system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Halo] How were energy shields distributed to covenant forces?

I’m kinda confused on how the covenant handled energy shields. I’m talking purely lore now. I don’t read the books so maybe there’s a clearer answer there. In Reach when noble team first encountered the elite zealot team, we see that their shield can take a lot bullets before dropping. In the Halo 4 intro, we see that the regular elite shield just dropped after one or two bullets. So does the higher ranked elites get better shields? Similar to how human special forces gets better equipment than regular infantry. Did other races receive energy shields too?
gpt
Yes, there are lots of different armor models. This should be pretty obvious. In Halo 2 one of the elites comments that the Arbiter's antique armor can't cloak as long as their armor. In Halo 3 brutes start using shields because the elites defect. Jackals are issued portable arm-shields instead of full-body shields, likely because they're easier to mass-produce.