Low-shield pack

Low-shield pack

A single-use man-portable low-shield projector. Deployed on the ground, it generates a circular shield that allows bullets out but not in. The unit is designed to last only a short time before burning out.
Many ultratech combat squads owe their lives to a shield pack deployed at just the right time.

Base Stats

Type

Gear – Utility

Market Value

430 

Mass

3 kg

HP

100

Flammability

40%

Apparel

Coverage

Waist

Layer

Belt

Creation

Crafted At

Required Research

Shields

Skill Required

Crafting 4

Work To Make

14,000 ticks (3.89 mins)

Resources to make

1 + 1

Technical

defName

Apparel_PackBroadshield

thingCategories

ApparelUtility

thingSetMakerTags

RewardStandardMidFreq, RewardStandardQualitySuper

tags

BeltDefensePop

tradeTags

ExoticMisc

The low-shield pack is a single-use accessory added by Royalty DLC. It allows the user to deploy a circular shield that stops incoming projectiles but does not affect outgoing projectiles, or prevent pawns from moving through it.

Acquisition

As a complicated piece of technology, low-shield packs can only be made at the Machining table and requires Shields to be researched in order to be constructed. Crafting the shield pack requires  1 Shield core,  1 Component and takes 14,000 ticks (3.89 mins) to craft. Shield cores are only available from mechanoid clusters and trading.

Alternatively, this item can be received as a quest reward, bought or found on Raiders.

Summary

The low-shield pack is a single-use item that deploys a shield with a radius of 4.9 tiles. After 1,800 ticks (30 secs), it burns out. During that time it stops all incoming fire from passing into the bubble but does not prevent pawns inside from firing out. This is in contrast to the otherwise similar Skipshield psycast, which prevents all incoming and outgoing projectiles. A pawn does not need to be inside the shield to benefit from the effect, assuming the enemy is not inside the shield and that the shield is between them and their attacker the incoming rounds will be stopped. However, it does not prevent pawns from moving inside the shield and attacking. It is currently unknown if it is vulnerable to mortar rounds like its larger cousin, the bullet shield. However EMP grenades will disable the shield for 9 seconds, during which time the burnout timer will still count down. Futhermore, unlike Mechanoids, the shield projector will not adapt to the EMP effect. Its therefore possible to continuously disable the shield until the projector burns out.

The use of the pack creates a temporary structure called a Burnout Low-shield. It has 250hp. It is currently unknown if it can be destroyed manually.

NPCs equipped with the shield pack will deploy them when an enemy-fired projectile travels past them (friendly ranged fire will not trigger the pack). Note also that NPCs will occasionally end up walking outside of the effect of the shield.

Analysis

The low-shield pack is incredibly powerful in the right circumstances. Pawns equipped with shield packs can stand toe-to-toe against entire centipede raids on open ground. Their use can be also be integrated with other tactics, such as chokepoints with melee blockers to prevent being overrun with melee while the shield protects colonists from ranged attacks. Additionally, their instantaneous deployment means they can be used to intercept projectiles like doomsday rockets already in the air and completely destroy them, potentially protecting even those outside of their radius.

It is often much easier to acquire completed packs from NPCs than to farm mechanoid clusters for shield cores. Therefore, the ideal way to get them without deploying is to use melee pawns and either not used ranged or micromanage your ranged pawns to ensure that they don't target anyone near or behind the pawn with the shield pack. Bionic or archotech legs and/or a jump pack or locust armor paired with a strong melee weapon are recommended if the pawn is to be rushed, however use of the Skip psycast allows the wearer to be teleported into the middle of as many as 9 melee pawns and quickly downed.

Gallery

• 

  The deployed shield projector

Version history

• 1.2.2719 - Added.
• 1.2.2753 - Gave the broadshield pack a smaller drawsize, so that its icon/map-icon is more congruent with its appearance on a pawn. AI will now only deploy an NPC's Broadshield pack if the offending attacker is hostile to prevents friendly-fire causing activation.
• ? - Renamed from Broadshield pack to Low-shield pack. Broadshield Projector renamed to burnout low-shield.

See Also

• Skipshield - A 6th level psycast with that stops all incoming and outgoing ranged attacks in a similar radius but with a shorter duration.
• Bullet shield - a mechanoid cluster building that produces the same effect but larger and permanently.
• Mortar shield - a mechanoid cluster building that produces a similar effect but larger and tuned to mortar rounds only.

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Utility

Utility

Firefoam pop pack • Orbital bombardment targeter • Orbital power beam targeter • Psychic shock lance • Psychic insanity lance • Shield belt • Smokepop pack • Tornado generator • Low-shield pack • Jump pack • Orbital mech cluster targeter • Bandwidth pack • Control pack • Tox pack • Biomutation lance • Biomutation pulser • Deadlife pack • Disruptor flare pack • Shard animal pulser • Shard insanity lance • Shard shock lance • Turret pack