Negative Tractor and help on Tractors needed

[qwirz]

Hi all!
I'm quite new to FC and I have some trouble in understanding Tractor correct use.
1. What's the definition of "Negative Tractor"?
2. Tractored ships: Who wins? the ship which puts more energy in the tractoring auction or the ship which spends more energy for movement?
If ship A loses the auction and is tractored by ship B, but ship A spends more energy than ship B for movement, isn't ship A which governs movement?
Is the auction useless?
What am I missing?

Thanks

Ruben

[mjwest]

Negative Tractor is energy used to stop a tractor beam from being attached to a ship. It does NOT require the presence of, nor contribute to the use of a tractor. It is just the energy used to prevent a tractor beam from being established to a ship.

So, if Ship A tries to tractor Ship B using a point of energy, if Ship B expends its own point of energy in negative tractor, then Ship A's attempt to tractor Ship B fails. However, Ship A can then put another point into the tractor attempt, at which point Ship B can then put another point into negative tractor to block it. This process is the tractor auction. When the auction is done, if Ship A has put more power into the tractor attempt than Ship B has put into negative tractor, then the tractor beam is established. If, however, Ship B has put at least as much into negative tractor, then Ship B succeeds in preventing the tractor from being established. (In other words, negative tractor only has to match the amount of power used in the tractor attempt to succeed, but the tractor attempt must exceed the negative tractor in order to succeed.)

Establishing the tractor is independent from who controls movement. So, if Ship B has successfully tractored Ship A, but Ship A has spent more energy on movement, then Ship A controls movement. These are independent determinations.

As to who "wins"? That is dependent on what is being won. If by "wins", you mean who has won the tractor auction, then obviously the tractor has been established, so Ship B won the tractor auction. But, since Ship A is controlling the movement of the two ships, it can be a completely hollow win if Ship A does something with that movement which harms Ship B. On the other hand, Ship B, since it is the one that established the tractor, can always simply drop the tractor at any point irrespective of which ship is controlling movement.

But it all is dependent on what Ship B is trying to accomplish by establishing a tractor when it will not control movement. This could be very useful if it is trying to slow down Ship A or if it is trying to make sure it stays close to Ship A for the rest of the turn, and it doesn't matter where the pair of ships move. It can also be suicidal if Ship A can drive Ship B into something (like asteroids or a planet or close enough to a black hole or even seeking weapons targeted on it). But that determination is completely dependent on the circumstances.

[qwirz]

Thanks Commodore!
Really helpful and enlightening!

[Sgt_G]

Establishing the tractor is independent from who controls movement. So, if Ship B has successfully tractored Ship A, but Ship A has spent more energy on movement, then Ship A controls movement. These are independent determinations.

If memory serves, this is radically different in Star Fleet Battles (SFB). In that game, both ship get to move on their impulse but at an increased rate based on the total weight of both ships added together. If two Move-1 ships are locked in tractor, one moving at speed 12 and the other at speed 10, they will both move as if they are Move-2 ships, so at speeds 6 and 5. Having both ships controlling movement can create really weird tug-of-war situations.

[mjwest]

Establishing the tractor is independent from who controls movement. So, if Ship B has successfully tractored Ship A, but Ship A has spent more energy on movement, then Ship A controls movement. These are independent determinations.

If memory serves, this is radically different in Star Fleet Battles (SFB). In that game, both ship get to move on their impulse but at an increased rate based on the total weight of both ships added together. If two Move-1 ships are locked in tractor, one moving at speed 12 and the other at speed 10, they will both move as if they are Move-2 ships, so at speeds 6 and 5. Having both ships controlling movement can create really weird tug-of-war situations.

Yes, this is intentionally radically different from SFB because the SFB system is ludicrously complicated. By doing it this way in Federation Commander, it becomes significantly simpler to handle. Also note that Federation Commander eliminates tractor chains, too, so a given ship can only tractor, or be tractored by, one other ship.

[Mike]

Yea for Federation Commander!