Shield and hull are two separate resources now. Until now the shield was just a pre-bar: every hit went into it first, then onto the hull. Now what hits you matters — and the color gives it away:
| Type | How to spot it | vs. shield | vs. hull |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | Magenta, violet, cyan — plasma, beams, orbs | ×1.2 | ×0.85 |
| Kinetic | Amber — flak, sparks, railgun lines; plus missiles, ramming, meteorites | 60 % | 40 % punches through |
Energy eats the shield faster but bounces off the hull. Kinetic is the opposite: part of it skips the shield and lands on the hull, which doesn’t heal on its own. The hull bar then flashes amber even while the shield is still up — otherwise it’s a mystery why the hull is dropping.
Kinetic damage comes almost entirely from the heavy, telegraphed attacks: fortress walls, elite railgun lines, amber rings, missiles. The early game is pure energy damage (measured: Arcade waves 1–2 and the first three minutes of Orbit — not a single kinetic hit). Total survivability against energy damage stays roughly the same either way (shield 40 / 1.2 + hull 100 / 0.85 ≈ 151 instead of 140), but the balance shifts toward the hull.
New module: Reactive Armor (2 tokens) — cuts kinetic punch-through to just 20 %, and kinetic hits on the hull by −20 %. So each damage type now has its counter: the Shield Capacitor against energy, Reactive Armor against kinetic. Eight modules for six slots.
The ship view shows both damage types in the Hull block, and the help entry (HULL · SHIELD) explains them.