Knight26

As for why valks got bigger again after teh VF-1, that is simple, the engines got bigger and so did the primary opponent. The VF-1 was designed to have to fight zentraedi out of their pods and armor, however once the UN Spacy saw how big the pods and armor were they made sure to make their valks larger in order to be able to fight them more effectively. Afterall a zent or melt in power armor is much larger then a VF-1.

how so?

The EMT spins at a known set speed, the weapons just have to be time to fire when the EMT is out of the way, kind of like the guns on prop planes. As for the GDF that is a focused system, it is not up all the time, think something like the pinpoint barrier of the Macross, in simple terms, due to energy requirements it is only projected into the region it is needed, when it is needed.

Ok based on everyone's comments I think I have my shields figured out, thanks a lot. I even did a full write up on it complete with corrected and refined diagrams. If anyone who provided input wants to take a look let me know.

So who would be the ideal cast, personnally I don't like any of the actresses put forward to play the major. Alba: blaw she sucks, and isn't that attactive IMHO Lucy Liu: No way, for obvious reasons Grace Park: Too small, not fit enough, not really tough enough looking either Michelle Yeoh: Only problem, IMHO, too old, otherwise I think she has the chops, skills and attitude to play the Major. Bato: Pretty much any big (size, not ego) american action hero, Ron Perlman, the Rock, etc... The Chief: Ok the wild hair may have to go, but pretty much any distinguished older actor could pull it off. Togusa: James Franko (ok yes I know he is white, but I think he looks alot like Togusa, and could pull it off) Thats all the main characters I can think of off the top of my head.

the biggest problem I see this facing is finding a good director (Ridley Scott would be great, especially if Shirow was right alongside). And, finding an appropriate actress to play the major. Most of the rest of the cast would be fairly easy, Bato (A Ron Pearlman type, heck even the Rock might be good in that part). But, the Major is real kicker, will she wear the super tight skin painted outfits, probably not, they just aren't practical, but I doubt that they will be baggy clothes either. The actress would definitely have to be asian, and preferably Japanesse, I just can't think of any young enough that really have the look. My personnal first choice, based on acting skill and on screen fighting ability is probably getting too old to play the part, Michelle Yeoh.

Saw a commercial last night for the new Iron man animated, now that looks cool, shows the evolution from the gray iron suit all the way to the red and gold suit, nice.

Ok how about some EMT diagrams now. Yes I am bored at work today (your tax dollars at work folks). [attachmentid=39700] First up the basic EMT arrangement around the ship. [attachmentid=39701] Second up the direct hit absorbtion effect. [attachmentid=39702] Third the deflection hit absorbtion/deflection. [attachmentid=39703] Last up the breeching hit. Notice the kinetic effect transfers through this field. I need to sit and think it if will pass through the GDF too, I'm not sure, part of me says yes, the other part says it will be absorbed.

You know Nied something was bothering me and I think that was it. But I think that you would still want to keep the GDF for use against other projectiles, like missile warheads, rocks, etc... At a minimum you would want to keep them as some form of (and I hate to phrase it this way) navigational deflector. Anyway I think that the kinetic shock from the hit will end up getting transferred with any of these shields, so yes some reinforcement will be required.

I promised some diagrams, here are three that show how a GDF would function: [attachmentid=39697] Against a direct hit. [attachmentid=39698] A deflection hit. [attachmentid=39699] A breaching hit.

Downey as Stark, good. Paltrow as anything, eh, she's an ok actress.

So basically we have two types of shields on pretty much all craft, your EMTs which protect against energy weapons, and your GDs, which protect against kinetics. The EMT is much more of a field and absorbs/deflects the energy, but in the process the electron cloud loses potential and requires time to recharge. The GD is also a field but is pretty much a pure deflector, hit it spot on and it just pushes back trying to through you, hit it at an angle and you bounce right off. There is no real shield loss there, but the shield can be quickly overwhelmed if you keep hammering it eventually frying the projector. Plus, since it more focused, especially on fighters, you best bet is to attack from multiple angles and hit several areas at once, the more the field is expanded the less effective it is. Of course since most fighters have multiple banks of AGF on their ventral surface it is more advisable to attack from above. So how do those two concepts sound, especially since they will be used together? Also note that the EMT uses real mirror field theory, which from what I was able to gather was Iain M. Banks starting point for his Mirror Fields. Basically scientists have been trying to utilize them for years to make fusion. @ All: Armor is still used, I will expand on the types used later. @Drifand: I looked up mirror fields and expanded on the real practice of them to expand on Mechananics concept, good idea, and as soon as I saw it I remembered my classes on fusion and nearly smacked my head off for not thinking of them sooner. @Graham: I think that real shields could be developed some day and part of hard sci-fi is expanding on existing theory. Flash Gordonish? As for the dust shields of traveler, looked into it, but rejected it, too many issues. @RHTT: Basically these are fields as described above. @Morpheus: Ah good old Tesla @akilae: You basically just described the Langstron Field, Larry Niven loved 'em, but black hole ships, no thanks.

I really like Mechaninac's idea with an artifical van allen belt and have some ideas springing from it. Type 1 Shield: Electro-Magnetic Toroid (EMT): Effective against energetic weapons. Long used in the creation of fusion energy the EMT also referred to as a mirror field was developed by studying the natural E-M belts present around most life giving planets. These shields work by creating a coherent energy field consisting of negatively (or positively) charged particles trapped within a magnetic field around the craft in the shape of a torus. The suspended particles are kept in a constant EM controlled loop around the craft at near relativistic speeds. The initial benefit of this is clear, as it protects the crew from harmful stellar radiation, and this was its original usage. It was later discovered that the field could also protect against energy weapons, deflecting or absorbing most of the energy, and played havoc with weapons guidance systems. The field is further enhanced by being kept in a constant longitudinal or lateral spin, .i.e. the whole toriod rotates around the ship peridocially to cover the gaps left by the toroid. This rotation is imperceptible to outside observors and is synchronized with onboard, sensors, communications and weapons to ensure that they will only transmit or fire when the toroid is in a non-interfering region. The system is not effective however against kinetic projectiles which pass through it harmlessly, however it will result in early detonation of any unshielded explosive ordnance. Type 2 Shield: Gravitational Deflectors: Ever since the first Anti-Gravity Gield (AGF) generator was developed scientists realized that not only could it be used to float an object but to protect it from kinetic attack. Graviational Deflectors work by focusing the influence of an AGF towards an incoming kinetic projectile. The difference in graviational potential effectively "pushes" agains the projectile, slowing it and or deflecting it away. It should be noted that the greater the angle of incidence that an incoming kinetic weapon comes in at the great the amount of energy required to slow or deflect it. (I'll draw diagrams). Gravitational deflectors require much more power to operate then EMTs and as such are primarily used by large scale craft and installations. Smaller scale craft however that cannot afford the power requirements instead used focused AGFs which are automatically controlled by onboard computers, focusing the AGFs towards incoming fire. Graviational Deflectors are most effective against Kinetic weapons, but have also proven marginally effective at deflecting energitic weapons as well.

I know the movie you are talking about Lechuck, it was called Solar Crisis, but in that they were trying to trigger a solar flare early so that it did not fry the earth, or something like that. This sounds like a combination of that and Event Horizon.

Definitely looks like the basis for MASK

The torus shape may cause a problem though, it would leave you back and belly exposed, but it is a good starting point.

IIRC their issue against low fliers, was/is with the radar, while the software has been upgraded to allow it to engage missiles and the like, instead of the aircraft it was originally intended to go against, the radar has difficulty dealing with ground clutter.

Not a bad idea, I was considering dual shield layers, one for energetic weapons and one of kinetics. I just wonder how effective it would be against even energy weapons, like plasma lasers, but so long as it absorbs/deflects most of the energy then it should be ok. Of course it also has to allow for visible light and the sensor/comms to get through.

A couple issues I am having, nothing major at this point: 1) Millia's COMPRESSOR STRIPE: Do you have evidence from the animation, or any other medium that the COMPRESSOR STRIPE is painted blue? If not making it blue seems to be a mistake, and then saying it is because of her marriage to max seems doubly so. Those stripes are on every western aircraft out there, though now they are typically toned down. Usually they are painted to show the location of the turbine blades inside the planes engine to warn crews to stand clear in case the turbine fail, though in Macross they seem to be located up near the compressor blades, possibly due to the lighter structure up there being more prone to failure and lack of containment of those blade as compared to the beefier aft leg and turbines. Also if you look all the valkyries do/should have them, though most seem to have them subdued to some degree. 2) Prometheus Mecha Bays: Are you sure that the picture that you have labelled as the Big P's mecha bay is suppossed to be on the P? I do not ever recall seeing Monster's in the P, but there are two or three in the Big D. I just don't see how the P has that much internal hanger space, as oppossed to the D which has that massive canvern for the destroids. 3) DYRL SDF-1: You might just want to put in a single line that the version seen in the movie is the post 2012 refit version of the ship that the UN SPACY allowed for use in the filming of DYRL.

Ok, here is the situation. While I am waiting to hear back from the publishers I am in a writing standstill. I don't want to write anything new or do any revisions just in case I have to revise the first book again, since any revisions tend to snowball. Therefore I am working on the tech aspects, setting up the universe and its rules. Now things I already have down and have beaten from every angle I can think of include, propulsion systems, FTL travel (hyperspace, with a coherent scientific theoritical base behind it), artifical and anti-grav creation, energy production, biological considerations, sensors, communications, psi, weapons, and a few more I can't think of right now. But one I have not put too much into yet is now making me scratch my head, Shields. Armor I'm getting close on, researching various emerging armor technologies and some of those used by other sci-fi authors and games I've got in my head a good armor system to use. But... Shields are a different matter. I'm trying to keep this somewhat hard sci-fi, ok maybe frozen jello, but not liquid like say SW, and I want to have a shielding system that once explained somewhere will actually make someone who is a scientist go, "hey that might just work." Therein lies the problem, the few shielding systems I have been able to research either have too little info on how they work, i.e. purely handwavium (SW, most games, EE Doc Smith, etc...) or go all the way to your Niven type that are all but impractical (screens that aborb all energy making them in invisible on both sides). I don't want to outright copy another system that is out there and right now the best I can come up with is some type that uses a ship's grav/anti-grav and or some form of electromagnetics, or possibly plasma screens (which are being developed). So what I am asking is what are your ideas, or what shielding systems have you read about in the past that seem plausible given the right tech level that can give me a good starting basis? I will of course keep you all apprised of what I eventually come up with.

Interesting article you dug up DH. My personnal thought. Of the two options the Patriot is probably the better way to go, it is longer range and the latest PAK-3s are quite good, from what I have seen. Also it gets Raytheon out of the picture entirely. Making a new missile out of a modified AMRAAM mated to a 9X just sounds like a really bad idea to me. If you really want to use a two stage design my suggestions are if you want to go off the shelf, i.e. just adapt an existing design. Take either the SM-3 (standard missile) yes it will be huge, but it can already engage spaceborne targets, you would just be transitioning from a ship to a plane. Or go with the ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, aka Extremely Small Standard Missile). This would make for easier carriage them the SM-3 or Patriot and would probably be easier to adapt then the AMRAAM/9X combo. Of course they could always resurrect the F-15s old anti-sat missile and modify it, but I doubt that that would happen since it would basically have to be redesigned from scratch at this point.

Well what were all the transforming robot shows of the 80s? Maybe that is where the search should start. List the shows, and the mecha, and then really look hard at it to determine what. Like this: Mospeada: Legioss/Tread/Ride Armor: Unlikley due to HG/Toynami selling theirs overseas including japan, IIRC Southern Cross: AJAX/HoverTank/That funky jet: Unlikely, not popular enough Gundam Zeta: The Zeta Gundam transformed right?: No way, Bandai Gubuster: the Gunbusters: Not sure, was it 80s or 90s, and I think another company owns it Orguss: Orguss/Nikick/etc...: Unlikely as Graham said

You have an SLA setup? That is awesome, how much to send you some nice ACAD drawings and have them made, lol.

I'd say either Mospeada, legios/Tread or the Mospeada themselves, or because it would make many members happy... THis thread needs more southern Cross.

Ok, guys I fixed the bios, it was turned off there, thanks for the heads up. Quick question what would happen if I tried to run both the wireless and the ethernet at the same time?