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This topic has moved here: Subject: Forerunner weapons and Defenses.
  • Subject: Forerunner weapons and Defenses.
Subject: Forerunner weapons and Defenses.

I have to ask this, after seeing it said many times.

People refer to Forerunner weapons as being able to rip through other factions/universe's shields due to being 'hard light' or 'pure light'

If this is true, that means the Forerunner shields have no shields then right? Because if their shields were transparent, the weapons would pass through them harmlessly. If their shields were solid, they couldn't fire out.

  • 08.02.2011 11:16 AM PDT

"On the seventh day, god did not rest, but rather he created 64 player multiplayer!"

I believe they're able to control the shielding around their weapons so that they don't need to turn the shield off every time they want to shoot at something. They would be a serious design flaw, lol.

  • 08.02.2011 11:34 AM PDT
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Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?

Forerunner ships use Barriers, which the name alone tells you it is stronger than a shield.

  • 08.02.2011 11:35 AM PDT

And could you all please post references to whatever insanely thing your talking about.

  • 08.02.2011 11:37 AM PDT
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"but you already knew that, I mean, how couldn't you?

Only when no Human brick is left atop another, shall we be satisfied with your destruction.


Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
I have to ask this, after seeing it said many times.

People refer to Forerunner weapons as being able to rip through other factions/universe's shields due to being 'hard light' or 'pure light'


Well, I bet they don't present any actual evidence for that happening, it doesn't happen within the Halo universe at any rate.
While I'm reasonably comfortable with Forerunner hard-light/beam weapons overpowering other factions shields (we see the onyx sentinels do this fighting a covenant fleet) to my knowledge there is no indication they can just ignore an enemy shield system.

If this is true, that means the Forerunner shields have no shields then right? Because if their shields were transparent, the weapons would pass through them harmlessly. If their shields were solid, they couldn't fire out.

Not necissarily.
We don't know anything about the shield's mechanism or manner of function, it could even conceivably be one-way, or they open small holes to fire out of as the Covenant do.




Posted by: grey101
Forerunner ships use Barriers, which the name alone tells you it is stronger than a shield.


The name is irrelevant, we can't draw any conclusions from a name. For example, ships in Mass Effect use barriers, ships in Star Wars use shields, I'd rather have a SW shield any day...

[Edited on 08.02.2011 11:54 AM PDT]

  • 08.02.2011 11:52 AM PDT


Posted by: Fin5434p

Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
I have to ask this, after seeing it said many times.

People refer to Forerunner weapons as being able to rip through other factions/universe's shields due to being 'hard light' or 'pure light'


Well, I bet they don't present any actual evidence for that happening, it doesn't happen within the Halo universe at any rate.
While I'm reasonably comfortable with Forerunner hard-light/beam weapons overpowering other factions shields (we see the onyx sentinels do this fighting a covenant fleet) to my knowledge there is no indication they can just ignore an enemy shield system.

If this is true, that means the Forerunner shields have no shields then right? Because if their shields were transparent, the weapons would pass through them harmlessly. If their shields were solid, they couldn't fire out.

Not necissarily.
We don't know anything about the shield's mechanism or manner of function, it could even conceivably be one-way, or they open small holes to fire out of as the Covenant do.


I think its based around how if I can visibly see something on an optical plane, and thusly light is hitting it, then a light ray would be able to touch, and thus destroy, it. Ships that use invisible shields, for example, would succumb to such an attack using light as its weapon.

As for Forerunner shields, I believe they're called barriers, which implies a physical....well, barrier defending the ship. This is not like simple energy shields, mind you, where the energy itself is the shield. Barriers are possibly hard light walls.

Now Hard Light, being a physical element, would need a physical barrier to stop it, not just an electronic shield. The argument is that a semi-solid substance like that of the shields in say, Star Trek, would be ignored by a light ray because of the properties of light.

  • 08.02.2011 12:00 PM PDT
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Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?

Fin keep it halo. a BARRIER is going to be stronger than a shield.

and and shields didn't even flare up when the onyx sentinels merged and attacked covie ships IIFR

  • 08.02.2011 12:05 PM PDT


Posted by: Fin5434p

or they open small holes to fire out of as the Covenant do.

Remember when John and two other Spartans boarded the Covenant ship? They had to wait until the exact moment the shields dropped when the weapons fired to get in.

Covenant ships did have to drop their shields to fire

  • 08.02.2011 12:05 PM PDT
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"but you already knew that, I mean, how couldn't you?

Only when no Human brick is left atop another, shall we be satisfied with your destruction.

Posted by: ROBERTO jh

I think its based around how if I can visibly see something on an optical plane, and thusly light is hitting it, then a light ray would be able to touch, and thus destroy, it. Ships that use invisible shields, for example, would succumb to such an attack using light as its weapon.


Covenant shields are not visible unless taking damage, yet they block ship based pulse lasers and occasionally even the infantry-scale ones can block a spartan laser (heavy antimaterial).
It appears as if there is a certain 'energy threshhold' involved, where the shield will actively try to block anything energetic enough, while allowing low-energy things through (light, air in the case of infantry shields).


As for Forerunner shields, I believe they're called barriers, which implies a physical....well, barrier defending the ship. This is not like simple energy shields, mind you, where the energy itself is the shield. Barriers are possibly hard light walls.


It seems very likely they are hard-light constructs, their sentinels also use Covenant-style shielding, for what that's worth. Their ships may use both.

Now Hard Light, being a physical element, would need a physical barrier to stop it, not just an electronic shield. The argument is that a semi-solid substance like that of the shields in say, Star Trek, would be ignored by a light ray because of the properties of light.

That depends on the function of the shield, which we don't know, it could have weaknesses against a certain form of attack, or it could stop everything equally, we just don't know.



Posted by: grey101
Fin keep it halo. a BARRIER is going to be stronger than a shield.


Based on what Grey?

The terms are pretty much interchangeable, I'm sure Forerunner defence systems are better than say, Covenant ones, but the Forerunner ships also put out a lot more power anyway. Using a different word doesn't make in intrinsically better. If you used a Forerunner reactor to power a Covie shield I'd think it would be pretty good too don't you?

and and shields didn't even flare up when the onyx sentinels merged and attacked covie ships IIFR

I thought they did, but not got the book to hand.


Posted by: Steelflex

Remember when John and two other Spartans boarded the Covenant ship? They had to wait until the exact moment the shields dropped when the weapons fired to get in.

Covenant ships did have to drop their shields to fire


It dropped a small section around the pulse laser turret if I recall correctly, the shield around the rest of the ship stayed up.

  • 08.02.2011 2:21 PM PDT