I hate shields without a passion. So is the reason why I am not using them. Or rather, have you checked the Sparkle! line of ships, and its upgrade in Sparkling? They use armour for a very good reason, besides the one advertisted in their design type. They are here to do heavy minesweeping, which shields aren't going to perform well.

(The Eerie is used to detect hidden mines) On the other hand, it is true I never use shields much; in Adamant 011, non leaky armour seems to be good enough for my tastes.
Their history is quite simple actually:
- Meet Ed, Ed wants to fight, we fight for four years.
- Meet the other Empires, they don't want to fight, we don't fight for four years.
- The Brood is threatened with unconventional weaponry, and accepts to sign a truce under duress.
- The Blades, seeing that they have no economy whatsoever, and because they want to bring the fun of war to their friends, decide to declare war upon two other Empires.
- Two Empires are under AI rule, and so your only Empire you fight with is currently Georgig's. In the meantime, Fyron toys with the Brood. Beware of Fyron: he actually has an economy up and running, and an average fleet at his disposal.
- The Watering ships are used as a Last measure, in case someone gets really annoying. They were supposed to be more or less a secret, but everyone knows about them; after all, what use is a secret weapon if it is secret? Be careful with them though, as they can be taken down fairly easily, and do not have the kind of defences needed to achieve their missions.
In short, this game has been used to see the feasability of early attacks rather than a long-term economical development (which would be Adamant 011). Please do keep it, at least for the moment being: I have no access to PBW, and so cannot send any turn for now.
Oh, and be careful of what you wish for: you could very well get it. *Goes back to writing a twenty page lecture on the Blades, early warring and the importance of giving obscure names to warships*