Okay, I got the shields working! Updating the collision detection to apply damage to the shields actually turned out to be pretty easy. What I did end up adding to the feature after a little play testing was the idea that if other components try to use energy and the capacitor is empty, they will next try to pull the energy they need from the shields. But they do do at half the efficiency that they would from the capacitor.

I did this because the energy draw for the shields just seemed a little too restrictive to doing anything else. But I didn’t want the player to have to constantly turn the shields off and on. So, this seems like a good compromise.  If you do need to make an emergency maneuver or get a quick shot off you can. You just have to sacrifice a little shielding. Do it too often though and your shields will weaken to the point that damage will start coming through to the hull.

So far in my play testing I like it. So the next update is actually adding Hull Strength. After doing the shields it should be pretty trivial!