Hmmm.. another nifty mod with which to waste my life
I'd just like to suggest that shields could be a higher tech tree, maybe stalling the introduction of them to mid game. Then you could fill out the early game with mainly armors and low tech options. My favorite, and I've yet to see it would be ships encased in ice or ice fields. I imagine these would be fully and partial shielding.
just my 2 bits USD (but Canadian bits are becoming more valuable, so that's only 3 bits Cdn. instead of 4 bits Cdn.)