Mechanics of the Shield Generator

Hey guys, I've been around for a long long time with this community, but mostly a lurker. (not meant to be creepy lol)
But all joking aside I come to you with a question:
How in the world does the Shield Generator decide what blocks to protect and to what radius? I've been fooling around with a sort of security system where it plays a large part, and have encountered something interesting with it. The main body of my base will be protected against destruction, however, the airlock system I have in place is not, nor the landing pad at the top of it. Why?

 

It doesn't use a radius, it uses a "dungeonid" which tells it which pattern of blocks to protect.

 

Hmm... Which means you couldn't use it to protect your own buildings even if you could spawn it...

And what is up with the unrelated poll?

 

It semi-protects my own buildings. But only about half of it. Did this with a previous construct an hour earlier and it worked great. But I unintentionally broke it with a crossed wire in a logic gate that started the protection and would not turn off. But the whole thing was protected. Just can't figure out what the difference is between this one and the last.

 

wouldn't searching for scanning items be part of the story too?
And the erchius ghost?

if you make such a poll it should at least include all story elements.

 

wait...since when do the generators work??

 

thought he meant that the spawned generators work too with his buildings...

that would be an awesome item for multiplayer or to protect your base on planets with meteor showers...

 

I have actually had a similar problem, I spawned one on one planet and it appears to protect the entire planet, even across the map-but on another planet, it only protects blocks within a few spaces of it, and nothing else. How do shield generators?

 

I don't really know how it works. But if it uses a dungeon id, wait, wait. First off, what blocks are you using in your ask that the shield is protecting?