Light Intensity Artificial Darkness Natural Darkness Dusk, smoke, thick gas, etc. Average room light, cloudy day, minor smoke, etc. Bright room light, partly sunny day, etc. Intense artificial light, floodlight, sunny day High intensity concentrated light, powerlight, close proximity flare, etc. | SEU/10 turns 1/4 1/2 1 1.5 2 3 4 |
One SEU is drained each time the screen absorbs a point of damage from a laser.
Visible penetration of the shell is impossible while the LSS is on, but detection is possible in one of two ways. Infrared optics always show the proper heat image and location of an individual usuing a LSS. Ultraviolet optics show operating LSSs as areas of solid purple light.
Light shift screens are rare and expensive. Most civilized worlds forbid their use as they are prefereed devices of criminals, Sathar agents, etc.
There are three types of LSSs.
Type I: A Type I LSS bends all light away from the shell, thus creating a totally black area. This LSS types is usually used at night or by a character masking his identity.
Type II: The Type II LSS shifts the wearer's image away from his actual location to a distance of one to three meters in a fixed direction. The direction must be specified whenthe character purchases the device. Type II LSS devices that are found or taken from fllen foes can ahve their direction determined by using the Area Effect Weapon Miss Diagram. The shifted image that appears is an exact duplicate of the character using the LSS. This version of the LSS is often used by Star Lawmen and Landfleet officers to draw enemy fire away from themselves.
Type III: The Type III unit is a variation on the type II but instead of shifting a single image of the wearer it creates up to five images (at the wearer's option), all exactly the same. Type III LSSs always create the images in a side-by-side line, with up to three meters between each image. These LSSs are often used by Landfleet soldiers to draw fire away from themselves and to swell their ranks, thus confusing the enemy.
DEFENSIVE SUITS
Synthvelope: A sythvelope suit is a synthetic one-piece envelope
that absorbs the damage from proton beam weapons (rafflurs). For
each point of damage absorbed, the suit receives one point of
damage. When it has accumulated at least 100 points of damage,
the suit becomes useless. The suit must be stepped into from the
back and zipped up, completely encasing the wearer's body except
for the head. It isflexible enough even for a Dralasite to use.
Maser Mesh: Maser mesh is used to protect against maser attacks.
It resembles chainmail and can be purchased in different sizes.
Full maser mesh, which almost touches the ground, is heavy and
a bit cumbersome. While is completely nullifies the effect of
maser fire, it is also easily picked up by scanners and radar.
Partial maser mesh, similar in size to a long shirt, is lighter
and harder to trace than full mesh, but only absorbs half the
damage from masers.
A character wearing maser mesh is vulnerable to electrical attacks
and receives an additional 50% damage from them. Maser mesh does
not adapt well to unusual Dralasites shapes.
Dead Suit: A dead suit is a black one-piece synthetic garment
that resembles a wet suit. It masks the heat emissions of the
character wearing it, thus preventing any IR devices or heat scanners
from detecting the wearer.
Gridsuit: The gridsuit is probably the most unusual, sought after,
and expensive of defensive suits. Like skeinsuits, it comes in
both military and civilian styles. The military style is a camouflaged
uniform that has convenient patch pockets. The civilian style
can be any fashion desired, though this may increase the cost.
Much more important than the style is the inner lining of the
suit, a nullifying absorption field circuit that absorbs and dissipates
large amounts of energy. The suit can absorb up to 30 points
of energy damage per turn from lasers, rafflurs, masers, bolt
weapons, and electrical attacks before it allows damage to pass
through to the wearer.
If attacks cause more than 30 points of damage in a turn, the
excess damage is inflicted upon the wearer. The suit absorbs
damage in this fashion every turn. It is destroyed after 100
points of damage are received from projectile or gyrojet weapons.
It also comes in elasticized styles for Dralasites.