Tractors and drones or suicide shuttles

[ncrcalamine]

You are in the same hex as your enemy and you are tractored.
Your enemy launches a drone at you, when does it hit?
Does it hit in sub pulse 1 even though neither your ship or the drones has moved? if you are moving at speed 16 even after the tractor, do you have a chance to move and change your facing or slip out of the hex.

Same questions for a suicide shuttle.


Thank you


Nicole

[Mike]

Drones and suicide shuttles always move last in the sub-pulses in which they move.

A drone moving at speed 24 would move in sub-pulses 2, 3, and 4. If your ship is moving at speed 16, it would move before the drone would move in sub-pulse 2. This would give you an opportunity to change facing if you have fulfilled your turn mode.

[mjwest]

Based on (4F2c), if a seeking weapon is launched at a target in the same hex, and if the target does not leave the hex on the first sub-pulse, the seeking weapon will hit on the first sub-pulse.

So, a ship held in a tractor is guaranteed to be hit by a seeking weapon launched in the same hex, regardless of the speed of the seeking weapon.

[bolenbr]

but the tractored ship does get defensive fire and is also able to use his own tractor beam to hold the drone. Correct?

[mjwest]

Oh, yes, of course!

I was merely talking up to the point of impact.

[JonPerry]

So, a ship held in a tractor is guaranteed to be hit by a seeking weapon launched in the same hex, regardless of the speed of the seeking weapon.

Assuming the tractoring ship isn't moving.

[mjwest]

So, a ship held in a tractor is guaranteed to be hit by a seeking weapon launched in the same hex, regardless of the speed of the seeking weapon.

Assuming the tractoring ship isn't moving.

Actually, it doesn't matter when the tractor is involved.

The only way to get out of the hex on the first sub-pulse is to be moving 24+1. If a ship is tractored, it loses at least one level of baseline speed. That means it will have a maximum baseline speed of 16. Ergo, it cannot go fast enough to get out of the hex.

[storeylf]

Even if it is moving, it can't be moving at 24+ whilst tractoring something, so it will be hit.
[edit - which MWest just covered in a cross post]

I'm not sure about the ability to tractor seekers whilst being tractored yourself. 5D5c allows another ship to kill your exiting tractor beams by tractoring you, presumably that means you would have to outbid any existing tractor before you can tractor a drone. There are no chains of tractored units in this game.

[mjwest]

I'm not sure about the ability to tractor seekers whilst being tractored yourself. 5D5c allows another ship to kill your exiting tractor beams by tractoring you, presumably that means you would have to outbid any existing tractor before you can tractor a drone. There are no chains of tractored units in this game.

There are no chains of tractored ships in this game.

Basically, you can only tractor or be tractored by one other ship. Tractoring little stuff (drones, shuttles, pucks, etc.) is not under that restriction. So, if you have tractored a drone (whether defensively or offensively), another ship tractoring you will not break that link.

Think of it this way: If the tractor will affect your movement, you may only have one such tractor at a time. If the tractor will not affect your movement, you may have more than one such tractor at a time.

[bolenbr]

but there is nothing any other ship can do to stop you from being hit. Lets say you have a CA being tractored in the same hex as your ship and you have an escort two hexes away. Your escort ship could not fire at the drone since it impacts you before the next firing phase. That is correct isn't it

[mjwest]

but there is nothing any other ship can do to stop you from being hit. Lets say you have a CA being tractored in the same hex as your ship and you have an escort two hexes away. Your escort ship could not fire at the drone since it impacts you before the next firing phase. That is correct isn't it

Yes, that is correct. Your ship is gonna get hit and will need to shoot down the drone with its own weapons in the Defensive Fire phase. That's what happens with limited fire opportunities and point-blank launches.

[This assumes you did not mean the 'escort' was a (3F) Aegis Escort. If so, the answer is different, as an aegis escort can fire in support of another ship in the other ship's defensive fire phase.]

[bolenbr]

I barely recall Aegis Escorts from SFB. Are they also in fed com? if so what expansion.

[mjwest]

I barely recall Aegis Escorts from SFB. Are they also in fed com? if so what expansion.

Hydran Attack and the Reference Rulebook. Some ships are present in Booster 92.

[storeylf]

There are no chains of tractored ships in this game....

Mm, maybe 5D5c needs clarifying - it is quite specific in its wording;

If ship A tractors ship B which has already tractored unit C ..

That certainly reads that if the second ship is tractoring any unit (and not merely ships) then the tractor breaks unless B increases his tractor power. Plus 5D5 is about tractoring 'objects' like drones, and not just ships which come under 5D6 (so the rules really do seem to be saying you can't tractor anything whilst you are tractored).

[mjwest]

Fair enough. Let me check again tonight. I might have screwed that up.

Regardless, you may always use tractors defensively regardless of other tractor activity, as long as you have available, unused tractors.