Re: Best way to Build Cap's Shield?
While I for one am no expert on the subject I personally view Independant as the next logical extention to the Expendability part of a focus. Difficult...Very Difficult...Extremely Difficult, then Independent. So the only ruling I as a GM would make is you can't have expendability on a Focus you are making Independent. No problem on that front if it made sense and you really wanted Independent.
The only question I would raise, not being a Captain America storyline expert, is if Captain America used any other equipment during his quest to recover the focus? Basically was he using other non-standard gear during his time without The Shield during his adventures/quest to recover the Shield? (other shields, guns, whatever). If so I would personally avoid Independent and just stick with Extremely Difficult to recover as I would interpret that as him temporarily spending his points in the missing shield elsewhere.
Raizer
PS: Thanks for the thread. Its been an interesting read on all sides.