Superconducting Armor
Armor made from thermally superconductive material.
Its primary use is anti-laser defense. (It cannot stop ionizing radiation capable of penetrating matter.) Ordinarily, photoarms do damage by concentrating heat on a small part of their target and burning through, but against a thermal superconductor this only results in the heat being distributed across the entire surface area of the target, massively diffusing the beam. Because the laser must now heat up much more material it will take far longer to deal damage, if it can at all. A radiator attached to the armor can be used to shed heat, and incoming fire can be resisted indefinitely with enough heat-rejection capacity. This can be either a simple fin of armor sticking out from the main hull, or an advanced high-temperature unit which requires less surface area.
Superconducting armor can be beaten by overloading its attached heat sink, at which point the armor will heat up until it loses its superconductive property and can be melted through. If there is a radiator attached one can try burning that off as well (unless it too is made of thermal superconductor). A clod of kinetic buckshot or a bomb can shatter the armor, but this can be countered by a kinetic barrier. (These two technologies are often used in concert to defend against both kinetic and energy weapons.)
Virtually all combat-rated spaceships have hulls covered in superconducting plating, and civilian craft use it as a heat shield for atmospheric entry.
Its primary use is anti-laser defense. (It cannot stop ionizing radiation capable of penetrating matter.) Ordinarily, photoarms do damage by concentrating heat on a small part of their target and burning through, but against a thermal superconductor this only results in the heat being distributed across the entire surface area of the target, massively diffusing the beam. Because the laser must now heat up much more material it will take far longer to deal damage, if it can at all. A radiator attached to the armor can be used to shed heat, and incoming fire can be resisted indefinitely with enough heat-rejection capacity. This can be either a simple fin of armor sticking out from the main hull, or an advanced high-temperature unit which requires less surface area.
Superconducting armor can be beaten by overloading its attached heat sink, at which point the armor will heat up until it loses its superconductive property and can be melted through. If there is a radiator attached one can try burning that off as well (unless it too is made of thermal superconductor). A clod of kinetic buckshot or a bomb can shatter the armor, but this can be countered by a kinetic barrier. (These two technologies are often used in concert to defend against both kinetic and energy weapons.)
Virtually all combat-rated spaceships have hulls covered in superconducting plating, and civilian craft use it as a heat shield for atmospheric entry.
Item type
Armor
Rarity
Ubiquitous
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