Troop-Scale Shields

While the weapons of the Gungans are themselves unique and interesting, by far the most impressive achievement in their military development is their use of troop-scale shields. In the Star Wars films released before Episode I, we have seen shield technology used to protect ships, battle stations, and bases, but we had until now never seen it used to protect a ground force far away from its home base. Why this practice wasn't developed or adopted by other races is beyond me, as is the fact that in later years no known ground army uses the tactic at all. One would think that troop-scale shields would have been an enticing technological prospect to the Empire, and since Palpatine was a Naboo Senator, we can verify that he at least knew about them. Strange, indeed.

The Gungans have shield technology refined quite well: they use it for the domes of their cities, they use it for canopies on their submersible vehicles, and they have even developed shield generators small enough to be held by a ground soldier. The shields of their domes and the shields erected by the massive generators the Gungans strap to the backs of fambaa beasts during ground combat are particularly brilliant in their design. Obviously, shield generation takes a lot of power. The Gungans cut down on the amount of power needed for effective shielding by limiting the shield's penetration threshhold to a level that stops coherent energy (such as blaster bolts or energy-sheathed projectiles), but not solid matter; or, in the case of Otoh Gunga, the shields will stop fluids from entering, but not solid bodies (one has to wonder why the city isn't full of wayward fish that accidentally swim through, though...perhaps the city's shields will only admit bodies of a mass roughly equivalent to that of the average Gungan). By limiting a shield thusly, its effectiveness is diminished in one way, but since it uses so much less power than normal, its generator can be kept to a manageable size, making it viable for ground combat applications.

For large-scale troop combat, the Gungans eqip several fambaa to carry the large generators, which then combine their energy output into one massive shield dome. Additionally, the front line of troops carry hand-held units with skeletal metal frameworks, which make for personal shields roughly the size of a Roman tower shield or a Zulu hide shield; the hand-held version has an open center through which a blaster can be fired, even though the Gungans don't use blaster technology. Possibly the central opening is incorporated into the design to accomodate a protruding shock lance for holding enemies at bay.

Troop-Scale Shield game data

In my game universe, I see no reason why other cultures couldn't have developed similar technology, although I use it sparingly; after all, if it was common back then, why isn't it now? Use your own judgement in that regard, GMs.

Statistically speaking, the following game data can be used for the large dome shields:
+1D of protection against energy attacks per generator unit present and positioned in the field; positioning should be a perimeter around the force to be protected, unless only one generator is used, in which case it should be centrally-located. Only slow-moving objects can penetrate the shield, so +1 per generator versus physical attacks is also assumed. Once the shield has "dropped" due to damage or malfunction, it cannot be re-erected; the generators suffer serious damage in such cases and must be repaired first. The Scale of the shield is considered to be Speeder Scale.

For the personal shields:
+2D vs. energy, +1 physical. Personal shields are fragile mechanisms, and are very Difficult to repair. To block incoming blaster fire, the character must roll his Troop-Scale Shields skill dice, or, if he doesn't have the skill, a Mechanical roll with a -1D modifier. The shield's Scale, obviously, is Character Scale.

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