Barnacle Bill said:
Yes, emissive is pretty close to the idea except I'd want shields to work that way, too.
Surely leaky shielding can be implemented in SE5 too.
Also there should be a limit by hull size on how much you can pile on.
Even easier done than said.
Look up my thread on modding out LCX as early game warship for a method of limiting the number or percent of hull you can use for arbitrary groups of components.