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Tractor Beam Question 2
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:16 pm
by Sebastian380
Follow up question:
in 5D6a what does this mean," any 'negative tractor' energy remains with the ship that generated it through the end of the turn." Does this mean the energy can be used somehow? Does it go back into the 'bank' so to speak?
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:02 pm
by mjwest
It means that if the "negative tractor" energy remains in effect through the rest of the turn.
Example: Ship A attempts to tractor Ship B. After a brief tractor auction, Ship A's attempt to tractor with 5 energy points is thwarted by Ship B using 5 points of "negative tractor". This all happened on Impulse #1 of Turn #2. Later, in Impulse #4 of Turn #2, another ship, Ship C, attempts to tractor Ship B. However, the 5 points of "negative tractor" are still in effect, so Ship C would have to use a strength 6 tractor to even have a chance to effectively tractor Ship B. This carryover "negative tractor" energy disappears at the very end of Impulse #8 of Turn #2.
Do note that if Ship B wants to be tractored by Ship C, it can always drop the "negative tractor" energy, meaning that Ship C could tractor Ship B with a single point of energy.
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:18 pm
by Sebastian380
Got it. Thank you.
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:40 am
by DNordeen
MJ,
Just a follow up on this one. I was teaching it to someone recently, and they didn't know what "negative tractor" was. When I went to show them the definition, I realized it wasn't in the FC rulebook.
I knew it from SFB and never questioned it. FC throws the term out without defining it for the new folks. Might want to include that definition as erratta for the next update.
Negative Tractor
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:44 am
by Sebastian380
Good point DNordeen, I was one of those people and I spent some time looking through the pages for a definition of Negative Tractor.
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:59 am
by Kang
(5D6a) seems clear enough to me. It's also mentioned as such in (4S4d)
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:12 am
by Sebastian380
DOH!
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:23 am
by DNordeen
I understood that pretty well, too. The guy I was teaching didn't. It took him a bit to put everything together. Not really a big deal, but a statement along the lines of "This is known as "negative tractor" would have helped him out.
SFB's G7.35 is a bit more obvious about it and it's what I ended having him read to help him understand.