RE: [FT] SUS - Tractor Beams

G'day,

> There have been a number of implementations of Tractor Beams, 
> a 'staple' in SF, posted on the Web over the years, 
> but for some reason, they've
> been missed out of the WDA...

How did that happen? ;)
> Simple Tractor Beam Rules
> =========================
> For the sake of utility, any 'tractor beam' is also a 'Pressor Beam'

Makes sense.

> Tractor Beams are 'fired' during the Launch Ordnance phase: Tractor
> beams have full strength out to a range of 6 mu, and half strength
> (round down) out to a range of 12 mu, each further +6 mu halves the
> strength again.
> 
> Roll a number of D6s equal to the Tractor Beam strength (modified for
> range), resolve the D6s as beam dice, but without re-rolls. The total
> number of 'hits' inflicted is the 'pull' applied

Good idea.

> Summary of effects
> tractee < 1/2 MASS tractor then tractee moves 2xpull toward tractor
> tractee >= 1/2 MASS and <2xMASS tractor then both move pull toward
each
other
> tractee >= 2xMASS tractor then tractor moves 2xpull toward tractee

So this is why Voyager never tried to tractor the Borg ;P ;)

Given that the distance between the two ships closes by 2xpull
regardless of
result, was there some firm decision on this point or was it a happy
accident? In vector I wouldn't imagine a lot of defence in the overall
end
result (though it would be helpful in gravity wells I'll grant you) is
there
a subtly I'm missing in cinematic?

> In Cinematic..if...through...(F) arc, it is
> added to the ship's current speed...
> If...through the FP or FS arcs, then half of the pull is
> added to the ship's current speed, and the ship makes a 2-point turn
> towards the tractoring vessel...

Now that is a pretty impressive turn!

> A Tractor Beam requires MASS equal to 5% of that of the carrying ship,
> per rating, and has a cost of 5 points per MASS. It has a 
> single arc of fire, for 50% extra cost, and can cover 2 arcs, and for 
> double the MASS and cost, it can be increased to 3-arc coverage.

Ahh let me see if I got this right.
1-arc = 5% per level
2-arc = 7.5% per level
3-arc = 10% per level

????

Couple of questions.
1) does the tractor hold in FTL? If yes you should probably note you
need
either 3-arc tractors or level2 tractors to do it otherwise no-one will
ever
bother buying an FTL tug again ;)
2) How about ships how try to anticipate/break a tractor lock by
"burning"
off in the opposite direction (assuming their engines hold-out)? You
could
have something like 

a) If a ship in tractor lock burns at full thrust along a coarse
directly
opposite to the tractor beam path then at the end of movement it checks
range to tractor ship and rolls a D6. Range 0-6 a 6 is needed to break
free,
at 6-12mu they need a 5+, at 12-18 a 4+, 18-24 a 3+, 24-36 a 2+, a roll
of 1
always fails. If the roll fails an engine threshold is caused. Is the
roll
succeeds the tractor lock is broken and the tractor ship must roll for
that
tractor on the current threshold level.

OR

b) If a ship in tractor lock burns along a coarse directly opposite to
the
tractor beam path with MD > the pull rolled by the tractor ship then the
lock is broken.

> Kinetic Suppression Beam
> ========================
> This reduces the velocity of the target ship.
> Summary:
> Target < 1/2 MASS of tractor ship, target drops speed by 2D6 mu.
> Targets >= 1/2 MASS and < 2xMASS of tractor ship, drop speed by 1D6
mu.
> Targets > 2xMASS drop speed by 1 mu.
> Targets > 4xMASS or more are unaffected.

I know its a different system, but is there any reason that this 4xMASS
threshold doesn't apply to tractor beams too (if I were captaining a hug
lumbering vessel I may not want a bunch of little ships tractoring me so
they could hitch a ride!)

Cheers