Shield

Revision as of 15:41, 15 March 2011

Shields are one of the ten basic ship statistics that will define your capabilities in the game. Together with Hull, it represents the durability of your ship. Your current Shield strength is represented by a blue bar in the upper left portion of your screen (below the red bar which represents your Hull).

Benefits

Shields form a barrier outside your Hull to absorb damage from attacks. Incoming weapons fire will not cause any damage to your Hull until your shields have been eliminated (Reduced to 0 strength). Once the shield has been eliminated, incoming weapons fire will directly damage your Hull. If your Hull is then reduced to 0, your ship is disabled.

Equipping Shields therefore makes it harder for enemies to damage or disable you, because your shields will be able to absorb much stronger attacks.

Comparison vs. Hull

Pros

• Automatically recharges (Repairs) over time, but at a slow rate.
• Repair rate is based on a set percentage of current shields, so the stronger your shields are, the greater the amount that will recharge per "tick".
• Repair rate can be increased later in the game by equipping special Modules that reduce the time between ticks.
• Since they repair automatically over time, Shields do not require money to repair (But can be refilled with certain Artifacts or by spending Galaxy Points).
• Shield buff Artifacts provide double the effect compared to Hull buffs. (Shield buff = 100%, Hull buff = 50%)

Cons

• Less space/HP efficient than Hull (Hull provides more hit points per deck space than shields do).

Improvements

• Shield strength can be improved by installing Shield Modules on your ship.
• Shield repair rate can be improved by installing Shield Charge Modules on your ship.