Design Bureau · Chapter 3 · Vanguard-class Heavy Cruiser
3.4 Defensive Systems
Layered survivability — regenerative multiphasic shields over a regenerative ablative armor matrix over a trititanium hull and structural-integrity field.
SCH-18 Defensive architecture · layered survivability
The Vanguard is built to take hits. Its survivability is layered, so that defeating one layer only exposes the next:
- Regenerative multiphasic shields — the outermost layer, re-modulating against adaptive threats and restoring collapsed sections from reserve faster than they can be brought down.
- Regenerative ablative armor matrix — a hull-conformal armor layer that absorbs and disperses energy a shield lets through, and regenerates between engagements rather than needing drydock.
- Trititanium hull & structural-integrity field — the load-bearing frame, reinforced and field-stiffened to survive impacts that breach the outer layers.
Critical systems sit at the centre of this onion, individually armored and compartmentalised, so that even a deep hull breach need not be a mission kill.