Force Fields

[Darth Zakryn]

I found new facts for the force field argument debate.

It is thought by Elfangor in the Andalite Chronicles that the Jahar is well-shielded, and as anyone who's the read book knows, the Jahar is an Andalite fighter, Alloran's personal fighter, but a fighter nonetheless, showing that Andalites CAN and DO shield their fighters. So the Yeerks, who have stolen technology from them, can probably do the same. YET IT NEVER LOOKS LIKE IT!

In #1. The Invasion, Elfangor's fighter and a Bug ship blow each other up without encountering force fields.

In #2. The Visitor, "a bulldozer going nine miles per hour caused one of these things to explode!" to quote poparena.

In #11. The Forgotten the shockwaves from the laser explosion caused the ships to crash. No mention of force fields.

In #18. The Decision several low-flying Yeerk and Andalite ships are blown apart. Still no mention of force fields.

In #25. The Extreme the Blade ship blows up the Bug fighter. Force fields are not mentioned once, though somewhat justified.

In #30. The Reunion I think a few Bug fighters are destroyed by the Empire ship. Once again, force fields are not present.

In #34. The Prophecy the Andalites in a Bug fighter destroy another Bug fighter to aid an Andalite ship. ONCE AGAIN, FORCE FIELDS SEEM TO BE A FOREIGN CONCEPT! Are ALL ships unshielded despite the fact that their pilots claim that they have shields? WHAT IS THE LOGIC HERE?

I could go on and on, but... you get the point.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I guess when you're describing a space battle in a SCI-FI series, it's a lot more epic to mention Bug Fighters blowing up, rather than saying, "The shields blocked the blow."

[Unknown User]

I don't remember which book it is, but there is one where the Animorphs escape the pool via a bug fighter. Ax mentions the sheilds plenty of times in that one as they are being shot by controlers and bouncing off the walls.

[zazuban]

The shield could possibly drain engine power causing the ships to be slower,unable to make sharp turns,or unable to engage the enemy. At leats that's the way it sounds to me.

[wildweathel]

Of course they have forcefields.  You can't maneuver effectively without some kind of force field or the acceleration of your engines would squish your crew flat and micro-meteor impacts would blast away your ship's hull.  (The solar wind is brutal at 80% of light speed.)

But, who says that you have to mention force fields every time they get overloaded?  Would a well-written description of a car crash analyze the deformation of each and every structural member??