, can an X-Wing withstand 50 TW? 100?

[seanrobertson]

Ten views and no thoughts? That must be a record

[Batman]

Well, if you're willing to settle for my unqualified ramblings for the moment

Do we have anything to judge the firepower of those baby bolts by?
That light TLs are capable of multi-MT shots I do not dispute, but in both ANH and ESB the imps were trying to catch the MF.
Wouldn't it make sense they'd dial down their firepower to the point were they expected to eventually overcome the Falcon's shields and cripple her?

Did any of the misses in ESB hit an asteroid instead? I think I remember a scene where that happened, but I have no clue wether it was a TL or a TIE bolt,
nor what size asteroid ceased existing in what manner.
If there IS such a scene, that should give us the yield that was usedas opposed to what baby TLs are capable of.

No idea on the shield power usage/patial capacity shielding issue

My apologies if I missed something painfully obvious.I'd blame my medication if I took any

[Mad]

Probably the most important question is, how much power do deflectors actually draw? Does a shield that can withstand multi-billion terawatts have to output that kind of power to operate such a shield, where the relationship between output and strength is proportionate?

Second, can deflectors be modified to operate at less than maximum output when you do not need maximum shield power?

Assuming the quote at HDS' site is correct (and no reason to believe it's not):

"Manufacturer: Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps
...
Power: main reactor peak 3e12 MW; peak shielding 6e12 MW"

We have a shielding system that can withstand more than the reactor can put out. This is used to support the idea that the peak shielding refers to the maximum heat dissipation rate of the shield system. (Incoming attacks are converted into heat energy and stored: "Pg. 16 : Shield heat-sink and radiator matrix converts unusable energy surges into heat for disposal" and" Pg. 16 : Coolant pump circulates a superfluid with enormous heat capacity to moderate the shield matrix during critical power spikes that cannot be radiated away quickly.")

Putting shields up apparently requires a great deal of power, and taking hits may drain more power than when not taking hits (putting more power to shields brings added protection). But, obviously, whatever the shields draw when not taking fire is not going to be the same as the peak shielding figure.

Supporting quotes:

"Ray shields require large amounts of energy to maintain; most vessels only employ them when going into combat."
-Star Wars Sourcebook

Pg. 71: "Cease fire. Kratas ordered his bridge crew. Route all power to our shields. We've got ot withstand this salvo."
-Darksaber
(Same kind of thing occurs in Isard's Revenge)

Oh, I just found this quote. Should be helpful for those calcs you did:

Pg. 49: "Most combat starships channel 25% of their total power through the shield generators"
-Imperial Handbook

One final question for now: in the EU, we occassionally hear about "bleedthrough" I'm told, perhaps in the NJO, but I do not remember the context. Did bleedthrough mean that a shield allows some incoming fire to damage the ship itself, or did it mean in the sense similar to the way a turbolaser hit Tantive IV's shields, the shields fielded some of that energy but collapsed, the bolt then crashing into the hull?

Bleedthrough has several factors in it. Angle of the incoming bolt vs the shield angling (probably), strength of the shields in that area, amount of power being put into the shield system itself, the heat level in the shield system (the system heats up and becomes less efficient as they are required to work more and more), and probably some other factors. Bleedthrough effects can occur even in healthy shields. For example, in I, Jedi where a much smaller ship managed to get minor bleeding through an ISD's fresh shields. (Apparently it wasn't enough to be any kind of threat at all.)

That's all I think I have anything resembling an answer to as of yet.