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Nico_Davout
Commander
Joined: 09 Feb 2009
Posts: 384
Location: Sevilla, Spain
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 Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:55 pm Post subject: Tractor Beam on capital ships |
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Hello,
Can a tractor beam of the capital ship capture another capital ship? I have in mind big ISD against VSD. According to the rules, I think, yes. Am I wrong?
Tractor Beam on ISD has capital scale, but I can't recall it ever happened in any book or comic. Corvette captured by ISD, sure, but VSD? Look at the size of that thing  .
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Nico,
Han Solo shot first, midichlosomething do not exist, Rebel Alliance was created as in the WEG books and indoctrination theory is the true ending of ME3. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14168
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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They should be able to. All it is, is the str of the weapon against the hull of the target.
But the linked question is, should a tractor beam in SW (since they are in most novels and the films) shown to be clear/non observable be non dodgable?
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jmanski
Arbiter-General (Moderator)
Joined: 06 Mar 2005
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Location: Kansas
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| Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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You can dodge what you can't see. Any maneuvering would make the acquisition of the target more difficult.
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Nico_Davout
Commander
Joined: 09 Feb 2009
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Location: Sevilla, Spain
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| Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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We can assume that when the starship is targeted, the pilot is informed about it just like in the TIE Fighter game or X-Wing. So a pilot should always be able to dodge, because he knows that he is targeted, he just don't know by what kind of weapon.
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Nico,
Han Solo shot first, midichlosomething do not exist, Rebel Alliance was created as in the WEG books and indoctrination theory is the true ending of ME3. |
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:47 am Post subject: |
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A while back when i asked about that, most seemed to think that if you use the fire control, your sensors will ping showing that there is some sort of weapons lock being put on you.
So by that logic, if say a PC did not take the FC bonus of his weapon, just used his skill, and was using a tractor beam, he should get a chance of an 'ambush' situation, much like if it was reversed.
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Darth_Hilarious
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 17 Apr 2013
Posts: 129
Location: Somewhere over there --------->
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| Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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If you had a PC whose backstory was that they were basically cargo loaders on a bulk freighter, could you actually have them specialize in tractor beam operations rather than using the appropriate starship gunnery skill that would include all weapons of that class including tractor beams?
If they had a high enough skill level they could almost snatch concussion missiles out of air so to speak but put them on a laser cannon or other weapon mount and they wont even be able to find the firing stud. |
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thedemonapostle
Commander
Joined: 02 Aug 2011
Posts: 257
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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was thinking about this and something else came to mind. if the tractoring ship is smaller in size, say a corellian corvette with a tractor beam of adequate strength, tractored an ISD successfully, would that in fact render the ISD immobile despite the drastic size differences? wouldnt the ISD then be capable of still moving do to the fact that the ISD has significantly greater engine power over the corvette? would the corvette be able to lock its distance from the ISD with the tractor beam or would it continue to "real" itself in towards the ISD or would it, as per the rules be able to pull the ISD towards itself?
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garhkal
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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In a situation like that i would use common sense. The larger/more powerful ship drags the smaller one around!
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Nico_Davout
Commander
Joined: 09 Feb 2009
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Location: Sevilla, Spain
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| Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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Was ISD capable of "tractoring" a Corellian Corvette or were the engines of the Leia's ship at the beginning of the episode 4 down - "they have shut down the main reactor!" - and only because of that the tractor beam was able to pull the corvette?
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Nico,
Han Solo shot first, midichlosomething do not exist, Rebel Alliance was created as in the WEG books and indoctrination theory is the true ending of ME3. |
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Darth_Hilarious
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 17 Apr 2013
Posts: 129
Location: Somewhere over there --------->
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| Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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| When the Falcon was captured in the Deathstar tractor beam didn't Han tell Luke that they had to shut down the drives to keep them from burning out? |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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Yup. If you resist enough, you can burn your engines out. Which is simulated in the RPG with the damage roll.
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vanir
Jedi
Joined: 11 May 2011
Posts: 793
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| Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | A while back when i asked about that, most seemed to think that if you use the fire control, your sensors will ping showing that there is some sort of weapons lock being put on you.
So by that logic, if say a PC did not take the FC bonus of his weapon, just used his skill, and was using a tractor beam, he should get a chance of an 'ambush' situation, much like if it was reversed. |
If you're not using the fire control system and 'firing over open sights' then you'd be restricted to within visual range and factors like a stable firing platform, the conclusion of which I made the ad hoc simple house rule of short range by weapon type.
Balances out gunners electing not to use fire control when they're being electronically jammed, stealthed or countermeasured, avoiding such imposed difficulty increases in this way means you can only fire at close ranges visually, to fire at med-long ranges you need the computerised fire control system linked into the ship/station sensors.
The Millennium Falcon situation at Alderaan was probably the shock/awe of the situation may have left a blinking red light on the consol go unnoticed. If it was a starfighter or military assault craft the passive warning receiver would probably be a klaxon horn and ships integrated warfare systems rather than just a jury rigged combat panel in a freighter, which in turn probably has warning horns for things like collisions which starfighters probably don't. |
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Darth_Hilarious
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 17 Apr 2013
Posts: 129
Location: Somewhere over there --------->
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I dont remember which novel it was in but a main character used the tractor beam on his ship to grab ahold of a larger vessel and use its mass to slingshot him around it.......... |
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 2460
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| Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | A while back when i asked about that, most seemed to think that if you use the fire control, your sensors will ping showing that there is some sort of weapons lock being put on you.
So by that logic, if say a PC did not take the FC bonus of his weapon, just used his skill, and was using a tractor beam, he should get a chance of an 'ambush' situation, much like if it was reversed. |
garhrkal, trust your feelings....let go... turn off your targeting computer.
I think going without FC probably makes a ambush possible , but also probably make hitting the target all but impossible without using something like the Force, unless you are right on top on the target.
We are taking about hitting something the size of a spaceship over a distance of miles, in the dark. They probably can't even see the target! |
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vanir
Jedi
Joined: 11 May 2011
Posts: 793
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| Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| atgxtg wrote: | I think going without FC probably makes a ambush possible , but also probably make hitting the target all but impossible without using something like the Force, unless you are right on top on the target.
We are taking about hitting something the size of a spaceship over a distance of miles, in the dark. They probably can't even see the target! |
Most regular people probably don't realize just how true that statement is. Something as big as a modern jetfighter is virtually impossible to locate visually when manoeuvring at only a few km distance, unless you know which piece of sky to be searching and have an idea which direction it's going. It gets even worse with low-vis paint schemes, but even a bright red one aint easy to find. You can hear it, you just can't see it because it's a big sky and a real small, real fast moving bit among a lot to look at.
Even professional pilots have assigned visual search patterns within the squadron because one person just can't do it all in the time it takes a modern bird to go from one side of the sky to the other, or a needle in a haystack to shooting down a wingman and whizzing past your canopy.
It's not easy to spot them, for pros. |
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