Shield belt

Shield belt

"A single-person energy shield device. It will attempt to stop any rapidly-moving projectile or energy attack that comes from a distance. It does nothing against melee attacks or shots from point-blank range. Additionally, it prevents the wearer from firing outside their own shield, as well."

Base Stats

Type

Gear – Armor

Market Value

1200 

Mass

3 kg

HP

100

Description

The shield belt is an electrical defense accessory worn by melee fighters to absorb projectiles by creating a bubble of energy. Its sturdiness varies according to quality and durability, normally being 110 points. It blocks projectile attacks both from the outside and from within, meaning colonists will not fire with an active personal shield. Personal shields lose power for 3,200 ticks (53.33 secs) before rebooting when their electrical resistance reaches zero. They will recharge starting from zero, so they can be easily broken once again.

Visuals

Pawns equipped with a shield belt will have a white bubble around them, which will shrink and diminish as the charge reduces.

• 

  Shielded colonists (left) and unshielded ones (right).

• 

  Full shield (left) compared to nearly depleted shield (right).

Stats

The following table lists how much protection a shield belt provides at each quality level, assuming full durability.
When damaged, shields can lose maximum charge and recharge slower.

Note that shields appear to take ~2.7x the damage that an attack normally does.

Quality	Awful	Shoddy	Poor	Normal	Good	Superior	Excellent	Masterwork	Legendary
Maximum charge	77	88	99	110	121	138	154	176	204
Recharge rate	10%/s	11%/s	12%/s	13%/s	14%/s	14%/s	15%/s	15%/s	15%/s

Tips

Shield belts make it viable to bait enemy fire without placing your colonists at serious risk. Simply equip a colonist with a shield and run them in front of your line. Enemy AI tends to target the closest victim possible so they'll target your shield bait. This is especially effective against mechanoids to absorb those lethal charge lance shots and stray minigun hits, or rocket-wielding raiders to take a direct rocket hit without much of a scratch (though weaker shields will be destroyed in one hit).

It is also an important piece of equipment for melee colonists, as it blocks a significant portion of gunfire, allowing them to close in on ranged enemies to attack them.

Version History

• Prior to Alpha 17 it is called the Personal shield. It received a rename in Alpha 17, and also has a crafting recipe.