Shields that actually generate shield blocks

[Lurkily]

I'd like to see shields actually generate blocks that don't interact with drone parts.  They would just shade the area, rather than being a concretely visible part, and make shields something you can dig a hole into rather than just a region that detonates projectiles.

This would make shields something you could actually dig a hole into, and they would benefit from overlap. 

Shields could use energy to regenerate any shield block that is adjacent to an undamaged block, or to the shield generator itself.  This means that if an AOE attack hits it, the outer damage can't be repaired until the blocks around the damaged section are fully repaired.  In the meantime, the region will be vulnerable to further damage to or destruction of shield parts.

Limit their ability to draw power from your drone, and you would also limit their ability to recover from heavy damage.

As a result, AoE wouldn't be an immediate threat to a pristine and undamaged ship with shields, but it would still be the weapon of choice to chew up shielded ships.  Shields under AoE attack would try to shrink the damaged area, but repeated AOE hits would just push that recovery back again, and further damage parts that haven't been regenerated yet.

I'm kind of aware that this is a pretty big departure from the current design philosophy behind shields, but I thought I'd put my two cents in.  The shield structure from Wayward Terran Frontier inspired a bit of this.

[Lurkily]

I got a notification and took a second look.  I see that I was unclear in one particular.

On energy use; have the shield generator draw the power - X power to X hp regenerated in shield parts, and limit the GENERATOR'S ability to draw.

This has the specific result that if widespread damage is done to shields, the recovery, which is limited, will have to be divided between the various shield parts that can be repaired.  It will make widespread damage more crippling to its function.