Shields

Shields

Shields form an energy barrier when activated by the G key and use power from the reactors available. Each takes a certain amount of time to power up and you will soon see them flicker to life. While active your engine thrust is reduced to half, but you can charge your shield and deactivate it for maneuvers and it will maintain the charge until you exit the region, so you can bring the shields back online at a moment's notice when you need them. They will block enemy laser attacks from the outside until sufficiently weakened enough to cause the perimeter to collapse and have to recharge, indicated by a small icon with the sweep motion. In order to keep your shields up as much as possible, you can try to rotate different sides of the shield towards your attacker to sustain attacks longer, and/or disengage when part of your shield is looking weak to wait for it to regain full charge. You can also add backup shields that cover the same or roughly the same area, and of course there are many upgraded versions of the basic shield with a variety of stats on coverage, charge time, total charge, and mass.