Federation Commander

The beginning of the turn is the traditional time for re-evaluation of existing tractor links. Oftentimes, the captain of a ship being held in a tractor beam from the previous turn may wish simply to pile on the negative-tractor power in the auction in order to try to break his opponet's beam.

There is, however, a more subtle approach. Instead of applying power to negative tractor, how about putting lots of power into movement. This occurs before the tractor auction in the sequence of play, so when the tractor auction occurs, your opponent may well not want to maintain the link if he does not also control the movement, and may therefore drop the beam. This trick works better if your ship has a higher movement cost than your opponent's; a Klingon F5 could spend 12 power on a speed of 24, against a Kzinti FF's maximum movement cost of a mere 8 for the same speed.

On release, your power will then be converted into something useful - speed - rather than simply negative tractor energy that just sits on your hull and does nothing beyond protecting you from further tractor attempts that turn.

Of course, whether or not he releases the beam depends on why he's tractoring you in the first place, but it is worth considering as an option if your opponent needs to maneuver; something he will not be able to do easily if you control the movement.

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I have also submitted this to SPP as a Command Note.

Possibly... although if the opponent DOES try to maintain the tractor link, you have less power to fight it if you set a higher base speed than you would otherwise. Probably easier to just blast the enemy at range 1 and hope to knock the tractor beam out. Which is why you never tractor a Lyran.

terryoc wrote:Possibly... although if the opponent DOES try to maintain the tractor link, you have less power to fight it if you set a higher base speed than you would otherwise. Probably easier to just blast the enemy at range 1 and hope to knock the tractor beam out. Which is why you never tractor a Lyran.

At least, not untill after the _ _ _ (It was to bad for me to type it out) is knocked out.

terryoc wrote:Possibly... although if the opponent DOES try to maintain the tractor link, you have less power to fight it if you set a higher base speed than you would otherwise. Probably easier to just blast the enemy at range 1 and hope to knock the tractor beam out. Which is why you never tractor a Lyran.

Heh, yes, I wouldn't try that

As for blasting the opponent, yes, you could do that, but this tactic is meant as an alternative when simply negative tractor is contemplated. Blasting him is an option of course but sometimes beating the tractor can be a priority too.