Things in SEIV I never knew about....

[Ward]

Later in the game when you fight ships with shield depleters consider investing in Armor. It really pays off.

Yesterday, I did some experiments with hi-tech ships. I found out that ships with armor perform much better than those with shields, when facing enemy with shield depleters(this is logical, after all, but it didn't strike me before). I admit I didn't consider weapons that penetrate armor(this inludes almost exclusively crystaline tech tree, Null space weapons are too exppensive to be effective) and you will have to repair very often but this way your ships will survive longer and thus will have more experience. The point is that ships with shield depleters will have less damage potential against you. Another advantage is mineral cost. While a "standard" dreadnought with anti-proton beams costs about 27000 minerals, an armor-protected ship costs about 21000 minerals.
BTW: You can add one shield generator and one shield regenerator. Just in case there are some boarding fanatics. :-)