1) They seem to operate at the beginning of the combat round, actually. Although there's never any 'drain' on shields in the first round of combat so it's hard to tell.
Between rounds, let's call it.
2) Shield Regenerators work all the time, unless they are destroyed by enemy weapons. It's Crystalline Armor that requires a hit to regenerate shields.
3) Whatever type you have. If there are only phased shield generators present, it's phased shields. Remember that the presence of 'normal' shields causes phased shields to act like normal sheilds. The 'normal' shields have to be destroyed before the phased shields get their 'special' quality back.
4) Yes. See above.
5) Yes. In the right proportion they add tremendously to the effectiveness of shields.
6) I think so. I don't have any references but I think someone has posted carefully though-out ratios of shield power to regeneration power as optimal.
[ September 04, 2002, 21:22: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]