[Fyron]

I'm looking at 1.9.1.2 data files and shield generators only have 10 shield generation from damage. 8472 shield generators and Tholian CA go up to 15. Borg energy barriers go up to 20.

I am not sure you understand how it works. Components will be destroyed when the shields are at 0 points. Then points will be added to the shields. A weapon that does 30 damage will be able to destroy 30 hit points of components, then 30 points will be added to the shield layer (assuming you have at least 30 total shield generation from damage ability). Having an excess amount of shields from damage does not provide any benefit other than redundancy if some shield generators are destroyed. The hit points per component of the armor components is typically far more important than the shields from damage ability. Shields from damage ability amounts only determine how small of a ship you need to get the high levels of it.

The only problem for most races I can see is when emissive armor comes into play. Emissive Armor III requires weapons doing at least 65 damage to destroy an armor component (50 hit points + 15 emissive ability). Ships with 65+ shields from damage and EA III will effectively become invincible against ships with weapons that do less than 65 damage. Ships with 131+ shields from damage and EA III will effectively become invincible against ships with weapons that do less than 65 damage. Assume the current shield level is 0 and you are armed with weapons that do 64 damage. You hit the ship. 49 damage is done to the armor, 49 shield points are added to the shield layer. On the next shot, the 49 damage to the hull is simply added to the incoming hit. So, the hit will do 114 damage. 49 points of it will hit the shields, exactly the amount of excess partial damage from the last shot. 64 damage will be applied to the hull. The EA lowers it to 49. 49 points are added to the shield layer. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

Now, if you have a weapon that does 65 points of damage, it will be able to destroy an entire component, assuming the shield levels hit 0 at some point. Easy to do with a shield depleter. You can stagger shield depleters amongst your weapons. This will tend to eliminate all of the shields that were generated by the previous weapon hit, allowing the next to simply damage the armor. Of course, it is better to have more than a 0 point margin, but 65 will do.

If a ship just has regular armor, you only need weapons that do 30 damage per hit to be effective.

The Tholian Crystalline Armor might be too powerful at higher levels. It effectively has 80 hit points per component, including the EA ability of 10. To destroy it with normal damage type weapons when there is plenty of leaky shielding on the ship, you need weapons doing 80+ damage per hit...