[quote=ASTA]
You need shields to intercept missiles.
[/quote]

At a distance, against missiles that aren't sublight, I'll be using point defense. Clusters, set on the armor, so that if someone DOES get close enough, they can actually destroy the anti-missile capability.

I'm worried about keeping my ships being as undamaged as possible, since I have about a dozen military ships. Other people have hundreds of ships; I have a dozen. Heavy armor keeps my ships going like tanks, and I need to keep them going. And now that the first encounter with aliens want to kill me, and even the second, then military is going to expand, and so will weapons and armor.