Shield 2 is NOT the priority (with the bottom half of ships)

Very common here that people say Shield 2 is the first/best buy 90% of the time.

With the bottom half of ships this is poor advice that will end many runs early. 3 shots is the priority, 4 if you get lucky with a big weapon (say Flak 1 or Hull 2 when you're on Heavy Laser 1 or Dual laser).

Good offense is more important than taking less hits. You can't kill past a certain point without good offense, which snowballs worse than saving 5-10 hull before a slower Shield 2