Meat Shield is a term used to indicate a collection of low value units used as protection for fleets and bases. Meatshields are not very strong because they are usually one type of unit Example: 1000 Fighters or 500 bombers Due to the battle order lower level attackers are first matched with low level defenders, this allows the "meat shield" to destroy the low units before they can inflict damage on higher level units. This is the shielding action. Frequently the attacking force is a large number of fighters and a large number of frigates. The attacker is using the fighters as meatshields.