I really want cloaking shields to make an appearance, at last. They've been tantalizing us on that list for ages. I've been replaying some Mass Effect recently, which has a lot of lore about stealth systems, and I thought some of their concepts would translate quite well to Hazeron's existing mechanics.
Detection in Hazeron basically works by emissions. We know this because of the "emissions" detected on your starmap, and because spacecraft on the ground without power can't be detected. As in Mass Effect, your "cloaking shield" could basically be a giant heat sink. It can absorb emissions up to a certain threshold, after which it has to be discharged. While active, a cloaking shield would protect a city or a ship from sensor scans and negate any starmap emissions. You couldn't lock onto it to fire a weapons bay, but you could look out of a window and see it, transport aboard it with manual aiming, shoot it with a turret etc.
The cloaking shield system would have an absorption rate and a buffer. The system would use heat sinks for a buffer, more advanced sinks (vulcium) being more effective than simpler ones. A Cloaking Shield Module (perhaps divided into tiers, like warp drives?) would modify the effectiveness of the sinks, according to its own quality. The volume of the system would define the absorption rate. Let's say a Q255 vulcium heat sink, used by a Q255 shield system, gives you a buffer of 10 joules (obviously the real value will be astronomically higher: many terajoules). Your ship draws 5 watts of power when manouevring normally. If you have 10 heat sinks in your hold, you can stay cloaked for 20 seconds, till all are consumed. Now, your system volume gives you an absorption rate of 3 watts. You are now putting the 2 overflow watts into the buffer, so you can last 50 seconds. When the buffer is full, or when the shield is deactivated, your ship will vent the stored energy in a burst, allowing it to be detected, possibly at long distances. In this example, using low power ratings, a Q87 system using Q87 cryo sinks might only buffer .3 joules per sink. If you have no sinks, you can't activate the shield at all. You need X sinks to press start- maybe enough for 10x the "idling consumption per second" value?
If you reduce your power draw, hurtle through a system with grav drives and sensors off, shields down etc., you might be able to stay cloaked for a long time. Some ships might be able to cloak permanently,but they would be good for little else. Perhaps you can't fire or use transporters while cloaked. Black Ops bases with good supply chains and low power requirements might be able to stay cloaked indefinitely. But warping around, manouevring or running lots of manufacturing processes will quickly exhaust your heat sinks.
I'll run some numbers, but I think this could be quite a solid basic mechanic. Any thoughts?
Detection in Hazeron basically works by emissions. We know this because of the "emissions" detected on your starmap, and because spacecraft on the ground without power can't be detected. As in Mass Effect, your "cloaking shield" could basically be a giant heat sink. It can absorb emissions up to a certain threshold, after which it has to be discharged. While active, a cloaking shield would protect a city or a ship from sensor scans and negate any starmap emissions. You couldn't lock onto it to fire a weapons bay, but you could look out of a window and see it, transport aboard it with manual aiming, shoot it with a turret etc.
The cloaking shield system would have an absorption rate and a buffer. The system would use heat sinks for a buffer, more advanced sinks (vulcium) being more effective than simpler ones. A Cloaking Shield Module (perhaps divided into tiers, like warp drives?) would modify the effectiveness of the sinks, according to its own quality. The volume of the system would define the absorption rate. Let's say a Q255 vulcium heat sink, used by a Q255 shield system, gives you a buffer of 10 joules (obviously the real value will be astronomically higher: many terajoules). Your ship draws 5 watts of power when manouevring normally. If you have 10 heat sinks in your hold, you can stay cloaked for 20 seconds, till all are consumed. Now, your system volume gives you an absorption rate of 3 watts. You are now putting the 2 overflow watts into the buffer, so you can last 50 seconds. When the buffer is full, or when the shield is deactivated, your ship will vent the stored energy in a burst, allowing it to be detected, possibly at long distances. In this example, using low power ratings, a Q87 system using Q87 cryo sinks might only buffer .3 joules per sink. If you have no sinks, you can't activate the shield at all. You need X sinks to press start- maybe enough for 10x the "idling consumption per second" value?
If you reduce your power draw, hurtle through a system with grav drives and sensors off, shields down etc., you might be able to stay cloaked for a long time. Some ships might be able to cloak permanently,but they would be good for little else. Perhaps you can't fire or use transporters while cloaked. Black Ops bases with good supply chains and low power requirements might be able to stay cloaked indefinitely. But warping around, manouevring or running lots of manufacturing processes will quickly exhaust your heat sinks.
I'll run some numbers, but I think this could be quite a solid basic mechanic. Any thoughts?
![[Image: 7JQk4bf.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/7JQk4bf.jpg)