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Starships, vehicles, installations & personnel all employ forcefields for defensive purposes. The operating principal is the same all cases, with the particular configuration employed depending upon the specific role. Fields can be designed to repel/reflect physical objects and/or energy waves, and set up to intercept particular combinations of mass & velocity (for physical objects) or energy intensity (for energy waves).
The original application of the forcefield was to hold an artificial wormhole open while a starship travelled from one side to the other, protecting the ship from being cut in half by a premature closure. Starship forcefields were later improved, firstly to protect against cosmic rays and high speed particles, secondly as a defence during combat. Starships have forcefields fitted and calibrated during construction.
Land, air and space vehicles (dropships or shuttles) can also have forcefields built into them during construction. These can defend against attacks and are also used in conjunction with inertial dampers to help crew and passengers survive crashes.
Because a forcefield generator has to be calibrated to fit the forcefield around the building it is protecting, mass produced designs, that have already been proven to work, are more common. Existing installations can be retro-fitted with forcefields, but the work may be more expensive than demolition and replacement. Building forcefields are one of the few types of forcefield that do not have a clear non-combat role, so are less common in peaceful areas.
There are several types of forcefields that protect individuals. Most are worn on the head, and all have to be calibrated to fit the user before they can be switched on. Some, but not all, types protect against hits from weapons fire. Only one forcefield can be worn by a user at a time. Duel purpose forcefields combine the benefits of a standard 6-Hit forcefield with another type, but only have two thirds the life span of a Standard 6-Hit forcefield.
| Type | Hits Stopped | Special Defence |
|---|---|---|
| Standard 6-Hit | Yes (6) | Protection from handheld and low velocity weapons. |
| Anti-Gas | No | Keeps out harmful gases. (Mainly used for mining applications - some models also include a device to recycle internal atmosphere) |
| Anti-NBC | No | Keeps out nuclear, biological and chemical contamination. (An improvement on the Anti-Gas Forcefield - also includes a device to recycle internal atmosphere) |
| Anti-VAC | No | Keeps out cosmic rays and micro-meteoroids - keeps in air. (Also includes a device to recycle internal atmosphere). |
| Type | Hits Stopped | Special Defence |
|---|---|---|
| Stealth 6-Hit | Yes (6) | As Standard 6-Hit + suppressed energy output. |
| Anti-Gas 6-Hit | Yes (6) | As Standard 6-Hit + Anti-Gas. |
| Anti-NBC 6-Hit | Yes (6) | As Standard 6-Hit + Anti-NBC. |
| Anti-VAC 6-Hit | Yes (6) | As Standard 6-Hit + Anti-VAC. |
Micro-forcefields have various medical, scientific and technological applications.