PainRack wrote:I don't understand.... i thought the rationale for energy requirements was to dump the incoming energy back into space?
You know, the conventional bolt splintering as well as white radiation.
Check out the quotes above: energy that is absorbed from incoming fire enters the shield system and components can either burn out or shut off to avoid permanent damage until they can cool down.
This makes much more sense from a thermodynamics perspective than the simplistic idea of incoming attacks draining an energy reserve. The question of "where does the energy go?" can be answered much more easily with this explanation.
In some sense, I guess, the shield mechanism will need to do work on the bolt in order to splinter, break it up, etc. If the bolt has momentum p, and after it has been splintered (but before the shield radiates it), I expect the sum of the momentums of the sub-bolts will still equal some scalar multiple of p (i.e., when you sum them before attenuation, they'll point in the same direction as the initial bolt), but since work is a scalar quantity, the work the shield would have had to perform will equal the sum over the sub-bolts of the work required to change the momentum of each sub-bolt from the initial trajectory. Interestingly, this will add energy to the amount that needs to be dissipated; it seems like an engineering max-min problem to balance the benefit of scattering the bolt (and so presumably increasing the surface area and the ability of the shield to attenuate the bolt) with the cost, both in terms of equipment and of heat dissipation, of the work required to scatter the bolt.
EDIT: I'm going to have to rethink this. It doesn't feel right.
EDIT 2: I think all of the above is bunk right now; at best, I can't say if there's work being done without knowing how the shield splinters the bolt.
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LadyTevar wrote:*snickers* Only 'ducktail' TIES I've ever seen have been in comics, not the movies.
Far as I know, the 'duckbill' was a part of the original toy so kids could hold onto it and pop the Panels off as 'combat damage'.
I had one of those toys. You're right.
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LadyTevar wrote:*snickers* Only 'ducktail' TIES I've ever seen have been in comics, not the movies.
Far as I know, the 'duckbill' was a part of the original toy so kids could hold onto it and pop the Panels off as 'combat damage'.
I had one of those toys. You're right.
You're right, but there's plenty we work with that isn't in the movies, and though toys aren't really figured into canon, comics are, and the ducktail module could very well represent modular hyperdrive/fuel or combat shield equipped TIEs. I can't think of any other reason for the appearance.
Darwin wrote:
You're right, but there's plenty we work with that isn't in the movies, and though toys aren't really figured into canon, comics are, and the ducktail module could very well represent modular hyperdrive/fuel or combat shield equipped TIEs. I can't think of any other reason for the appearance.
I can think of plenty. ANYTHING that doesn't fit into the barebones TIE can make use of that additional volume - including, definitely, combat deflectors or a hyperdrive. But it might just as well be additional power generators for the weapons, a more powerful sublight drive and the accompanying stronger acceleration compensators, a cloaking system, a kitchenette & expanded life-support systems plus a stash of porn DVDs to extend mission endurance and keep the pilot from being bored during the dull patrol hours, a concussion missile launcher & magazine, cargo space, anything. Without the comics being more specific there's no reason to assume it HAS to be either a hyperdrive or combat deflectors.
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given that the "rear" section of the cockpit pod is generally where the engines go, I'd imagine the "duck billed" rear section probably means enhanced (or additional) engines (which could include hyperdrive.)
The best "source" to look at when identifying what systems might be in the "duckbill" is Vader's Tie Advanced x1, which has an enlongated rear section. ACccording to the OT:ICS, the rear section does fit a hyperdrive (and has a bigger powerplant/engine.) It does have shield generators bakc there too, but they're aft shields only (the fore shields are projected from the enlarged arm pylons connecting the solar panels to the cockpit.)
