Shield belt

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 shield belt unless at point-blank. Shield belts lose power for 3,200 ticks (53.33 secs) before rebooting when their electrical resistance reaches zero. They will recharge starting from 20 points, meaning they can be easily broken once again.

Visuals

The shield takes the form of a white bubble around them, which will shrink and diminish as the charge reduces and will vanish if the shield is downed. It shows up when the colonist is drafted, or under ranged attack.

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.

Shields take 3.3x damage from attacks (i.e. 3.3 charge blocks 1 point of damage). Upon impact, it also blocks all damage from a single projectile even if it can completely destroy the shield with more to spare.

Quality	Awful	Shoddy	Poor	Normal	Good	Superior	Excellent	Masterwork	Legendary
Maximum charge	77	88	99	110	121	138	154	176	204
Recharge rate (energy per second)	10	11	12	13	14	14	15	15	15

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.