Federation Commander

If a ship is being tractored -- and does not control movement-- are HET and tactical maneuvering the only way it can change facing? We had a somewhat heated disagreement about the statement in rule 5D6b: "(The period while tractored does not affect its turn mode count)" One side says "All movement counts toward satisfying the turn mode,after which the ship can turn in place," the other side says "While tractored, NO movement counts toward satisfying the turn mode, so the ship must HET or TM to change facing." (And whatever answer is correct, that's my side )

You can't turn whilst tractored.

Discussed previously here

Short version: The ship that controls the tractor movement (by having more energy spent towards movement) can move and turn under the rules. The ship that does not control the tractor movement (which could be both ships in the static scenario) cannot move or turn at all, outside HET and Tactical Maneuvers.

The problem is that the rule is a bit ambiguous in places, as "tractored" can mean both the ship held in the tractor, and the ship that doesn't control movement. The ambiguity is that sometimes the ship being held in the tractor is the one that controls movement. But the movement restrictions and such are based on who controls movement, not who is generating the tractor and who is being held.