AndrewW said:
On the other hand the reflect could deflect the laser energy away from the receiver so the beam never bounces back to the originating ship.
I must say I'm not a big fan of the concept of reflec armour in general, because I really can't see how it could be designed without making the ship massively more detectable - after all the while point is that you're deliberately, massively increasing the ship's radiation signature which is never a good idea for a military ship. Ok you might be able to deflect the radiation to the sides, but then sensors somewhere else will see you light up, so any kind of decent sensor grid is going to pinpoint you pretty easily.
That's a general point on reflec though. To accept that reflec is a sensible design choice means assuming that there are ways round this issue. In the end the important thing is that it's an anti-laser coating rather than fine details of how it works.
On consideration I think it may be reasonable to suppose that at more advanced TLs than ours there may be ways to design a hull to achieve both effects. I think a combination effect like this should be more technically challenging and expensive than ether option on their own, but it's not worth messing with the rules on a minor point like this.
I think I have a valid point, but that point is based on current technology and this is one of those areas where I can't put my hand on my heart and say such limitations can never be resolved. Objection withdrawn.
Simon Hibbs
