Cloaking Device
A technology used to hide from an enemy by the Sulethis Republic.
To'rer'ot cloaking devices can vary in many ways. They have devised many ways to hide an object, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. They have also formed an important part of the SR starfleet and are important to the history of the faction.
Most Cloaking Devices work by directing incomming light around the starship, which will render it invisible. However, it must deflect all frequencies of electromagnetic radiation as well as every particle to truly cloak. The SR has not yet mastered this, but can cloak to most frequencies and particles, making them hard to hit. However, the energy emission of weapon fire and FTL travel will reveal the ship immediately.
Some forms of cloaking device may not involve beinding radiation around the starship but instead making the starship transparent to those frequencies. These kinds of devices perform more reliably than the normal cloaking devices but also make it harder for the crew in the ship to see around. Some crew members have experienced being in a totally invisible (to the eye) starship at which point they will see the black of space in all directions.
Hyperion Federation also has similar cloaking devices. Those of the HF are extremely powerful and are capable of suppressing most of the energy signature of the ship, but require a lot of energy. Due to this, and the difficulties of hiding the energy signature from both the antimatter annihilation core and the thruster plumes, all HF cloaking capable ships are often built around its cloaking device and requires a lot of internal space. This makes it nearly impossible to use them on most ships. Currently the only HF ships with cloaking devices are the Planetary Assault Ship and Polariton - Class Destroyer. Both of these make a lot of sacrifices to mount a cloaking device. However, HF cloaking is also designed to be of an incredibly high standard. The HF goes through the efforts to make their ships transparent when cloaked rather than directing radiation around them. The crew would see nothing except space during these operations, if the onboard system didnt interfere with their eyes allowing them to 'see normally'. This makes a HF ship almost completely undetectable by any method that is short of a very deep scan. Despite these extremely advanced methods, however, even a HF cloaking device cannot hide the immense energy signature spike of weapons fire. If it opens fire - or takes fire - this will cause it to decloak. Additionally, no technology can operate at high power due to a similar energy emission phenomenon. Cloaking devices have, despite the limitations, proven highly useful to HF strategists. Of course, no faction can shoot what they cant see, so the tactical value because of this factor alone is immense. These have also allowed commanders to strike from unexpected angles and performing flanking moves easily. Cloaking deivces are a particular favourite of the United People of Zatrides. That HF star nation has always relied on these machines in war, able to deploy fleets well behind enemy lines and wreck enemy supply lines. They would also often make use of a highly angled, reflective hull to roeduce their radar cross section. Even before they made contact with the HF, they have also been known to make use of cloaked missiles and torpedoes, however the energy signature of their propulsion systems is significant enough to overwhelm the cloaking device at that scale. Though detectable, they can be harder to target accurately. The Irziell of the HF have experimented with using photon thrusters so that the emitted thruster flare would not be seen by the enemy.
The Xalarin Council is another faction that makes use of cloaking devices. They are quite uncommon in the XC miltary, but they are usually used to ambush the enemy and for esipnage. These cloaking ships are also often very sharp to reduce the radar cross section in normal conditions in case the cloaking device fails. This is especially useful when they come under fire or start shooting at targets themselves. Most particles, including photons, that are reflected off these ships will cause the armour to release an equivalent, inverse particle that cancels both out via destructive wavefunction interference. Due to the Pauli exclusion principle, this is impossible to do against any particles that cannot be in the same position at the same time, such as electrons or neutrons. The outer layers of the armour are comprised of a material that attempts to absorb these particles, putting into perspective how advanced this material is. As such, XC ships with this armour scheme are always 'cloaked', and are invisible to the naked eye. However these ships are quite expensive and this armour composition is weak structurally, so it will probably be destroyed if hit with larger caliber weapons. This is closer to a passive cloaking method rather than active. The composition of this material is a secret they have managed to keep for thousands of years.
Hyperion Federation also has similar cloaking devices. Those of the HF are extremely powerful and are capable of suppressing most of the energy signature of the ship, but require a lot of energy. Due to this, and the difficulties of hiding the energy signature from both the antimatter annihilation core and the thruster plumes, all HF cloaking capable ships are often built around its cloaking device and requires a lot of internal space. This makes it nearly impossible to use them on most ships. Currently the only HF ships with cloaking devices are the Planetary Assault Ship and Polariton - Class Destroyer. Both of these make a lot of sacrifices to mount a cloaking device. However, HF cloaking is also designed to be of an incredibly high standard. The HF goes through the efforts to make their ships transparent when cloaked rather than directing radiation around them. The crew would see nothing except space during these operations, if the onboard system didnt interfere with their eyes allowing them to 'see normally'. This makes a HF ship almost completely undetectable by any method that is short of a very deep scan. Despite these extremely advanced methods, however, even a HF cloaking device cannot hide the immense energy signature spike of weapons fire. If it opens fire - or takes fire - this will cause it to decloak. Additionally, no technology can operate at high power due to a similar energy emission phenomenon. Cloaking devices have, despite the limitations, proven highly useful to HF strategists. Of course, no faction can shoot what they cant see, so the tactical value because of this factor alone is immense. These have also allowed commanders to strike from unexpected angles and performing flanking moves easily. Cloaking deivces are a particular favourite of the United People of Zatrides. That HF star nation has always relied on these machines in war, able to deploy fleets well behind enemy lines and wreck enemy supply lines. They would also often make use of a highly angled, reflective hull to roeduce their radar cross section. Even before they made contact with the HF, they have also been known to make use of cloaked missiles and torpedoes, however the energy signature of their propulsion systems is significant enough to overwhelm the cloaking device at that scale. Though detectable, they can be harder to target accurately. The Irziell of the HF have experimented with using photon thrusters so that the emitted thruster flare would not be seen by the enemy.
The Xalarin Council is another faction that makes use of cloaking devices. They are quite uncommon in the XC miltary, but they are usually used to ambush the enemy and for esipnage. These cloaking ships are also often very sharp to reduce the radar cross section in normal conditions in case the cloaking device fails. This is especially useful when they come under fire or start shooting at targets themselves. Most particles, including photons, that are reflected off these ships will cause the armour to release an equivalent, inverse particle that cancels both out via destructive wavefunction interference. Due to the Pauli exclusion principle, this is impossible to do against any particles that cannot be in the same position at the same time, such as electrons or neutrons. The outer layers of the armour are comprised of a material that attempts to absorb these particles, putting into perspective how advanced this material is. As such, XC ships with this armour scheme are always 'cloaked', and are invisible to the naked eye. However these ships are quite expensive and this armour composition is weak structurally, so it will probably be destroyed if hit with larger caliber weapons. This is closer to a passive cloaking method rather than active. The composition of this material is a secret they have managed to keep for thousands of years.
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