Bulkheads
All ships in Elite use bulkheads to protect their hulls. This is your main form of defence should your shields fail. There are three general types of bulkheads, in increasing order of protection:
The more heavily armoured bulkheads are also heavier, however. It's unclear if this affects ship handling, but it may in different versions of the game. It most certainly increases the ship's mass and therefore cuts into its jump-range when travelling between systems.
In addition, there are two types of speciality bulkheads:
- Mirrored Surface Composite, for protecting against energy weapons
- Reactive Surface Composite, for protecting against projectile and missile weapons.
Bulkheads are available for purchase at outfitters throughout civilized space. However, no bulkheads will be available to purchase for a particular ship if it is not also sold at that location's shipyard.