HS-SHIELDS

From HSpace

HS-SHIELDS

HSpace supports two types of shields on vessels: Deflector(0) and Absorption(1). Ships that have shields must possess pairs of shields. That is, they must either have no (0) shields or 2 or 4 shields. HSpace does not currently support odd numbers of shields nor greater than 4 shields.

Absorption shields were used in versions of HSpace less than 4.0, and they work much like the skin on your body. The only difference is that you can't take your skin off, but let us pretend you can. When power is initially supplied to the absorption shield, the shield generator slowly begins to form a protective layer, the absorption shield. While the regeneration process may be slow, the shield can be lowered and raised subsequently without losing the charge of the shield. That is to say that the skin can be taken off and put back on without losing the strength of the skin. When an absorption shield is hit by an object or blast, it weakens. The shield regenerators will slowly begin to regenerate the shield. The shield loses effectiveness when its strength reduces to 0, at which point any objects or blasts pierce the shield to the underlying hull.

Deflector shields work by producing a semi-permeable shielding layer around the ship. They can be raised and lowered quickly and never need to recharge. They work by deflecting all incoming objects and blasts up to a given strength, which is their deflection strength. For example, a small deflector shield may be able to deflect the normal space debris that the ship encounters, but it may not be able to fully deflect a laser blast from another ship. The deflector shield will deflect all damage up to its strength value. Additional damage pierces the shield to the underlying hull. If the shield regenerators are damaged, the strength of the deflector shield is weakened.