System Spotlight: Force Fields

Sol, Genari, and Ma'Alaketh have Force Fields, aka shields -- they can be powered up and act as additional defense, absorbing incoming damage.

Shield Tiers:
Tier 1 - for every power applied, 1 shield point is available (force fields usually don't exceed 12 strength)
Tier 2 - for every power applied, 2 shield points is available (force fields usually don't exceed 20 strength)
Tier 3 - for every power applied, 3 shield points is available (force fields usually don't exceed 30 strength)

The higher the tier, strength and so on, the greater the weight and crew requirements.

SOL - All Sol ships have some sort of force field, usually tier 1 for weaker ships, tier 2 for the rest; only a few of the most powerful and specialty ships have tier 3.

Genari - Lower tier Genari ships don't have force fields, and rely on armor instead. Otherwise tier 1 and tier 2 force fields are common. They've hit a technology limit however; they have not exceeded 16 strength tier 2, and have not been able to achieve tier 3.

Ma'Alaketh - All their ships have at the minimum of a tier 2 force field, all the way to tier 5.

 

Yes, part of the strategy is to determine what sides to charge -- and how much. Since you have limited power, you normally can't fully charge all sides without sacrificing everything else.
6 sides: Forward/Forward-Fort/Forward-Starboard/Aft/Aft-Starboard/Aft-Port

 

Yes, shield systems can get damaged individually based on the side -- so if a weapon hits that force field generator on say, the forwars/starboard arc, it is down until repaired.

Once a force field is charged in that arc, it cannot be shifted to another arc -- not until the next power allocation round.

There's no plans for a touch screen interface, but its mostly mouse/keyboard with keyboard shortcuts that you can change. Though the touchscreen would be cool in the future -- sort of like STTNG

 

Tier 5 shields would only be on the most powerful (Battleship, Dreadnought) classes of Ma'Alaketh. They would peak at 50.

 

Yes, the Science Officer (or Tactical Officer) skill will boost the shields if they apply the skill. However, with a ship that has no force field, like the Type I Agile Flyer Corvette, the force field boost skill will have no effect.

 

The Hive have no forcefields whatever; they do however, rejuvenate their carapace through organic matter consumption (ie. heal their hull points) much more easily than the other races.

 

Yes, though we should move this part of the discussion to the Hive section.

 

You cannot see what shields an enemy has charged; neither can you see what their power distribution to other parts of their ships are. In my 'Space Wars' lore, there hasn't been any 'sensor' technology that allows you to identify what an enemy has applied to their ship in combat.
This makes the game more about trying to outwit an opponent, guessing what he/she may do with their shields, where they charged their force fields, what weapons they've activated, what power they've put to detecting you, and what weapons they've charged.
Of course, you can see when you hit a force field and it absorbs the damage, as well as when you see a force field side collapse and the weapon hits the hull, along with the associated sound effects.