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This is strange, especially since they do have near identical math and progression. Seemingly to make it the same levels as armor progression? That seems backasswards to me, it seems like bad design when a highly armored character has to shell out credits for upgrades to both of their AC boosters at once instead of having them spaced out between levels. If it has its own progression that only occasionally overlaps with other equipment improvements this issue comes up much less, and best I can tell in Pathfinder it only happens with Weapon runes so there's an actually interesting choice to make about whether you think a shield up or weapon up is more immediately pressing, instead of making a choice between what flavor of defense improvement you want first. That's if you even care about advancing your shield which a class without Shield Block, and especially one with the Shield cantrip, might not.
Also, random tangent, Shield improvements don't have the same max stat line limitations as the Reinforcing Rune. Seems like a pointless thing to exclude. To be fair it was mostly irrelevant on the shields that were actually printed in the game but still.
Even more random tangent, why is the Phase Shield a straight upgrade to the Irising Shield? It confused me with Wooden Shield and Steel Shield in Pathfinder as well, I don't like the idea that the only scenario in which you use one distinct on-level item over another is pure economy, but with those in specific you at least have hyper niche scenarios like immunity to Heat Metal (apparently not remastered? Does PC2 have it?) so a wooden shield isn't a straight downgrade. I fail to see how this would be the case with two near-identical tech items though.
Well armor upgrades aren't the same as Pathfinder 2E Armor rune system either. You don't get at +1 Upgrade a the initial tier at level 5 but get +1 AC and +1 Save before level 8 which normally how it works for armor in Pathfinder 2E. The +1 item bonus rune gives you +1 Property Rune slot Starfinder does not.
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Well armor upgrades aren't the same as Pathfinder 2E Armor rune system either. You don't get at +1 Upgrade a the initial tier at level 5 but get +1 AC and +1 Save before level 8 which normally how it works for armor in Pathfinder 2E. The +1 item bonus rune gives you +1 Property Rune slot Starfinder does not.
For armor's quicker resiliency increases I imagine it's an error, and if not then I'm equally upset about that. And even then they would still theoretically advance at the exact same levels as PF armor, just with different effects. Weapons are practically the same in that respect and actually do follow Pathfinder's math (minus upgrades which I'll get to). Shields on the other hand fully break from their PF advancement and instead follow armor's advancement exactly, which again, means that your credits are stretched pretty damn thin if you want to keep up with both armor and shield upgrades at their earliest level.
The upgrade slot vs. Property Rune slot thing makes much more sense to me though. Most SF equipment starts with one or more equipment slots from the get-go. That means on average you'll have access to an upgrade slightly earlier than you'll get a property rune in Pathfinder, and so it makes sense to need to wait longer before your first and following upgrade slot bumps. Whether that's a fair trade-off for Materials I'm not qualified enough to say, but in this build it is the way they've addressed it, so it makes sense that the math was adjusted around it. Shields got no such chagnes, and in fact they got nothing to make up for losing materials unless that's what the advancement change is supposed to be for. If it is, count me the hell out. Materials were much more fun than simple math enhancers.
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I am of the opinion, that SF2E should just use the runes and have them use upgrade slots, since they're, mostly, identical
I disagree. It would run counter to a lot of the aesthetic sensibilities of of Starfinder. I'm fine with shields being upgradable here but I want their math to be consistent with Pathfinder's mostly because there's no reason not to. That I can see at least.
It might also be a restriction for the Playtest. Keeping tech and hybrid improvements/upgrades separate from runes allows them to tested in isolation rather than complicating things by allowing them to be mixed and matched.
It might also be a restriction for the Playtest. Keeping tech and hybrid improvements/upgrades separate from runes allows them to tested in isolation rather than complicating things by allowing them to be mixed and matched.
I'm also unsure about this. A lot of the weapon upgrades specifically are literally the same thing as runes but tech. The Returning Rune, Fearsome Rune, Animated Rune, and very controversially every elemental damage rune have a tech upgrade equivalent. I'd say it makes up for around half the unique weapon upgrades not counting tiers. I think the intention legitimately is to make sure that tech (upgrades) and archaic (runes) do not mix under any circumstances. I think the hard divide makes sense but does lead to certain strange things like, say, shield math being different and making me irrationally angry.