Barriers and Shields

Barriers and Shields form the main defense against all types of non-kinetic weaponry but work in greatly varying ways. Depending on their mode of operation they are classified differently.  

Protective Barrier

The classic barrier is a protective hardlight rectangle of varying thickness, but other forms are not unheard of. It protects both from all types of weaponry, but has an easier time with non-kinetic damage. Protective Barriers are usually made from colder and harder hardlight that have a higher resistance to kinetic damage compared to warmer and softer versions. This results in barriers completely breaking apart once cracked deep enough as the hardlight molecules unwrap and break apart. Softer barriers are rarely used since shields provide good enough protection from non-kinetic damage and the lower resistance to kinetic damage makes it less desirable.  

Reactive Barrier

A type of Barrier that reacts to incoming damage by releasing an energy pulse to oppose it. It is better at dealing with threads than a normal barrier and especially against kinetic damage it is considered a huge step up, however reactive barriers require a huge amount of power to recharge enough energy between attacks to not destroy themselves by draining all of their energy into energy pulses. The energy pulse disrupts non-kinetic attacks so heavily that it often completely nullifies them and kinetic attacks are stopped, redirected or sometimes even reflected. A reactive barrier also damages itself when releasing the energy pulse and can break apart under heavy fire even with a constant power supply. For this reason, reactive barriers are often deployed in swarms of smaller barriers so that the failure of an individual barrier does not compromise defenses too much.
Deploying barriers in such a way is referred to as a patterned barrier and can be done with all types of barriers.   

Distributive Shield

The classic shield most widely used which is usually just called shield with no further description. It is usually generated from liqualight. This allows the shield to be easily formed into any shape, usually, the classic bubble or to cover the surface of a piece of armor. Distributive shields work by distributing the energy from an attack evenly along their total surface. When an attack hits a distributive shield it has all or part of its energy taken away which then ripples through the shield as it gets dissipated. This makes them able to withstand a great amount of damage, but they also offer almost no protection against kinetic attacks since they have a hard time absorbing the kinetic energy of a bullet. Thick enough shields, however, can also stop kinetic projectiles. They are however very cheap, power-efficient and take up little space which is why they are often seen in personal shield generators. Distributive shields also work omnidirectional, but most larger shield generators have sensors that detect outgoing attacks and weaken parts of the shield accordingly or create holes.
There are also "hard" distributive shields that are built into armor and serve the same purpose as liqualight distributive shields. They usually feature electrical or arkanis wiring that either passively redirect part of all energy that hits the armor or actively interferes with incoming projectiles. The passive version of this technology is highly susceptible to magic-based attacks and rarely seen, while the active version if often seen on personal armor where it also serves as protection from melee hits by transmitting energy back into the attacker's weapon.  

Deflector Shield

These shields can only be generated in strictly geometric shapes and use a combination of liqualight and hardlight, therefore being technically both a barrier and shield. They have complex microscopic patterns inside of them that cause an almost mirrorlike effect on incoming non-kinetic projectiles. They are most effective against LOB type weapons where they reflect the energy beam almost perfectly. Against plasma-based weaponry, the effectiveness is reduced and attacks are usually just dissipated harmlessly, while against kinetic attacks it acts similar to a protective barrier. Deflector shields are mostly seen in ships as LOB weapons are highly effective and mostly seen in space warfare.  

Absorption Shield

The most expensive shields. Absorption shields are not created in shapes like the other shields but as areas of effect. Usually, it is a sphere coming from the generator that is bent into a cone-like shape in the target direction. Any non-kinetic attack from that direction will be absorbed or at least weakened greatly. The absorbed energy is then reused to keep the shield up or power other devices. Depending on its configuration an absorption shield can also block kinetic attacks by absorbing the kinetic energy of the projectiles.