Abefroeman said
A reactor has a set safe operating level, I think we can all agree on that. Nuclear, magical, cold fusion, etc. You can skirt around the safeguards for a little while to boost up the power output, but at the risk of damaging the reactor, or other components associated with the reactor/core/power plant. You use your magic stores, coupled with a mechanical/magical physical device to provide the power for your shields. I would assume that the runes and gems powering the shield, and perhaps other devices are a weak point, and while they are heavily defended no doubt, even to get a glancing blow or a to damage one of the runes or gems would hamper the effectiveness of your shield.
If one of the gems are runes gets knocked out then them whole shield system fails. Building complex devices with magic requires you be very precise. So in theory if a team sneaked on to a station they could just pop out a gem on the shield projector and knockout the entire shield. A severe weakness when it comes to using magic for building all of your complex systems. However they are heavily defended and not the easier things to access.
Abefroeman said
I take it that these components are placed in strategic locations, which would only make sense, like any other defensive system. So, over time, your manafusion reactor outputs power, but, its fuel source, magic, is at least in my mind, a finite amount stored into perhaps fuel rods, or some sort of holding device that allows the storage of mana/magic for refinement into power. Now, I am taking a guess that you have to in a sense, "mine/collect" this mana/magic for your reactors, something that at least from my educated guess, is not done on the fly, but rather at a ship yard or fuel facility. Now, when more power is drawn from the storage device, the less it has to offer as it is depleted. The reactor, as it spins up to provide more power for increased shielding or other systems, would heat up, degrading its output by a certain percentage, correct?
The fuel source for manafusion reactors is fuel you normally use in a regular fusion reactor but it has magic imbued into it. This can't be done on the fly so a fleet either needs to refuel at a depot or have freighters coming along with it. Manafusion reactors actually benefit from increased heat, however there is a certain point were it will start breaking important components within the reactor, so the reactor output has to be carefully controlled. Larger vessels use more then one for the reasons mentioned.
[quote=Abefroeman]
So, your shields are strong, they can withstand the first few hits, but, would they hold up in a prolonged engagement? Your fuel source in my minds eye is mana. It can be regained, but, it has to be done at rest, rather than combat, or, per say, that while in combat, it regenerates slow, very slow compared to being in a calm meditative or at ease stance. Kind of drawing from my experiences with Larping, DnD, and WoW, to try and understand. I am not taking any sides, but merely wishing to better understand something as this, within the realms of our roleplay's universe. And by universe, I mean like the setting in which our roleplay takes place in.
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Whether the shields stand up or not depends on what is happening in the engagement and the strength of the weapons the enemy side is using. Mana can be regained during combat, but at such a slow rate you need other things to keep the supply going to the troops or switching them out and giving troops periods to rest after they have been in a engagement.