How do you get the Security stations to work?

[Niml]

out of simple off topic curiousity... how is it that toxigun rounds can pierce shields without harm while normal projectile weapons ie. the law pistol dont? why is it selective like that?

[NKF]

Perhaps it works like the shields in the Dune series? Slow moving weapons, such as a sword, can pierce the shield, but fast projectiles such as bullets are deflected.

 

Hmm, on second thought, the X-Com shields aren't the same as the Dune shields, as the toxiguns fire incredibly fast, and slower weapons such as the stun grapple and power sword do get obstructed by the shield.

 

Perhaps the toxiguns don't fire bullets or any other projectile at all. Perhaps it fires liquid blobs? No, shields deflect spitter bile. What about a semi-solid form, such as an ice crystal? No, that goes back to being a projectile. Darts, unless we're talking about nano-darts, would be too large to be packed into such a tiny ammo clip (or perhaps a nano-factory builds darts).

 

The shield obviously lets some things through. Like air. Oh yes, air is important. Can't have the shield protect you and suffocate you at the same time. This also lets gas particles through - such as stun and anti-alien gas. [1]

 

Hmm, perhaps if the projectiles fired by the toxigun encounter a shield they shatter on impact and release a small localised anti-alien toxin cloud? The anti-alien gas rockets that you can build later are perhaps large scale versions of the toxigun projectile with guidance systems and a huge toxin capacity? Nah, that's probably a bit too far fetched.

 

The toxigun's is quite an enigma.

 

- NKF

 

[1] One interesting thing about the shield is that it absorbs the impacts from falls. So if you fall from a very high place, the shield gets damaged, but not you, and you can easily run off as if nothing ever happened (no shock from the fall or anything). In reality, you'd have thought that the fall would break your neck, with or without a shield.

[Strong Bob]

You mentioned size, maybe shields are like wire fences, with lotsa holes in the surface. The darts could probably be thin enough to pass right through them. Of course, then the shields would be more like the ones on StarGate SG-1, which deflects air as well.

[Alan]

Or, consider this. the shields do work on a dune principle (fast objects are blocked) but slightly different.

 

they work on energy. high energy things get blocked, and those with little enough energy to be of no concern (ie: not cause damage) are passed. So, the lawpistol round which does all it's damage through it's kinetic energy, obviouslly has a fairly high level of kinetic engery when compared to the toxin dart.

 

law pistol round: heavier and faster => more KE.

toxin dart: slower and lighter => less KE.

 

this principle also works for things like lasers. sun light has a relavitvely low energy and so i passed, laser gun type light has more energy and so is stopped.

 

come to think of it.... you could extend this to partially explain cloaking fields....

[knight_of_the_ravens]

i think that the answer (or scientific answer) to the shield/toxigun question is, the shield and all alien weapons are made of alien organic materials....the toxins were made special,they were designed to screw up anything of the alien DNA...then it was made to also take out the micronoids...the shield must be generated not only with the demensional power source,but with the organic shield's own bio-electricity...with that,the toxins in the toxi-darts are able to pass unaffected by the shields....must be a coating or something...

[Niml]

but in the ufopaedia it doesnt say they are all made by organics. it states for example that the disruptor gun does not coincide in the usual alien design and that it may have originated in another alien culture. since the disruptor weapons are based on disruptor tech, and personal disruptor shields are based on disruptor tech, why would the toxins still hit aliens and not hit the shield at all... i think alan's theory may have some points, but if the pds is alien organics why wouldnt it take damage from toxi rounds? sorry just woke up and babbling....