Mass effect fields CAN protect against space-vaccum conditions, hazardous gases, liquids, wind velocity, and extremes in temperature. If they could not then:
* Joker would have been dead in the Prologue (Normandy cabin pressure maintained by a barrier)
* Mordin would spontaneously combust every time his omni-tool generated an Incineration blast (heated particles contained in a mass effect field)
* Shepard and the team would freeze to death every time s/he powered up the Avalanche heavy weapon (super-cooled particles contained within a mass effect field).
* Shepard and the away team would be sucked into the Tartarus debris field when attempting to engage the Oculus (breaches contained by mass effect fields)
* The crew would die during the epilogue (mass effect fields covering breaches in hull)
Atmosphere, gases, chemicals, and particles have mass; heat and cold are transfered by contact with rapidly moving or slowly moving particles. If it has mass it can be contained, repulsed, or moved by a mass effect field.
The reason why the Codex entry for Kinetic Barriers states they "do not protect against temperature, gases, or toxins" has nothing to do with the application of mass effect fields themselves. It is because the Codex entry is based on the original ME1 concept for kinetic barriers, and specifically there use in combat. In that definition they were battery powered emitters that created a temporary mass-raising field in response to velocity sensors in your combat hardsuit. They could not normally protect against these things because they were not constantly generated/replenshed.
This is somewhat different in Mass Effect 2. In terms of characters like Jack (and other biotic specialists), she is not protected by a shield-producing combat hardsuit at all. Instead she is shielded by a passively generated biotic barrier. We know this barrier is generated/replenished continuously in combat because it would be impossible for her to sense every single protectile moving from every direction on the battlefield AND then rapidly raise a short-lived barrier to stop it. A biotic who can negate the mass of a YMIR mech, Krogan, or Geth Prime with a telekinetic field should be equally capable of raising the mass of surrounding air molecules with negiligible effort.
In terms of Tech specialists who use shields, it can be assumed they use a more advanced kinetic barrier system. We know that Omni-Tools provided a shield bonus in ME1, and if a character is capable of overloading the shields/weapon systems of an enemy they should likewise be capable of re-routing a minor portion of that power to create an atmostphere-containing kinetic barrier. Air has less mass than a YMIR Mech missile, therefore keeping it in place would hardly seem a strain on power cells.
As for armor in general and the exposed skin on Grunt, Samara, Miranda, or Thane is no less "unrealistic" in combat than the option for Shepard to go an entire mission without wearing a helmet when fighting snipers with smart-targeting VI tech built into their weapons. A headshot is just as deadly as a heart-shot, and yet no one complains that helmets are not mandatory, even though Mark Vanderloo looks better without one.
In terms of the specifics of exposed areas as a danger, both in combat or enviroment I would say the following;
-With Grunt, a Krogan physiology may have tougher skin on their limbs, or the ability for blood vessels to retract deeper to avoid exposure and loss of body heat.
-Samara, or Asari in general, may have a high concentration of element zero nodules around their heart, lungs, or equivalent vital organs. The involuntary stimulation of these vitals by neural impulses may serve to explain why they are able to maintain barriers passively, and why she is able to leave these areas exposed.
-In terms of Miranda's exposed skin it would not be unrealistic for localized kinetic barriers, or just transparent-yet-resilient metamaterials to shield "exposed areas" but still allowing for personalized style. In Miranda's case she makes extensive use of her sexuality as a tool and weapon, and whether people would want to admit it or not the split-second neurological responses of someone seeing an attractive person may create all the time needed to attain an advantage in a firefight, or delude and enemy into targeting other hostiles first in the hope of capturing "that one" alive. Miranda may also have certain biological enhancements from here genetic modification to have augmented pheremone production, and there may be concentrations of pheremone producing sweat glands near her neck and chest, which would explain her sexual appeal beyond physical bodyshape.
As for the physical material itself, the fact of the matter is Miranda's attire may actually be more realistic in a future setting than the medieval-era concepts of armor some people demand as being "appropriate". Scientific discoveries in the real world today have given us materials like graphine--a material formed into a sheet with the thickness of an atom which has more strength than steel, and yet has the visual "flimsiness" of plastic wrap. We also have conceptual strides and discoveries in Metamaterials: materials created on a nano-scale which--because of their shape and sub-molecular size--could be capable of redirect things like sound waves, seismic waves, radiation, light, or kinetic force. That may seem "implausible" to some, but I imagine if you traveled back in time 500 years and told someone that a Kevlar chestpiece is what people in the future use as "armor" today they would probably raise an eyebrow as well.
Modifié par Darkstar Aurora, 14 avril 2011 - 11:31 .
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