Blast plates

From Reach

Blast plates are a new form of defense specifically created to stop Silicon Crawlers. The defensive seeds fired by crawlers seek silicon, and are able to send creeper tendrils through 3 cm of Tilum within 12 seconds. This means that even a glancing hit can destroy a vehicle, as the seeds will destroy all control electronics in a matter of minutes. The response to this was a series of armored plates on the outside of the vehicle that are mounted with explosive bolts. An onboard computer detects the presence of Silicon Crawlers, then activates the system. Any hit by a defensive seed will cause the armor plate to violently eject itself from the vehicle, preventing the seed from penetrating further.

However, the protection provided by this device is not unlimited. Due to weight concerns, only one layer of armor is fitted with blast plates, meaning that a hit in the same location will scrap the vehicle. The notable exception is Hell's Fury Garage, a repair station next to the Equatorial Desert that retrofits vehicles for desert crossings. They have created a double layer system of armor plates that provides an extra level of protection, at the cost of making each of the armor plates only 1.2 cm thick. This provides greater protection against crawlers, but leaves the vehicle more vulnerable to standard threats.