Helios Shields

Helios Shields

Energy shields for your whole ship. Helios shield generators wrap the grid, and everything joined to it by rotors, hinges and pistons, in a field that soaks up weapon fire, explosions and meteors, recharging from your power grid. Three tiers for large and small grids. Pairs with Helios Fusion Reactors, from the same set.

Generators

[table] [tr][th]Block[/th][th]Grid[/th][th]Shield[/th][th]Recharge[/th][th]Power while recharging[/th][/tr] [tr][td]Helios Shield Generator T1[/td][td]Large[/td][td]800,000[/td][td]8,000 /s[/td][td]300 MW[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Helios Shield Generator T2[/td][td]Large[/td][td]2,400,000[/td][td]20,000 /s[/td][td]1.2 GW[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Helios Shield Generator T3[/td][td]Large[/td][td]7,200,000[/td][td]50,000 /s[/td][td]4 GW[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Helios Shield Generator T1[/td][td]Small[/td][td]160,000[/td][td]1,600 /s[/td][td]60 MW[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Helios Shield Generator T2[/td][td]Small[/td][td]480,000[/td][td]4,000 /s[/td][td]240 MW[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Helios Shield Generator T3[/td][td]Small[/td][td]1,440,000[/td][td]10,000 /s[/td][td]800 MW[/td][/tr] [/table] Shield strength is in weapon damage: a gatling round does 90, an autocannon shell 500, a rocket 500 plus blast. Idle generators draw only a trickle.

How it works

• A real barrier: bullets hit the bubble, rockets and shells explode on it, and the shield pays the damage instead of your hull. Your own turrets fire out through it
• Players without access to the generator cannot walk or fly in (owner, faction and share settings decide)
• With Environment protection your ship rests on its bubble instead of scraping rocks and terrain
• Several generators on one ship add up into one shield
• Under fire each generator recharges at 40 % speed while still drawing full power, as the strain eats the rest, until 3 seconds after the last hit. Empty, the shield collapses, reboots for 10 seconds and comes back at 25 %
• Recharge follows the power you give it. The Recharge limit slider caps the draw
• Environment protection (terminal option): the shield also takes collisions, ramming, asteroid strikes and crash landings. Every impact costs its collision energy, so a gentle bump costs little and a full-speed crash can break the shield
• Not stopped: grinders and welders, drills, fire, thruster flames. Warheads count as explosions: switch the shield off before scuttling

Features

• Custom animated model on the Artificial Mass frame: a crackling plasma core inside a spinning gimbal, neon rings that race while recharging
• Hex-cell shield bubble round the whole ship: shots light up the cells where they land and send a wave across the shell, with an impact burst. A flash when it collapses, a sweep when it comes back. Optional glassy bubble while idle (Show bubble)
• Tier glow colours: cyan, violet, orange, brightness shows shield strength
• Make the bubble yours: five styles (Hex, Aura, Scales, Rings, Plasma) and four colour modes (tier colour, any custom colour, hue cycle, rainbow) with adjustable speed
• Close-fitting shell (experimental terminal option, off by default): instead of the bubble, hex cells lie on the outline of the ship's blocks, with the same colours and wave. Set their distance with the Shell offset slider. It follows each block's box, not its model: turrets and sloped armour are covered as the box they occupy, and long barrels stick out. It still absorbs damage, but shots reach the hull, the ship is not held off terrain and other players are not kept out
• Animated cells (terminal option, on by default): ripples and bands of light flow over the visible shield
• Shield HUD while you are aboard, in 8 layouts for different places on the screen: strength, state, recharge, power warning and an under-strain warning, in your shield's colours. Each player picks their own on the generator's terminal or with /shield hud (on, off, next, 1 to 8 or a name)
• LCD script Helios Shield for any LCD or cockpit screen: state, strength bar, recharge, active generators, power warnings, latest alert, in your shield's colour
• Ship-AI voice alerts with 38 recorded lines: shields down, online, low, critical, heavy impact, taking fire, not enough power, generator offline, terrain contact and more. On by default: turn them off per shield with the Voice alerts terminal option, mute them for yourself with /shield voice, or turn them off for the whole world with VoiceAlerts=false in the world's HeliosShields.cfg
• Recharges from spare power only, never starving your thrusters; with too little power it simply recharges slower
• Terminal: recharge limit, show bubble, bubble style and colour, animated cells, close-fitting shell, shell offset, voice alerts, your HUD layout, detailed status. Toolbar actions. ShieldPercent property for programmable blocks. /shield turns on a live report of what hits the shield
• Construction stages and own toolbar icons

Good to know

• Works in single player, multiplayer and on dedicated servers. The server keeps the shields and syncs them to players; no visuals run on a dedicated server
• Safe zones work as usual. Other mods' damage changes apply first; the shield only takes what is left
• Shots from outside stop on the bubble: no hits, marks or sparks on the hull while the shield holds
• WeaponCore: its shots stop on the bubble and the shield pays their damage. Beams are still drawn up to the hull but do no damage, and explosive ammo may detonate where it stops. Its targeting does not see the shield. On the close-fitting shell, shots are absorbed at the hull
• Safe to add to existing worlds. Removing it removes the generators

This mod's 3D models were made with the help of AI tools.