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Tractor Beams and Operator movement and function.
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missmatronic
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 15 Aug 2008
Posts: 70
Location: San Jose, CA

PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:39 pm    Post subject: Tractor Beams and Operator movement and function. Reply with quote

So, from what I can glean from my edition of the ROMULAN ATTACK rules and all updates I am aware of, the only restriction on a ship towing another craft is that it cannot initiate evasive manuevers. Can you fire any type of weapon? Use any other system? Including cloaks? Are any other manuevers prohibited? How about docking and landing? A clarification would be most appreciated. Thanks a bunch!
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DNordeen
Commander


Joined: 05 Apr 2007
Posts: 564

PostPosted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you cloak, you drop your tractor beam same as starting EM.

If you are being tractored, you can cloak, but the tractor voids the cloak and the cloak has no effect
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missmatronic
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 15 Aug 2008
Posts: 70
Location: San Jose, CA

PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the response. So are you saying that there are no other stipulations for those towing a craft?
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mjwest
Commodore


Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 4069
Location: Dallas, Texas

PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If two ships are tractored, neither may use Erratic Maneuvers. Either may cloak, but it would be immediately voided and provide no benefit.

When they are cloaked, the ship with the greatest amount of energy allocated to movement will control the movement of both ships. (There are some modifications to base speed and such as noted in the rules.) That ship has no other limits on their movement.

The ship with the lesser amount of energy allocated to movement (or both ships if the amount is the same) can conduct no maneuvers at all, except for attempting an High Energy Turn.

The one exception to this is that if a ship is Stopped (not failing to move because of the above reasons, but actually has a baseline speed of Stopped), it may also perform its Tactical Maneuver.

There is also one other non-movement restriction. If a ship is tractoring a friendly ship (i.e. they are on the same side of the battle), the ship that is being tractored may not fire offensive or launch weapons. (The launch restriction was a later update.)

Other than the above, there are no restrictions I can think of. Hopefully, I did not muddy the waters too greatly.
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missmatronic
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 15 Aug 2008
Posts: 70
Location: San Jose, CA

PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That actually helps a great deal. Especially the launch/fire restrictions for the tractored craft. I don't recall if my edition makes that clear. I might have to make some margin notes! Thank you very much!
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ShockRocket
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 27 Jul 2008
Posts: 26

PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So if you're being tractored, you might want to consider an Emergency Deceleration so that you can turn.
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mjwest
Commodore


Joined: 08 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, that is a completely valid tactic.

Just be careful. Doing that means you are "stopped" for the rest of the turn, and if the other ship drops the tractor, you will still be stopped.

Obviously, it's a trade-off, and one you might be forced to make if he has loaded guns pointing at your down shield ...
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OGOPTIMUS
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And I IIRC there isn't anything to stop you from "dropping off" this guy to make an alpha strike (or as much as he can manage) on the enemy ship with all that extra power he may have around (if this was planned early enough to not "waste" power on movement) to help protect you.
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missmatronic
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 15 Aug 2008
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Location: San Jose, CA

PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really appreciate everyone's feedback on this. Good point there Shock. My confusion stemmed mainly from the operator of the tractor's perspective. I find the the rules regarding this somewhat vague. You guys are giving up way too much great tactics advice! It may come back to bite you hard one day!
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ShockRocket
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 27 Jul 2008
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Or you have the "elephant riding a midget", where a Stopped Dreadnought tows a friendly Speed-24-and-accelerating Frigate. The Dreadnought is the one using the tractor, so it can still fire weapons; since the Dreadnought hasn't put power into movement, the Frigate controls the movement of the tractored pair.

The solution, of course, is to kill the midget.
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Bolo_MK_XL
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Joined: 16 Jan 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Or you have the "elephant riding a midget"


That works, unless your in a hurry ---
Frigate tractored to a DN even paying for spd 24 will only move at 8 ----
Yes, accelerations will get you spd 16 ---
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ShockRocket
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 27 Jul 2008
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

But speed 16 for the dreadnought is 24 power; riding the midget only costs 1. And the frigate moving speed 24+1 for the whole turn is 8 power. It's a net benefit.
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storeylf
Fleet Captain


Joined: 24 Jul 2008
Posts: 1897

PostPosted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ShockRocket wrote:
But speed 16 for the dreadnought is 24 power; riding the midget only costs 1. And the frigate moving speed 24+1 for the whole turn is 8 power. It's a net benefit.


I thought the acceleration cost the combined total for both ships, so speed 24 cost the frigate 6 (which moves you 8 whilst towing a DN). Then each impulse of acceration cost you 1.75 (1.5 DN + .25 FF). Which over 8 impulse comes to 14. So moving speed 8+1 over a turn cost you 20 power from the frigate (which not all frigates have).

Or if that something else that I'm not up to date on some change.
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mjwest
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, FC has never done tractors by movement rate, but rather by adjusting the base speed.

So, once tractored, both ships compare energy spent for baseline speed. The ship with the higher energy total controls the movement of the tractored pair; the other ship is just along for the ride. (If both had the same amount of energy, then neither moves.) No matter what, the ship controlling the pair's movement has his base speed reduced by one level (e.g. 24->16) if the ship controlling the pair's movement is half (or less) the movement cost of the other ship, then his base speed is reduced by two levels (e.g. 24->8 ). Base speed can never be reduced below zero.

Let's do some examples.

In the above example, a frigate moving base speed of 24 tractors a dreadnought moving a base speed of zero. The frigate has 3 points of energy spent for its base speed, while the dreadnought has zero points of energy spent. Since the frigate has the greater energy spent, it controls movement. However, the frigate's movement rate (1/8 ) is half or less than the dreadnoughts (1+1/2), so its base speed of 24 is reduced two levels (24->16->8 ) to a base speed of 8.

Another example: a war cruiser tractors a heavy cruiser. Both have a base speed of 16. The war cruiser has 12 points of energy spent for base speed; the heavy cruiser has 16. Since the heavy cruiser has the greater energy spent, the heavy cruiser controls the movement. The heavy cruiser's movement rate (1) is not half or less than the war cruiser's movement rate (3/4), so its base speed is only reduced one level (16->8 ) to a base speed of 8.

Another example: a war cruiser tractors a dreadnought. The war cruiser has a base speed of 24 and the dreadnought has a base speed of 8. The war cruiser spent 18 points of energy for the base speed; the dreadnought spent 12. Since the war cruiser has the greater energy spent, the war cruiser controls the movement. The war cruiser's movement rate (3/4) is half or less than the dreadnought's movement rate (1+1/2), so its base speed is reduced two levels to a base speed of 8.

Final example: a destroyer tractors a heavy cruiser. The war cruiser has a base speed of 8 and the heavy cruiser has a base speed of zero. The destroyer has spent 4 points of energy for base speed; the heavy cruiser has spent zero. Since the destroyer has the greater energy spent, the destroyer controls the movement. The destroyer's movement rate (1/2) is half or less than the heavy cruiser's movement rate (1), so its base speed is reduced two levels. However, the destroyer's base speed is "only" reduced the single level to base speed zero, since that is as low as it can go.

Please note that I entirely ignored the whole case where the energy spent is equal. That would be a whole separate post. Smile

Also, note that if a ship is moving in reverse, only half of the energy spent is considered (effectively negating the double energy expenditure for reverse movement).
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storeylf
Fleet Captain


Joined: 24 Jul 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can you confirm whether I was understanding the acceleration bit - I had read the acceleration (combine the 2 costs) as simply combine the 2 acceleration costs, so that the frigate towing the DN needs 1.75 (1.5 DN + .25 FF) energy per impulse of acceleration, so in as per my previous post the frigate would end up spending 20 power for a full turn of effective speed 8+1.
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