Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero

Name: Optic Stealth Shield
Cost: $25,000
Weight: 1 Ton
Function: Optic Cloaking
Mounts On: All Terrestrial Zoids
Mount Location:
--Mounts internally to all Zoids. This part cannot be mounted with any other EP Part. This modification is permanent.
In Brief: The Optic Stealth Shield works similarily to the stealth shield on a Helcat: it renders the Zoid completely invisible. The field, however, is less effective on zoids without noise suppression and heat suppression.

Description: Those few elite Zoids that can hide themselves from view are among the most feared and prized by Zoid Pilots. All such Zoids, ranging from the stealthy, Panther-typed Helcat to that Jack-of-all-Trades, the Shadow Fox, to the humble Guysack, had some way to disappear. In the case of the Helcat, it was a specialized Optic Stealth Shield, which simply rendered it invisible. Combined with a number of other powerful stealth systems, the Helcat lived up to its name as a Panther. The Shadow Fox relied on a combination of camouflage and smoke dischargers to keep it concealed in all situations, useful for sneak attacks and confusing the enemy. The Guysack, poorly equipped though it might be, has smoke dischargers to cover its burrowing attempts. Other Zoids had other methods of concealment. For example, the Snipe Master has the unique ability to displace its image. The Revenge Trap, the older brother of the Guysack, combines camouflage and burrowing ability to perform sneak attacks.

The good people at the Extra Potential corporation knew all this, and, as capitalist society would have it, was also looking for a new source of money. They knew that the introduction of a generalized stealth part into the world of Zoid Battling would earn them a bundle of cash. So they set the engineers to work on it. Smoke Dischargers? So crude? The engineers shook their heads. The displacement ability of the Snipe Master was a specialized, dedicated system. It seemed unlikely that they'd be able to replicate it. That left the options of adaptive camouflage or an Optic Stealth Shield. The powers that be in the corporation's management, knowing that the Stealth Shield sounded more impressive and would sell better, commanded them to pursue the latter option. The engineers knew that this would be harder, but grudgingly agreed. (They liked their jobs, you see.)

Several years of blood, sweat, and tears later, this was the result. Ripped straight from the Helcat and then adapted in a few dozen ways, the Optic Stealth Shield functions as follows: The Optic Stealth Shield allows the equipped Zoid to vanish at will, plain and simple. Poof. Gone. The only thing that’s left is a very slight optical blurring effect which is difficult to notice, and breaks up when the Zoid is moving. There are a few other items of note: 1) Whenever the Zoid fires a ranged weapon, it decloaks for a fraction of a second. 2) If the Zoid is hit with enough firepower to any one spot on its body, it will decloak for a fraction of a second. However, since the Stealth Shield is a combination of internal systems and special paint, it’s difficult to outright destroy. Also note that the Stealth Shield can block some forms of radar, like basic radar, but not 3D Doppler Radar.

Two items of note: one major development in the Optic Stealth Shield made by the EP engineers is that the equipped Zoid can now optically see without the aid of say, IR sensors. That means that this part isn't restricted to Zoids with fancy things like radar and infrared detection. Secondly, equipping this part to a Zoid that already has an Optic Stealth Shield will merely allow it to use its Stealth Shield without having to use IR or other sensors, and will give it redundancy of internal components. Nothing else.