Shields

In most types of combat, shields protect your armor. You can't have techs damaged if you don't lose armor, and you can't lose armor if your shields aren't broken.

Note that first, shields do nothing in combat with sector defenses. You've got to rely on your fighters to defend you there. And second, shields require energy. If you don't have sufficient energy, your shields won't be as high as they could be, and you'll need to restock on energy after each attack.

Also, remember, shields only have access to 40% of your overall energy. If your shields take 100 energy, you carry 200 energy, and your beams take 60 energy, that should leave 200-60=140 energy, which is plenty to fully supply both shields and beams, but since shields only have access to 40%, they can only use 40%*200=80 energy, which means that they will not be functioning at full capacity, and you'll have 200-80-60=60 energy left over.

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