Shield belt
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Shield belt
A projectile-repulsion device. It will attempt to stop incoming projectiles or shrapnel, but does nothing against melee attacks or heat. It prevents the wearer from firing out, and shuts down instantly if hit by EMP.
Base Stats
Apparel
- Coverage
- Waist
- Layer
- Belt
Creation
- Crafted At
- Required Research
- Shields
- Skill Required
- Crafting 6
- Work To Make
- 14,000 ticks (3.89 mins)
- Resources to make
50 + 
20 + 
2
- defName
- Apparel_ShieldBelt
- thingCategories
- ApparelUtility
- thingSetMakerTags
- RewardStandardMidFreq, RewardStandardQualitySuper
- tags
- BeltDefense
The shield belt is an electrical defense accessory worn by melee fighters to absorb projectiles by creating a bubble of energy. It blocks projectile attacks both from the outside and from within, meaning colonists will not fire with an equipped shield belt.
Acquisition
As a complicated piece of technology, Shield Belts can only be made at the machining table and requires Shields to be researched in order to be constructed. Crafting the belt requires 50 Steel, 20 Plasteel, 2 Componentss, and a crafting skill of 6.
Alternatively, they can be received as a quest reward, purchased from traders, or found on Raiders.
Analysis
The shield belt is a vital 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. Once in melee range, melee pawns can be devastating as their DPS with a dedicated melee weapon will signficantly outclass that of ranged enemies.
Shield belts will stop damage from projectiles and explosives, but does not prevent them from being set on fire, or staggering from being hit by weapons with sufficient stopping power.
A shield belt's sturdiness varies according to quality, normally being 110 points (corresponding to 30 damage). Once that energy is expended, the shield will break and the belt will need to recharge. Upon being hit by an EMP from any source they instantly lose all power and the shield will break. It takes 3,200 ticks (53.33 secs) after breaking before it begins to recharge again. They will recharge starting from 20 points, meaning they can be easily broken once again. Their recharge rate also varies with quality.
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.
The shield belt can also be used to protect melee pawns from being shot while they charge toward the enemy.
Shields used to block attacks from Spike traps as if they were ranged attacks, however this is no longer the case.
The shield belt can be used in combination with Locust armor to provide a Jump pack while still being able to equip the shield belt, although because of the abysmal sharp armor of the locust armor (87% on normal quality, giving less protection than even the Flak vest), the combination may not be optimal.
Although the shield belt can tank a wave of explosion for the user, don't expect it will hold up to doomsday and triple rocket launchers , since it's likely for your pawn to be caught up in the secondary explosion.
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).
Quality Table
The following table lists how much protection a shield belt provides at each quality level, assuming full durability.
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 | Poor | Normal | Good | Excellent | Masterwork | Legendary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum charge | 66 | 88 | 110 | 132 | 154 | 187 | 231 |
| Recharge rate (energy per second) | 11.7 | 12.4 | 13 | 13.7 | 14.3 | 15.6 | 16.9 |
| Market Value | 195 
|
290
|
390
|
485
|
585
|
975
|
1950
|
Notes
- By some quirk colonists don't fire even if a shield belt is inactivated by damage or EMP.
Version History
- 0.9.722 - added.
- Prior to Alpha 17 it was called the Personal shield. It received a rename in Alpha 17, has a crafting recipe and also a slight retexture.
- In Beta 19 its crafting cost and market value is greatly reduced.
Original Personal Shield sprite
- Utility
- Firefoam pop pack • Orbital bombardment targeter • Orbital power beam targeter • Psychic shock lance • Psychic insanity lance • Shield belt • Smokepop pack • Tornado generator • Low-shield pack
• Jump pack • Orbital mech cluster targeter • Bandwidth pack 
• Control pack • Tox pack • Biomutation lance
• Biomutation pulser • Deadlife pack • Disruptor flare pack • Shard animal pulser • Shard insanity lance • Shard shock lance • Turret pack