So, I was looking for a way to make NPCs a little harder and was looking to increase their shield strength a tad. Going through some of the files, all I could find are ShieldGeneratorBA, ShieldGeneratorCV and ShieldGeneratorSV with their T2 versions and one ShieldGeneratorPOI which appears to draw from the ShieldGeneratorBA template. So am I correct in assuming NPC ships/POIs draw directly from the players shield items? If so, then there is no way to make them stronger without making myself stronger?
Yes. Most shielded POIs use the POI shield generator. Some will use the T2 CV and Base shield generator where a stronger shield is required.