Oh, I'm not saying that the shields should be eliminated.
Just that you should consider swapping the strength of shields and armor.
That way the shields help by blocking part of the damage as they recharge, but you are sure to take some armor damage in combat. Something with a little more tangibility than numbers on the shield bar. Busted stuff that you have to peel off the ship in spacedock and replace with new plates.
Gritty repair work, you know?
PS:
Teach a man to fish they say - All you need to do is right-click the attachment link, and copy the address.
Then paste that address into a post over here.
[ url=<destination address>] Acutal Link Text [/url]
Click Me