I like the new planetary shield mechanics where it is an actual shield instead of rendering the planet invulnerable.  That being said, it would be very nice if the shield started out at full health once it was built.  Playing against a faction like TEC Primacy that has novalith cannons in range make colonization nearly impossible.  This can result in stagnant empire growth and a very difficult path to victory if your opponents already have a larger empire.  You are forced into no other option than to hunt down the Novalith cannon which could be several jumps (sometimes more) away.  Then you have to backtrack to claim all the planets you passed up because colonizing them was pointless while the cannon was active.  It is really unrewarding feeling / gameplay loop.  Having at least some modest option to delay your planet being blown to smithereens would be helpful and a planetary shield from a starbase starting at full charge would achieve that.

I also think that some tuning for the amount of damage a novalith shot does vs how much health a planet has vs the shield capacity granted from a starbase could be beneficial.  It feels a little out of whack atm.  Planetary shields could also vary between factions and have different research geared towards them too. 

Thank you!  Loving the game so far.