Another Tractor question

[Kang]

On the back of Commodore Doyle's 'Gorn Anchor' srticle in the Tactice forum, I have another Tractor question.

One of the counters to the Gorn Anchors which he gives is to counter-tractor the target using another ship friendly to the target.

However, this has two problems as far as I can see - and I would like to be corrected, please, if I am wrong

Firstly, establishing a friendly tractor link will still slow the target ship down and leave it vulnerable to plasma torps. As far as I can see, the Tractor rules do not differentiate between friendly and enemy ships when saying that two linked ships are controlled by the towing ship. The combined masses will therefore be used despite the non - non-co-operation [get it?] of the target, as if the target is 'resisting arrest'..

Secondly, even if the friendly ship maintains the counter-tractor just long enough to negate the efforts of the tractoring ship, and then drops the tractor, this does not prevent another enemy ship [or even the same enemy ship, given enough power] attempting another anchor later in the turn, perhaps when the protecting ship has moved away, as opposed to negative tractor which stays with the ship all the turn long.

Any comments, please?

[junior]

No strategy is perfect, but the one described does have its uses.

There's nothing to prevent another ship tractoring the "almost victim" - except for the fact that it can be somewhat difficult to move into a hex adjacent to a ship that really doesn't want to end up there. Additionally, with plasma torpedoes quite often just one or two free impulses of movement makes a huge difference in the amount of damage that you'll take from the torpedoes.

So while it may not be a perfect defense, it also has some advantages. Remember that tractoring the target ship isn't the end. It's merely one of the means to the end, and mucking that up can have significant consequences on the way that the battle turns out.

[Kang]

Yes, of course. That makes sense, thanks! Sometimes it's good to get someone else's angle on an idea, which is why I asked.

Thanks again!

[defurusu]

Remember that you can make a me-too attempt to tractor the victim when the Gorn (or whoever) announces their intention to grab him. This can force a tie if the Gorn is unable (or unwilling) to actually beat you in the auction, and at this point the intended victim is free to fly away.

At least that's how I imagine the tactic is intended to work.

[Scoutdad]

While the circumstances are hard to arrange, we have utilized the "me-too" tractor option on occassion and have had a friendly ship burn enough power in a tractor auction that the enemy ship either drops the tractor attempt - or else, grabs the ship but then doen't have enough power to do much damage to the target ship.

[mjwest]

On Kang's first point, I agree that having the friendly ship tractor the target is really only giving the "Gorn" two good targets instead of just one. The better strategy is to tractor the "Gorn". This will force the same result (releasing the target), but let the target move. Hope the friendly ship is behind the Gorn, though ...

On the second point, well, I don't see how this applies. Presumably, the friendly ship is trying to disrupt the tractor because the target doesn't have the energy to generate sufficient negative tractor. But your observations are correct: once the friendly ship breaks the "Gorn's" tractor, the target is again available to be tractored by someone else. Also, any negative tractor energy on the target ship is still present for the rest of the turn.