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You can think of a shield as a sphere, completely enclosing the ship at a location just inside its [[Signature_radius|Signature Radius]]. [[File:QSG_shield_types.png|right|220px|alt=shield damage types (layers)]] Since the Signature Radius is the effective size of the ship – the area that is targeted by weapons – the shield intercepts any damage that occurs before it can reach the ship. At that point, the damage is filtered – some is rejected and the remainder is passed through to the ship's armor. | You can think of a shield as a sphere, completely enclosing the ship at a location just inside its [[Signature_radius|Signature Radius]]. [[File:QSG_shield_types.png|right|220px|alt=shield damage types (layers)]] Since the Signature Radius is the effective size of the ship – the area that is targeted by weapons – the shield intercepts any damage that occurs before it can reach the ship. At that point, the damage is filtered – some is rejected and the remainder is passed through to the ship's armor. | ||
The shield consists of four separate, overlapping spheres, called | The shield consists of four separate, overlapping spheres, called resistance layers, each of which protects against a different kind of damage. This means that the ship has a different shield resistance value for each of: [[Damage_types|thermal, kinetic, EM, and explosive]] damage. <span style="color:#ccffee">Resistance</span> indicates how much of that kind of damage will be rejected by the shield when the ship is hit by that kind of weapon. Resistance values are always shown in percentages – for example, "30% Thermal Resistance" means that the shield will reject 30% of the damage from any weapons hit that does thermal damage. | ||
[[File:QSG_shieldcapacity_dashboard.png|right|350px|alt=heads up display showing shield about half destroyed]]The shield also has a <span style="color:#ccffee">capacity</span> which shows how many hitpoints of damage it would take to destroy, or "drop", the shield. In combat this shows as the outermost of three red rings on the pilot's dashboard display. A ship's shield also has a <span style="color:#ccffee">recharge rate</span> which shows how fast the shield rebuilds itself while damaged. | [[File:QSG_shieldcapacity_dashboard.png|right|350px|alt=heads up display showing shield about half destroyed]]The shield also has a <span style="color:#ccffee">capacity</span> which shows how many hitpoints of damage it would take to destroy, or "drop", the shield. In combat this shows as the outermost of three red rings on the pilot's dashboard display. A ship's shield also has a <span style="color:#ccffee">recharge rate</span> which shows how fast the shield rebuilds itself while damaged. | ||