I have developed a theory on how spartan armor works.

Well, there is probably some sort of explanation of how it really works, but I was just bored and started thinking and this is what I came up with.

The titanium plating of the armor is infused with another metal, which with the help of Mjolnir’s computer tech can produce a “neutral” magnetic field around the armor. Neutral not being the actual charge of the field, but sort of a description as it is made to repel anything with a positive or negative charge to it.

Instead of the shielding actually deflecting incoming projectiles, it slows them down so that they do not penetrate the titanium alloy armor. Now when a projectile comes into contact with the field, the entire field is weakened. However, the one spot where the projectile impacted the field is generally weaker than the rest.

The reason behind the entire shields stability being lowered, is that the field was produced as one and takes damage as one. The impacted area will need to “suck” some of the energy out of the entire field to stop the projectile, while depleting most of its own to do so. As more and more projectiles hit the shield system it becomes harder for it to slow down each projectile.

Explosions and shotgun style weapons are very effective, as they overload the shield by striking the shield with multiple objects at once.

In my previous statements, the “projectile” was a single object, explosions and shotguns propel multiple projectiles which impact on a surface “fast” enough to say they “hit all at the same time”.

They hit the shielding system multiple times before its able to move extra energy to the damaged spots causing the shield to collapse and the titanium armor becomes vulnerable.

The explosion has fragmentation as well as a small EMP that is dispersed upon detonation of said explosive. The EMP however is only a small one and weak at that. It is the combination of EMP and shrapnel that would knock the shielding system down. This, however factors majorly on the position of said explosive, and the distance away from the blast zone. The farther the EMP will have to go the weaker it will get. Almost the same with shrapnel, although it is a solid projectile and can go a lot farther than the EMP could.

We will place our test subject just outside the range of the EMP’s area of effect. The shrapnel will hit the shielding system for sure, and cause it to lose a decent amount of strength, but the shrapnel isn’t as big or direct as shot from the shotgun.

The next test the subject will be placed in side the EMP’s area of effect.
When the explosive goes off, the first thing in the air is the shrapnel, then comes our EMP, and then heat/shockwave from the actual explosion.

The subject is struck in multiple spots weakening the shield system drastically, as we are even closer and the shrapnel has less distance to go, therefore it hits harder, as well as less of a spread, meaning more shrapnel hit the target than before.

Now lets move on to the EMP. An EMP is an Electro Magnetic Pulse. The EMP will interfere with the shielding system computer’s ability to function properly causing the already damaged shields to collapse.

The heat and shockwave from the explosion will damage the armor/test subject causing disorientation, and injuries like broken bones and fractures, burns, and possibly death.

Most of these examples are kind of made with the idea of a REAL set of Mjolnir powered assault armor being used in a realistic environment. If you have any comments or notice any large flaws in my theory please reply and whatnot. Also, please keep in mind that this is a THEORY not an actual statement of how I think the armor works. More of a statement of how i think it might work in a realistic life like environment.

Don’t take this as a ‘Hey wise guy’ statement, but your theory doesn’t explain why headshots take more damage. Sorry to be a pain!
If your ‘dispersing’ theory is correct, then why does a shot to the head cause more damage. Surely the impact would just be absorbed through the whole shield as there are no weak points…

Actually, its piezoelectric. Read the journal.

And i wont speculate how magical forcefields work, except to say that the meter shows shield CAPACITY, not shield strength, cue endless whining about bleed thru. And headshots are instant kill because shields cannot negate the laws of physics, the head still has to absorb the engery of that huge round somehow and it is probably enough to totally snap the neck. Go to reach and check out what happens if you shoot someone in the face with a DMR, the head snaps back but not enough to destroy the spine like a sniper round.

> Don’t take this as a ‘Hey wise guy’ statement, but your theory doesn’t explain why headshots take more damage. Sorry to be a pain!
> If your ‘dispersing’ theory is correct, then why does a shot to the head cause more damage. Surely the impact would just be absorbed through the whole shield as there are no weak points…

Didn’t see this as an antagonizing reply.

On topic though, I can’t really come up with an explanation of how and why a projectile striking the field around the helmet would take more damage than the body.

My only guess would really be that since the helmets field is much smaller than the others due to the small area the field must cover.

The projectile striking the head area of the armor would “suck” more of the energy out of the helmets shield. Although it will still damage the rest of the systems stability.

The area around the SPARTAN’s helmet is much smaller than the rest of the area that covers other parts of the body. A strike to the small area of the helmet would take more to replenish since the area is a lot smaller than the chest.
There is less shield covering the head.

I hope this satisfies your lust for fictional science.

> Actually, its piezoelectric. Read the journal.
>
> And i wont speculate how magical forcefields work, except to say that the meter shows shield CAPACITY, not shield strength, cue endless whining about bleed thru. And headshots are instant kill because shields cannot negate the laws of physics, the head still has to absorb the engery of that huge round somehow and it is probably enough to totally snap the neck. Go to reach and check out what happens if you shoot someone in the face with a DMR, the head snaps back but not enough to destroy the spine like a sniper round.

Thank you for that piezelectricwhatever. It made me think of pie. I want pie now. Atleast now i know what the right word, or pie is.

EDIT: Oh and where might i find this journal you spake of?

Limited edition Reach’s journal.

> Don’t take this as a ‘Hey wise guy’ statement, but your theory doesn’t explain why headshots take more damage. Sorry to be a pain!
> If your ‘dispersing’ theory is correct, then why does a shot to the head cause more damage. Surely the impact would just be absorbed through the whole shield as there are no weak points…

What?

Shooting someone in the head doesn’t deplete their shields any more than shooting them in the body.

If you shoot someone four times in the head with the DMR, then their shields would pop.

If you shoot someone four times in the body with the DMR, then their shields would pop.

> > Don’t take this as a ‘Hey wise guy’ statement, but your theory doesn’t explain why headshots take more damage. Sorry to be a pain!
> > If your ‘dispersing’ theory is correct, then why does a shot to the head cause more damage. Surely the impact would just be absorbed through the whole shield as there are no weak points…
>
> Didn’t see this as an antagonizing reply.
>
> On topic though, I can’t really come up with an explanation of how and why a projectile striking the field around the helmet would take more damage than the body.
>
> My only guess would really be that since the helmets field is much smaller than the others due to the small area the field must cover.
>
> The projectile striking the head area of the armor would “suck” more of the energy out of the helmets shield. Although it will still damage the rest of the systems stability.
>
> The area around the SPARTAN’s helmet is much smaller than the rest of the area that covers other parts of the body. A strike to the small area of the helmet would take more to replenish since the area is a lot smaller than the chest.
> There is less shield covering the head.
>
> I hope this satisfies your lust for fictional science.

I wouldn’t say the head is more susceptible at all. If you hit any part of the body with 4 shots from the BR in Halo 2 or 3, the shields will fall. The difference is that, when hitting the head, the remaining momentum of the bullet penetrates the head, killing the target instantly. So it’s not that the shields on the head are weaker or something, but the helmet itself is a vulnerable area of the Mjolnir system.

On topic: A very nice theory, OP. Good show!

> Actually, its piezoelectric. Read the journal.
>
> And i wont speculate how magical forcefields work, except to say that the meter shows shield CAPACITY, not shield strength, cue endless whining about bleed thru. And headshots are instant kill because shields cannot negate the laws of physics, the head still has to absorb the engery of that huge round somehow and it is probably enough to totally snap the neck. Go to reach and check out what happens if you shoot someone in the face with a DMR, the head snaps back but not enough to destroy the spine like a sniper round.

Actually, that’s the material that enhances the physical abilities of the wearer.