Bases tractoring ships while rotating

terryoc · Post by **terryoc** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:18 am

A federation NCL in one of the tactics threads

has closed to Range 1 of a SB for a point-blank shot. They exchange fire, leaving the NCL damaged but alive.

In the Other Functions phase, the SB tractors it. Uh-oh.

On the next impulse, the SB will rotate. Does the NCL stay in the same hex, now facing the SB's phasers which were previously out of arc,

, or does the NCL escape certain DOOOOOM by being moved into the next hex? I'm pretty sure that it doesn't move because it doesn't when ships turn, wanted to double check.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:39 am

The NCL remains in the hex it was in as the base rotates to a new facing arc... just like having a ship in your tractor beam as you make a 180 degree HET. The tractored ship stays in the hex it was originally in. It doesn't slew around traveling through three hexes as the tractoring ship turns.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:34 am

i.e. the new light cruiser becomes the old junk debris field...

Bolo_MK_XL · Post by **Bolo_MK_XL** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:17 am

Having not played FC in awhile --

How would the rule saying the ship with the most power to movement control movement be resolved ---
Seeing that a base would only use a couple/few points to do its rotation, and a ship using 8/16/24 --
The ship would control movement, so can only assume that the base would lose its rotation ---

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:24 am

I'm guessing that the positional stabilizer would serve to prevent the ship from controlling movement due to the large amount of hand'wavium required to construct a positional stabilizer.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:47 am

The tractor rules specifically state that if a ship tractors a base, the tractor is broken the first time the ship moves after establishing the tractor. If the base tractors a ship, that ship does not move until the tractor is released.

And, yes, the NCL sits in the hex while the base's fresh weapons rotate into arc and gut/vaporize the NCL.

BTW, don't forget that, assuming this is a starbase, you have gobs of transporters and marines. Don't vaporize the NCL; board it and capture it. Bonus points if this is the pristine NCL instead of the gutted ones.

Krellex · Post by **Krellex** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:12 pm

But it can sure be fun to break a ship down to it's molecular level, I have to admit.

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:00 pm

Krellex wrote:But it can sure be fun to break a ship down to it's molecular level, I have to admit.

You can always do that after you have taken it apart to study its secrets.....

mojo jojo · Post by **mojo jojo** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 7:01 pm

Tractoring a ship would've been a bad idea. The base doesn't rotate until impulse 2 of the next turn, meaning it would've still been pulverized by the range 0 or 1 shots. And using power for tractors would've meant more internal hits.