tractoring drones?

pneumonic81 · Post by **pneumonic81** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 1:29 am

If I tractor a drone on say, impulse 5, of turn 3, and I do not pay for the drone to be tractored on impulse 1 of turn 4, it then impacts my ship. However is the impact immediate, or do I have a chance during the defensive fire stage of impulse 1 to deal with it?

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:07 am

Did you tractor it as part of "normal" tractoring in the other-functions phase, or was it tractored in a previous defensive-fire phase?

Paul Grogan · Post by **Paul Grogan** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:22 am

From what I remember, this is another "quirk" in the rules

When a drone impacts: You can first use ADD, then if that doesnt work, use phasers, and finally whn all else fails tractor it.

At the start of the turn, you have to pay for the tractor, but if you dont, then when it gets to the defensive fire phase of Impulse 1, you get one more chance to shoot it with phasers (not ADD), and again failing that, you can tractor it again.

It seems wrong to let it go and then recapture it, but I think thats how it works.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:44 am

That is how I remember the discussion about this ending up, also.

Davec_24 · Post by **Davec_24** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:55 am

What Paul and Mike say is correct. Rule (5D4c) says that "...if another energy token is not paid during Energy Allocation of the next turn, the weapon will hit during the Defensive Fire Step of Impulse #1 during which the ship can fire defensively and even tractor the same drone again!".

This means that you can indeed shoot and/or tractor the same drone after not paying to continue tractor beams in place over a turn break. A subtle difference to the original question though - if you were paying to continue tractor beams in place, this would happen during Energy Allocation rather than on Impulse #1 - not much different but it's a point. On the other hand, I can't imagine you would want to do this very often when you could let the drone go from the tractor beam and then have a shoot at it, then even tractor it again if all goes wrong.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:05 pm

The answers pretty much got it.

If you are tractoring an impacted drone, you may continue the tractor link over the turn break in energy allocation. If you choose not to do so, then you can reengage it during the Defensive Fire Phase of the first impulse, up to and including tractoring it again.

Now, if you have tractored a drone that has NOT impacted, when you release it (at the turn break or otherwise), it will simply resume its normal movement and attempt to seek after its target.

DNordeen · Post by **DNordeen** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:13 am

The reason for this ruling was that in SFB you can fire at the drone immediately whereas in FC you cannot. Therefore, they allowed the target to let go of the drone and still have an opportunity to fire on it without forcing you to use energy for a tractor.

Davec_24 · Post by **Davec_24** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:52 am

The reason for this ruling was that in SFB you can fire at the drone immediately whereas in FC you cannot. Therefore, they allowed the target to let go of the drone and still have an opportunity to fire on it without forcing you to use energy for a tractor.

I thought that something like that might be the reason. It seems to be a simple way of giving you an extra chance to shoot at a drone/suicide shuttle with only the 8-impulse system, it seems to make sense. Besides, FC is mostly about flexibility to make gameplay smooth, and I think this idea contributes towards that.