All NS warships are coated in a secret material known as EA-X, this is a highly energy absorbant material which can help reduce the energy of incoming directed energy weapons and thus reduce the damage caused. Front line warships are also able to recycle the absorbed energy into their own weapons.
One problem with EA-X is that it is fairly brittle to kinetic weapons and debris. In a major battle against the Argon a few years ago an NS warship lost over 40% of it's EA-X coating. NS has developed what it is calling Active EA-X. This consists of an array of hundreds of tiny autonomous repair robots which can fix holes in the EA-X layer in seconds. In a combat simulation a ship was able to maintain over 90% of it's EA-X layer despite coming under sustained heavy fire.
If the field tests are successful then Active EA-X will be rolled out to new ships and during updates from 2123.
