Federation Commander

I vaguely recollect there being a rule to the effect that if one ship tried to use a tractor beam to shove another ship into a planet, the tractor beam would instantly break. But when someone asked about that last night, I wasn't able to find it in the rulebook (fortunately there wasn't an actual game involved).

Does anyone happen to know off-hand where this is found?

Or am I imagining things?

You know, I would have agreed with you, too.

But, no, it does not look like that question has ever been formally printed in any Communique Q&A or rules update.

So, if it was a ruling, it must have been made on one of the forums, and never made it into Communique.

My error. Will go forth and fix this ...

I, too remember that ruling. I'll go through what I've got bookmarked at home tonight to see if I can find it...

I'm sure I remember something to that effect also. I hope it's not one of those false memory things where I believe I remember it because someone suggested it happened when I was probably looking...

Wasn't it just in SFB? I could be mistaken.....

Nah. I haven't read the SFB rules in over a decade, so I don't think I'd be confusing an obscure bit of rules trivia like that.

And my guess is that SFB would actually be more likely to let you shove someone into a planet. That game tends to be a bit more unforgiving when you're on the wrong end of a particularly low bit of tactical brilliance.

As with the map edge thing, the wording is being worked on, but, no, you can't use tractors to shove another ship into a planet. Doing so breaks the tractor.

Note also that you cannot shove a ship into a moon or asteroid, either. This doesn't break the tractor; you just can't do it. (Insert technobabble about large spaces, warp bubbles, and whatever else is required to justify it.)

You can, of course, still drag some hapless sot through asteroid hexes ...

mjwest wrote:You can, of course, still drag some hapless sot through asteroid hexes ...

Plasmaboy will be thrilled to hear that the Asteroid Conga is still a valid tactic...
Drag... Drag... Drag... BOOM!
Drag... Drag... Drag... BOOM!

I would think he would be thrilled to hear anything other than a Drill Instructor barking at him at this point.

Hahaha. After tomorrow - he won't have to worry about DI's...then all he has to worry about is Commanding Officers.

"(5D6b) If a ship attempts to use a tractor beam to push an enemy ship into a planet, the tractor beam is immediately broken. The tractoring ship makes its move, and the enemy ship remains in its hex. A tractored ship may not be pushed into a moon or individual asteroid (the tractor is not broken; the tractored ship simply won't hit the moon or asteroid). A tractored ship may be dragged through an asteroid hex." Mike West 21-10-08

and

"(5D6b) A ship may not use a tractor beam to push (or pull) an enemy ship off the "edge" of a fixed map (or past the boundary of a location map) and force it to leave. If this is done, the tractor is immediately broken, and the enemy ship is left in the last hex row of the map edge. However, a ship may always disengage with a captured or allied ship under tractor." Mike West 21-10-08

Dribble, dribble, dribble, fake, dribble, fake, dribble, fake, shoot, swish!

--Bored of the Rings

Steve Cole wrote:Dribble, dribble, dribble, fake, dribble, fake, dribble, fake, shoot, swish!

--Bored of the Rings

Indeed...