Tractor Beam Theories

By spartan1128, in X-Wing

tractor-beam.png

This is a very interesting cannon to me. It's a 1 point range 1-3 three dice attack that deals no damage. The question is, what happens to a ship that has the tractor beam token on it? I have a couple of theories.

1) After an enemy ship with a tractor beam token on it executes a maneuver you may spend the tractor beam token to perform a barrel roll for that ship.

2) When a ship with a tractor beam token reveals a maneuver you may spend the tractor beam token to reduce its speed by 1.

3) You may spend a tractor beam token to reduce that ships agility value by 1 for the rest of the round.

4) You may spend a tractor beam token to cause that ship to receive 1 stress token.

5) When an enemy ship reveals a maneuver you may spend a tractor beam token to make that ship execute a white 0 speed maneuver.

Anybody have any other thoughts?

I have no theories at the moment. I'm just excited that Zuckuss' arm is the art they chose to use. Long live Gands!

"A ship with a Tractor Beam token may not perform Boost or Barrel Roll actions. It may remove this token after it has completed its activation."

"A ship with a Tractor Beam token may not perform Boost or Barrel Roll actions. It may remove this token after it has completed its activation."

I like this a lot except for the part about removing the token. That makes the whole thing seem way too situational.

"A ship with a Tractor Beam token may not perform Boost or Barrel Roll actions. It may remove this token after it has completed its activation."

I like this a lot except for the part about removing the token. That makes the whole thing seem way too situational.

I do like that idea but it will be utterly useless against a lot of ships. Sure the cannon is only 1 point but to look across the table and see a bunch of rebel ships and go "dang...".

tractor-beam.png

This is a very interesting cannon to me. It's a 1 point range 1-3 three dice attack that deals no damage. The question is, what happens to a ship that has the tractor beam token on it? I have a couple of theories.

1) After an enemy ship with a tractor beam token on it executes a maneuver you may spend the tractor beam token to perform a barrel roll for that ship.

2) When a ship with a tractor beam token reveals a maneuver you may spend the tractor beam token to reduce its speed by 1.

3) You may spend a tractor beam token to reduce that ships agility value by 1 for the rest of the round.

4) You may spend a tractor beam token to cause that ship to receive 1 stress token.

5) When an enemy ship reveals a maneuver you may spend a tractor beam token to make that ship execute a white 0 speed maneuver.

Anybody have any other thoughts?

Interesting theories. Definitely don't think its 4 though, since that seems better then flechette cannon, which costs a point more. Think 5 is too powerful of an effect as well, as that's even better then an Ion in my opinion. 3 Also seems pretty powerful. Think it will be along the lines of what you have for 1 and 2.

tractor-beam.png

This is a very interesting cannon to me. It's a 1 point range 1-3 three dice attack that deals no damage. The question is, what happens to a ship that has the tractor beam token on it? I have a couple of theories.

1) After an enemy ship with a tractor beam token on it executes a maneuver you may spend the tractor beam token to perform a barrel roll for that ship.

2) When a ship with a tractor beam token reveals a maneuver you may spend the tractor beam token to reduce its speed by 1.

3) You may spend a tractor beam token to reduce that ships agility value by 1 for the rest of the round.

4) You may spend a tractor beam token to cause that ship to receive 1 stress token.

5) When an enemy ship reveals a maneuver you may spend a tractor beam token to make that ship execute a white 0 speed maneuver.

Anybody have any other thoughts?

Interesting theories. Definitely don't think its 4 though, since that seems better then flechette cannon, which costs a point more. Think 5 is too powerful of an effect as well, as that's even better then an Ion in my opinion. 3 Also seems pretty powerful. Think it will be along the lines of what you have for 1 and 2.

The biggest difference between 4 and a flechette cannon though is that the flechette cannon does deal a damage. While not a huge difference, it is a difference. 5 won't let you run someone off the board or into an astroid. 3 Is probably too powerful.

I think this cannon ought to have at least a semi-powerful effect though since it does no damage. That's a whole ship you're not getting damage with for several rounds in a standard game.

I like the ideas posted here

Maybe one more suggestion:

Maneuvers of ships with tractor beam token are reduced to 1 (to a minimum of 1).

So ships with 4 straight can only perform a 3 straight and so on

If your ship has a tractor beam token at the end of a round. Follow these steps at the start of the next turn.

During the planning phase your opponent chooses a green maneuver from your dial, and places it face down next to the ship without showing it to you.

During the activation phase, execute the maneuver, then skip the Check Stress step.

This ship's activation then proceeds as normal.

Edited by Funkleton

When performing an attack against a ship with a Tractor Beam Token, reduce its Agility by 1. Remove this token after the ship executes a maneuver.

I like the ideas posted here

Maybe one more suggestion:

Maneuvers of ships with tractor beam token are reduced to 1 (to a minimum of 1).

So ships with 4 straight can only perform a 3 straight and so on

My biggest issue is that you will have to make sure to word it so that ships can still only perform maneuvers that are on their dials. otherwise we'll have shuttles doing 1 speed turns! While not that bad, it can actually give the ship with the tractor beam token an advantage I think. Also, if you pick a green maneuver and then reduce it's speed by 1 that would mean that the baron can do green 1 turns. As long as those issues are addressed I'm fine with it.

Reduce chosen move speed would be my guess, your three bank becomes a two.

If your only going one forward now your not moving at all.

Still given it does zero damage I'm not sure how useful it'll be, surely stress on the hull would be a factor.

I hope it's some kind of team beats upgrade like the tracer missiles. Something like whilst you have a tractor beam token you may not spend focus tokens or whilst you have a tractor beam token all ships May reroll one attack dice when attacking you.

I like the idea of it effecting movement but moving people's ships around is far too powerful an effect

So what is 1 point worth? If it does have an ability of value (and it's payment is not points), how is it being paid for?

Let's look at the cheapest cannon...

flechette_cannon.png

It's real value is the range (1-3) and the stress it inflicts. Other than points, it has limitations to keep the cost down. Regardless of the dice roll, only 1 damage and the stress is only added if the defender is not already stressed.

Here is where the guess work comes in... Autoblaster turret has an AMAZING ability, but is limited to two dice and a R1. Knowing TBC has a range 1-3 AND rolls three dice, the outcome mostly likely will not include damage and more than likely will have another limiting factor. My guess is the Tractor Beam token will cause the ship to only be able to perform green maneuvers next round with its chosen speed reduced by 1, minimum value of 1.

Reduce chosen move speed would be my guess, your three bank becomes a two.

If your only going one forward now your not moving at all.

Still given it does zero damage I'm not sure how useful it'll be, surely stress on the hull would be a factor.

I think this would end up being a benefit to the ship with the tractor beam. I can't tell you how many times I wish I could do a 1 straight with a TIE Interceptor.

I think the easiest solution might simply be: "A ship with one or more Tractor Beam tokens cannot select red maneuvers on its maneuver dial during the planning phase. When a ship with a Tractor Beam token reveals a maneuver dial, treat all green maneuvers as white and all white maneuvers as red. After completing the move, remove all Tractor Beam tokens."

I don't think it'll reduce maneuver speed, because that's too easy to plan around. I suppose it could say "No turns," "No boost/Barrel Roll," or "no maneuvers greater than speed 2 (or 3, perhaps)"

Green maneuvers only is another possibility.

See I was Thinking no turns would be a bit harsh from a one point cannon.

Reduce chosen move speed would be my guess, your three bank becomes a two.

If your only going one forward now your not moving at all.

Still given it does zero damage I'm not sure how useful it'll be, surely stress on the hull would be a factor.

this is also my guess, simply because the tractor beam spoiled for Armada does something similar (except it happens at the beginning of a ship's activation instead of eating your attack, so there is room to believe X-wing's tractor beam will do more)

if it were up to me, I'd force free barrel-rolls on the tokened ship such that it moved closer to a ship with a tractor beam card :P

soontir rolls out of arc, and then rolls right back in ^_^

The more I think about it, the effect must be very simplistic. Reduce agility by 1 might be the guess I'd actually bet on.

The other idea that just came to me is this.... What does a tractor beam do? Attempt to control the defender's movements. How can X-wing simulate this?

A ship with a tractor beam token may not perform red maneuvers and must reveal his dial during the Planning phase.

The idea here is that the player with the TBC can set his dials accordingly during the planning phase. While no damage was done, it does give the attacking player the possibility of an advantage the next round. Sounds like something worth 1 point to me.

Edited by Stone37

Reduce chosen move speed would be my guess, your three bank becomes a two.

If your only going one forward now your not moving at all.

Still given it does zero damage I'm not sure how useful it'll be, surely stress on the hull would be a factor.

this is also my guess, simply because the tractor beam spoiled for Armada does something similar (except it happens at the beginning of a ship's activation instead of eating your attack, so there is room to believe X-wing's tractor beam will do more)

if it were up to me, I'd force free barrel-rolls on the tokened ship such that it moved closer to a ship with a tractor beam card :P

soontir rolls out of arc, and then rolls right back in ^_^

That would be amusing. I do prefer the barrel roll manipulation option to anything else I can think of. It's unique, interesting, and can have great effects without dealing damage.

The more I think about it, the effect must be very simplistic. Reduce agility by 1 might be the guess I'd actually bet on.

The other idea that just came to me is this.... What does a tractor beam do? Attempt to control the defender's movements. How can X-wing simulate this?

A ship with a tractor beam token may not perform red maneuvers and must reveal his dial during the Planning phase.

The idea here is that the player with the TBC can set his dials accordingly during the planning phase. While no damage was done, it does give the attacking player the possibility of an advantage the next round. Sounds like something worth 1 point to me.

Now that is an interesting idea. I like it.

Reduce chosen move speed would be my guess, your three bank becomes a two.

If your only going one forward now your not moving at all.

Still given it does zero damage I'm not sure how useful it'll be, surely stress on the hull would be a factor.

this is also my guess, simply because the tractor beam spoiled for Armada does something similar (except it happens at the beginning of a ship's activation instead of eating your attack, so there is room to believe X-wing's tractor beam will do more)

if it were up to me, I'd force free barrel-rolls on the tokened ship such that it moved closer to a ship with a tractor beam card :P

soontir rolls out of arc, and then rolls right back in ^_^

That would be amusing. I do prefer the barrel roll manipulation option to anything else I can think of. It's unique, interesting, and can have great effects without dealing damage.

to make it extra fluffy,

Removing Tractor Beam Tokens:

*tractor beam roll occurs pre-combat

*check after the tractor beam roll

*if the tokened ship is beyond range 2/3 of every ship with tractor beam, remove the token

the beam doesn't just hold temporarily, **** drags you right in if you can't escape it :)

Since the idea would seem to be to restrict mvt somewhat. What if it turned all green maneuvers into red maneuvers. I think the idea would be to limit greens(turn to red or white) and after movement options like boost/BR. Would probably be a 1 round effect unless you have to use an action to remove.

How about: You can't spend Evade and Focus tokens.