Federation Commander

I'm still kind of new to FC, and one thing I haven't used much yet are tractor beams. After re-reading the rules, I still have two questions:

1) 5D6a says, "A ship does not need to use a tractor beam to generate "negative tractor". Does this mean that any ship, even one without any functioning tractor beam (never had any, or all are disabled) can still generate "negative tractor" and engage in a tractor auction?

2) When a ship has an object in tractor, and then the ship turns and moves, does the tractored object swing into a new hex so that its relative position to the moving ship stays the same, or does the object stay in the same mapboard position relative to the moving ship? For example, my ship has a shuttle in a tractor beam. My ship is facing direction A, and the shuttle is directly ahead of my ship, off shield #1. For my next move, I turn left to direction F and move one hex. Where is the shuttle now, directly ahead of my ship, off my #1 shield in direction F, or still in direction A and now off my #2 shield?

2: The shuttle would now be off your #2 shield. The tractor beam finctions as if the two units were connected to each other via a pivoting axis.

Now, in SFB you could use the tractor to rotate an object to a new hex... but that's a different animal altogether.

1. Answer is yes. Any ship can use negative tractor, even if it never had a tractor beam or it's T-beams are all disabled. (Think of it as "tractor jamming" which does not require a tractor beam.)

2) Tony's (Scoutdad's) answer above is correct when the shuttle is tractored at 1 hex range, or at 0 hexes range and it is NOT an impacted suicide shuttle.

Now, if the shuttle in question was a suicide shuttle that had actually impacted your #1 shield, and you elected to tractor it in the Defensive Fire Phase, that shuttle would then swing around as your ship turns, so that it will always be facing your #1 shield. A subtle but important difference.

The above combined answers are correct. Thanks guys!

Kang wrote:2) Tony's (Scoutdad's) answer above is correct when the shuttle is tractored at 1 hex range, or at 0 hexes range and it is NOT an impacted suicide shuttle.

Now, if the shuttle in question was a suicide shuttle that had actually impacted your #1 shield, and you elected to tractor it in the Defensive Fire Phase, that shuttle would then swing around as your ship turns, so that it will always be facing your #1 shield. A subtle but important difference.

Dang... forgot to include that. Thanks for the catch, Tony.

The other Tony

Thanks, everyone.

Is the answer to question 2 in the rules somewhere, and I overlooked it? If so, can someone point me to it?

I can't find the reference myself, however I did note in the introductory paragraph of (5D4) Defensive Functions [of tractor beams] it says, "The tractored weapon will then remain in place just outside of the shields...." which kind-of alludes to it.

Also, in (4F4c), 'Point of Impact', it is clear that the seeking weapon is placed on the shield hit during movement. Once the weapon has impacted, this shield does not change so it is simpler just to say that it stays stuck there, like a dead insect on your car windshield, until dealt with, even if the ship turns.

Then again, perhaps one of the other guys can point you to the explicit ruling.