[Krsqk]

I, for one, would still like to see levels of phased shielding/phased weapons. Two possible options:

1) If weapon_phase_level > shield_phase_level, weapons pierce. Level 2 beams pierce level 1 and normal shields, level 5 pierce levels 1-4 and normal shields, etc. A similar case could be made for Skips Armor weapons and armor.

2) If weapon_phase_level = shield_phase_level, weapons pierce. More accurately, there wouldn't be phase levels, but frequencies. There could be several levels of shields, each vulnerable to a different "frequency" weapon.

Option 2 seems more quasi-realistic to me, but I think Option 1 would make for better gameplay. Option 2 would tend to limit the usefulness of phased weapons and multiply the usefulness of Skips All Shields weapons like tachyon cannons. It also brings the question of why you couldn't just "tune" your weapons to a different frequency (a la ST).

Both cases could bring up display issues, such as how many shield levels could be displayed. Maybe the best option would be to have each level displayed as a different shade of green but combined into a single bar, with the total shield points displayed.