Deflector Shields: Difference between revisions

* ''Stars!'' has shields that recover only between battles <ref>unless you choose [http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Regenerating_Shields Regenerating Shields] trait, in which case they regenerate 10% of the total each round, and their capacity ishas 40% greater infull the first placecapacity, but armor components are halved</ref> and stop beam weapons point by point, but absorb only 1/2 of torpedo damage (plus 1/8 of damage from ''missed'' torpedoes). Shield generators are very light, but far weaker than armor of comparable [[Tech Level]] - of course, often slots are shield-only or armor-only anyway. Conversely, beamBeam weapons always hit, have greaterlesser damagerange, andbut are light (allowing greater mobility), butalways havehit lesserand range,have whilegreater torpedoesdamage miss- awhich lot.shields Shield'sabsorb mainpoint advantageby ispoint. ''stacking'' from the whole token (all ships of the same type in this fleet)Conversely, so ''if there are enough of ships'', it takes twice as much to destroy the first one even with missiles. When there are much lesslong-ranged, shieldsmiss quickly becomea inferior to armorlot, whichbut inshields turnabsorb usuallyonly is1/2 inferiorof totheir mounting more weaponsdamage (ifplus the1/8 slotof allows).damage This have obvious strategical implications: e.g. 1x shield + 2x torpedo destroyers are cheaper andfrom ''strongermissed'' than their 3x torpedo counterpart... but ''only as long as you keep them in big enough packs'': e.g. with TL 0 shield and against TL 0 torpedo (but hull and armor at Construction TL 3) it takes 18 ships to fully use the advantage - neither you nor enemy are likely to have such fleets before a better design (which won't stack with them) is available; with shields on the same TL 3 in Energy it's 12, and with all TLs 6, it's only 9 ships. Later in the game both shields get better and fleets grow, so missiles become the main weapon again, despite introduction of both missile jammers and "shield sappers" that inflict even greater damage than other beam weapons, but only to shields (and shoot first, of courseones).

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has "unifield shields" that use [[Artificial Gravity]] to distort the paths of incoming attacks. Warships invariably use "breacher missiles" that emit a gravity pulse to try and push back. The author [[The Rant|expounds at length in a]] [[Foot Note]] about how shields would realistically be best portrayed,<ref>since they are designed to obstruct energy attacks of all forms, including visible laser light, they should technically obstruct the view of the ships they enclose entirely, leaving battles fought between blobs of darkness where the stars are obscured</ref> [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20071214.html2007-12-14 and how he portrays them with a distinct amount of artistic license.] He's also suggested that, if he doesn't have time, he would portray them realistically...