The Relay Deflector is a way to boost shielding, and any other 'bubble' type ship system, for example, Fold and Continuum distortion. It was designed in YE 31 by Origin Industries.

The Relay Deflector is not a single item, rather it is a system of small deflection amplifiers (DeR’s) which help to augment, boost, and modulate systems such as shielding, Fold drives, and Continuum distortion systems. Instead of using the standard method of shield boosting via total area of the deflectors, it uses amplifiers which resonate the deflection and allow a smaller system to produce a larger bubble. This method allows a ship to house smaller, more efficient systems, while giving them the performance of larger system. The Minimum amount of Deflectors is four, with a maximum of 12.

• Nomenclature: OI-X2-SPE3100

Due to the nature of the resonance of the deflectors, also known as Deflection Resonators or DeR's, the end result is a constantly modulating shield, which changes frequency nearly infinitely, as long as the shield is turned on. This effect happens whether a shield system is capable of modulation or not. This effect can be harnessed to use smaller, more efficient, single-channel systems to produce a constantly modulated field, giving a shield overall greater power compared to what it would normally have. A major drawback is the amount of time it takes for shields to start up, being one full minute for each set of DeR's. Obviously, this means that a shield unit must be active for at least four minutes before it will start producing a shield, with twelve minutes being the maximum time.

Note that the modulating effect does not make shields more powerful, simply protects against more types of weaponry.

The DeR's allow a ship to produce a larger Fold 'bubble' than a Fold system is normally capable of which allows more items to be 'towed', but, as with shields, it takes time to build up the energy required to produce a larger bubble. However, not all of the DeR's need to be powered for a Fold drive to function. This allows for a minimum of two minutes for the system to be able to sustain a Fold 'bubble' capable of propelling a ship past the speed of light. Note the System does not increase the speed at which the ship's Fold system can make the ship 'travel'

Fold bubbles can be increased to double their normal size, with a maximum size of 5 cubic miles

Similar to the effects on Fold, the DeR's will increase the Distortion system's 'bubble' size, allowing more items to be 'towed'. However, the DeR's inherent modulation capabilities will increase distortion rates, causing the system to operate at a higher efficiency, meaning a smaller Distortion system may be used in place of a larger one. For every DeR, it takes the Distortion system two minutes to charge, meaning that the minimum charge time will be 8 minutes, with the maximum being 24.

Distortion bubbles can be increased to double their normal size, with a maximum size of 5 cubic miles

This article was created by Kai and was approved on 25/02/2010 Approval thread