Re: Federation Battlestar
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:40 pm
I thought we were talking about bringing birds back on board the carrier, not pilot ejection.
I think DM's talking about the main combat shields, not the bay atmospheric shields. In any event, it's disputable whether the old Galactica even had shields - the only evidence for them is Experiment in Terra, and all combat scenes indicate that she's either got hull-huggers or relies on superconductive armour.Mikey wrote:BSG - oBSG, anyway - had land-through shields, evidenced by the fact that the bays weren't evacuated when craft came in the seemingly-open apertures. I imagine that TNG+ era 'Trek had something similar, because people had been in shuttle bays when shuttles embarked and there was no evidence of evacuation there either.
Absolutely - that last sentence was referring specifically to combat shields.Mikey wrote:Well, Galactica had some sort of force field keeping the inside in - e.g., "A Fire in Space."
Possibly. Indeed, this property may be why shields have always been pretty poor against kinetic impacts. On the other hand, bay shields have a clear advantage for operating in such a manner, while combat shields do not.Considering just the 'Trek side, though, it stands to reason that if a forcefield can be penetrated by a massive body at landing speed, then shields would also.
While Dune may have been the first to introduce such shields, they're pretty common. Not only do virtually all starship landing bay have them (Trek, Wars, BSG, etc) but they also strongly resemble Wars ground based shields - the Gungan shields in TPM, and Hoth theatre shield.As I write this, I'm reminded of Holtzmann-effect shields from Dune - they can be penetrated by a body moving under a particular threshold speed, but not by a body moving faster than that.
I get that, I was referring to the manner of operation rather than the scale. I will admit, though, that the behind either instance may be completely different.DarkMoineau wrote:The forcefield stops atmosphere on the landing pods.
Defensive shields stops incomings torpedos
Unfortunately, I don't know of a canon reference which positively describes the absence or presence of such a "loophole" in shields.Captain Seafort wrote:On the other hand, bay shields have a clear advantage for operating in such a manner, while combat shields do not.
I referred to the Holtzmann effect in particular because the ability of a slow-moving body to penetrate them was specifically described as an innate property of the shield effect, immutable by any particular engineering. Also, Dune specifically mentioned this property as an essential (if unintentional) property, insofar as it allowed people to breathe - obviously a glaring difference between 'Trek and BSG bay shields. One is forced to wonder, then, how the 'Trek/BSG shield allows a (relatively) slow-moving shuttle or fighter through, but not an oxygen molecule.Captain Seafort wrote:While Dune may have been the first to introduce such shields, they're pretty common. Not only do virtually all starship landing bay have them (Trek, Wars, BSG, etc) but they also strongly resemble Wars ground based shields - the Gungan shields in TPM, and Hoth theatre shield.
A property akin to the surface tension of a pool of water perhaps.Mikey wrote:One is forced to wonder, then, how the 'Trek/BSG shield allows a (relatively) slow-moving shuttle or fighter through, but not an oxygen molecule.
Captain Seafort wrote:A property akin to the surface tension of a pool of water perhaps.Mikey wrote:One is forced to wonder, then, how the 'Trek/BSG shield allows a (relatively) slow-moving shuttle or fighter through, but not an oxygen molecule.
OK, then, simple - can't be done. You can't transport through a shield; and you can't drop shields from an active launch/recovery bay. Explosive decompression tends to be bad for the crew.Mark wrote:The topic WAS bringing the birds back via transporter.
Simple, the molecules atmosphere don't have the mass or force to push themselves past the power of the shield.Captain Seafort wrote:A property akin to the surface tension of a pool of water perhaps.Mikey wrote:One is forced to wonder, then, how the 'Trek/BSG shield allows a (relatively) slow-moving shuttle or fighter through, but not an oxygen molecule.
So, such a shield would let anything in as long as it was massive enough - or, if we use the "force" part of your statement, was accelerating enough? That seems a bit untrustworthy. In any case, how would the force field stop a low-mass particle but not a more massive one?Deepcrush wrote:Simple, the molecules atmosphere don't have the mass or force to push themselves past the power of the shield.Captain Seafort wrote:A property akin to the surface tension of a pool of water perhaps.Mikey wrote:One is forced to wonder, then, how the 'Trek/BSG shield allows a (relatively) slow-moving shuttle or fighter through, but not an oxygen molecule.