Shields

The most important defense of any ship, next to thick armor plating, is its shield generators. Any ship can have shields, although the amount of shields that can be equipped at the same time can vary from ship type to ship type. There is a large variety of different shield effects that can be used to enhance your ship. Some shields will provide your ship with a percentage reduction to all incoming damage, some shield may specialize against specific attack types or block ALL damage for a short while until it’s charge runs out. Most shields will have a limited duration, max shield health or a very specialized function which will require you to change between shields (if multiple are available) during play. Currently the exact method for switching shields has not yet been set in stone, but there will be both a manual way of doing this as well as automated in one form or another.

Stats:

 * Speed : The contribution of the engine to the ship's maximum speed
 * Acceleration : The rate of how fast a ship reaches its maximum speed
 * Deceleration : The rate of how fast a ship reaches zero speed
 * Rotation : The rate of how fast a ship can turn
 * Reverse : The speed the engine contributes to reverse movement
 * Side : The speed the engine contributes to side movement
 * Active or Passive : (not implemented yet)
 * Active Duration : The time in seconds the engine’s active effects last
 * Reload Cost : The supply cost to reuse the active effect if multiple activations are available
 * Reload Time : The time it takes until the active effect can be activated again