esirshields preview

ENERGY SHIELDS PREVIEW

A standalone portable-shield mod for Minecraft 1.20.1 (Forge) and 1.21.1 (NeoForge). Energy Shields Preview is the personal-shield part of the Energy Shields & Industrial Revolution project, released as a focused preview: eight wearable energy shields, 22 installable function units, a shield installer, an in-game guide, chest loot and optional Curios support.

The core idea A shield is a second health bar made of FE, not durability. Every hit the shield absorbs is paid for with energy. When a shield runs out of energy it simply switches off; it is never destroyed by use. You decide how to spend that energy and which units to install, so the same shield can be a basic life-saver, a magic-resistant ward, a solar-powered exploration tool, or an emergency burst device.

WHAT THIS MOD ADDS

Eight wearable shields Each shield is a chestplate-slot item and also works in the inventory or an optional Curios shield slot.

Electric line (cyan):

Electric I: 10 regular block / 20 overload cap, 100 FE/s upkeep, 100,000 FE storage, 1 unit slot.
Electric II: 15 / 30, 100 FE/s, 200,000 FE, 2 slots.
Electric III: 20 / 40, 100 FE/s, 500,000 FE, 3 slots.
Electric IV: 30 / 60, 100 FE/s, 1,000,000 FE, 4 slots.
Nuclear line (green):

Nuclear I: 50 / 100, 1,000 FE/s, 10,000,000 FE, 2 slots.
Nuclear II: 100 / 200, 1,000 FE/s, 20,000,000 FE, 4 slots.
Nuclear III: 200 / 400, 1,000 FE/s, 50,000,000 FE, 6 slots.
Nuclear IV: 300 / 600, 1,000 FE/s, 100,000,000 FE, 8 slots.
“Regular block” is the damage fully stopped at normal energy cost. “Overload cap” is twice that value. Blocking costs 100 FE per damage point for electric shields and 1,000 FE per point for nuclear shields.

Three-stage blocking

Regular hit: damage is at or below the regular block value. The shield absorbs it at normal energy cost. Example: Electric I takes 8 damage and spends 800 FE.
High-energy hit: damage is above the regular value but within the overload cap. The shield still absorbs the whole hit, but energy cost is multiplied by 10 and the player receives a “shield energy rising” warning. Example: Electric IV takes 45 damage, absorbs it, and spends 45,000 FE.
Ultra hit: damage is above the overload cap. The shield absorbs only the cap portion (still at 10x cost), the remaining damage goes to the player (armor still applies), and a “shatter risk” warning appears. Overflow is tracked over a 10-second window; if the accumulated overflow reaches the shield’s overload cap, the shield is scrapped into a spent shield. Several ultra hits in quick succession can reach this threshold.
Energy empty is not scrap: a shield at 0 FE simply turns off. It can be charged and switched on again. Only accumulated overflow turns it into a spent shield.
22 function units Units are installed with the Shield Installer. Available slots depend on the shield tier. Stacking the same unit stacks its effect; potion and magic units use the highest installed level.

Energy Cell: doubles shield energy capacity. Multiple cells stack.
Magnetic Storm I-IV: when the shield absorbs damage from a creature attack, it creates a 4-block explosion that damages hostile mobs only and does not break blocks. Tier I converts 12.5% of absorbed damage, each higher tier adds 12.5% (IV = 50%); multiple units stack (up to four storm units). Each storm unit costs 2x the shield’s base upkeep. Lava, fire and other environmental damage never trigger it.
Potion Guard I-IV: periodically purges negative effects. Higher tiers include the lower tiers’ coverage; IV covers all negative effects. Extra upkeep scales with tier.
Electric Solar I-IV: charges the shield in daylight under open sky at 256 / 512 / 1,024 / 2,048 FE/s.
Nuclear Solar I-IV: same sunlight condition, at 4,096 / 8,192 / 16,384 / 32,768 FE/s.
Magic Guard I/II: raises magic damage blocking from the default 50% to 75% / 100%.
Fall Buffer: fall and kinetic damage are fully absorbed at 2x normal energy cost, produce no strain and cannot scrap the shield.
Overload Burst: triggers when a hit exceeds the overload cap. It consumes 10% of current shield energy, blocks the whole hit, grants 3 seconds of invulnerability and Strength 10 for 15 seconds, reflects 2x damage to the attacker, and enters a 60-second cooldown. When its cooldown is ready it can also block one code kill (such as /kill) and then enters cooldown.
Creative Flight: grants creative-style flight while the shield has energy; upkeep scales with the shield tier.
Shield Installer A 9-slot machine block: slot 0 holds a shield or spent shield, slots 1-8 hold function units. Placing a unit installs it immediately; removing a unit uninstalls it. A spent shield keeps its installed units, and those units can be removed in the installer instead of being lost.

Guide Book A 21-page, 8-chapter in-game guide covering blocking rules, shield tiers, every function unit, the installer, chest loot and compatibility. Craft it from a book and a diamond. It is not gifted on first join; find it in chests or craft it.

Chest loot Loot is added with additive global loot modifiers, so vanilla loot tables are not replaced. Examples of independent rolls:

Overworld and Nether chests: Electric I 20%, Electric II 16%, Electric III 10%, Electric IV 6%; Energy 15%, Storm 12%, Potion I 10%, Potion II 8%, Electric Solar 8%, Fall 8%, Magic I 6%; Guide 8%.
End city chests: Nuclear I 16%, Nuclear II 12%, Nuclear III 6%, Nuclear IV 2%; Installer 10%; Potion III 12%, Potion IV 6%, Magic II 10%, Overload Burst 6%, Nuclear Solar 10%, Energy 12%, Storm 8%; Guide 10%. Covered chest types include dungeons, mineshafts, strongholds, temples, woodland mansions, shipwrecks, ocean ruins, buried treasure, pillager outposts, igloos, ancient cities, village smiths, nether fortresses, bastions and ruined portals. Shields obtained from loot come with full energy, ready to deploy.
Audio and Curios

Press O to cycle three audio states: all shield audio on, voice warnings off (impact sounds kept), or all shield audio off. Impact volume is a separate client setting.
The Overload Burst uses a totem-style activation sound at a slightly raised pitch, played through the game’s own sound event.
Curios is optional: with Curios installed, the shield fits a dedicated Shield slot; without Curios it works as a chestplate. No Curios classes are required to launch the mod.
HOW IT CHANGES YOUR GAME

Early game Electric I is cheap to keep running and gives a clear safety net while exploring caves or fighting mobs. It blocks up to 20 damage per hit at normal cost, and its single unit slot makes you choose: an Energy Cell for a bigger buffer, a Fall Buffer for cliff accidents, or a Magic Guard for witches and magic mobs.

Mid game Electric III/IV add more slots and higher caps. A 45-damage hit is fully absorbed by Electric IV, but costs 45,000 FE and shows the high-energy warning; a 70-damage hit absorbs 60 and sends 10 through to the player, and repeated ultra hits can scrap the shield. This is when unit loadouts start to matter: Magic Guard for magic-heavy fights, Fall Buffer for vertical terrain, Solar for sustainable exploration, or a Burst for emergencies.

Late game Nuclear IV stores 100M FE and blocks up to 600 damage per hit. Its eight slots support layered builds: Energy Cells for capacity, Solar for self-charging, Potion Guard for debuff-heavy fights, Storm for crowd control, and Overload Burst as an anti-one-shot emergency. The shield is a personal defense system that grows with your tech progression rather than a single fixed item.

Examples of play

A creeper explodes next to an Electric IV player. The hit is within the cap, so the shield absorbs it, spends energy and warns that upkeep is rising; the player survives without the shield breaking.
A witch hits a player wearing a shield with no Magic Guard. Only 50% of the magic damage is blocked; installing Magic Guard II blocks all of it.
A player falls 30 blocks with a Fall Buffer installed. The fall is fully absorbed at 2x energy cost, no strain is added, and the shield cannot be scrapped by the fall.
A player with an Overload Burst takes a hit above the cap while the unit is off cooldown. The burst triggers, consumes 10% of current energy, blocks the hit, grants 3 seconds of invulnerability and Strength 10, reflects double damage, and goes on a 60-second cooldown.
A player is standing in lava. The shield blocks damage and drains energy, but Magnetic Storm does not explode because lava is environmental damage, not a creature attack.
A skeleton’s arrow is a creature attack, so Magnetic Storm can trigger from it; TNT without an owner is environmental and does not.
WHY THIS MOD IS DIFFERENT

It is a personal shield line, not a base-defense mod: no fixed dome, no generators and no shield charger. You carry the defense with you.
Energy is durability. Shields never break from blocking; running out of energy only turns them off. This changes how you plan fights: you manage FE and unit loadouts instead of repairing gear.
22 units create real build choices. The same shield can be tuned for magic, fall damage, crowd control, self-charging, debuff cleansing or emergency survival.
It fits tech packs: shields use the standard FE energy capability, so any FE charger or battery mod can charge them.
No hard dependencies. Curios is optional and only adds the dedicated shield slot.
Audio is configurable, including a fully silent mode, so it does not force voice lines or impact sounds on players who do not want them.
WHY DOWNLOAD IT

Download Energy Shields Preview if you want:

a personal shield that grows from early-game Electric I to endgame Nuclear IV;
real loadout decisions from 22 units instead of one fixed shield;
a defense system that fits tech packs through standard FE and optional Curios;
no hard dependencies and no base-defense blocks you have to build around;
configurable audio, including a fully silent mode.
COMPATIBILITY AND INSTALLATION

Forge 1.20.1: Forge 47.4.28 or newer, Java 17. Place the Forge jar in mods/.
NeoForge 1.21.1: NeoForge 21.1.x, Java 21. Place the NeoForge jar in mods/.
Curios is optional: Forge 5.x or NeoForge 9.x. Without it, wear the shield as a chestplate.
Loot uses additive global loot modifiers; it does not replace vanilla loot tables.
No other mods are required.
NOTES

This is a focused preview of the Energy Shields & Industrial Revolution project, not the full industrial mod. It contains only the portable shield line, units, installer and guide.
The guide book is not given on first join; craft it (book + diamond) or find it in chests.
At full energy the energy bar is hidden; when energy drops the bar appears in cyan, and turns red when empty.
Current release: 0.1.0.