Anyone think that a 1pt weapon that lowers a ship agility by 1 is too powerful. One agility ships are now sitting ducks.
Rather I wish it will just make a ship that was hit unable to move for one round. Imagine it being a weapon that can save one of your ship from flying off the board or allow your own ship to remain at an advantage spot. In addition to freezing an enemy ship, so your ships can get into an optimal firing location.
Not really. For most ships, you have to give up your attack to use it. Which means no attacking with the ship that's doing it. And even then, you still have to hit for it to work.
Certainly, it's much more powerful on a TIE/D. But in general, not so much.
I'm personaly not really impressed by them, except on Defenders because you don't lose your attack thanks to the title.
I was looking forward to equiping my IGs with it, but I don't think it is worth it... better to just shoot the target with the HLC and do the damage yourself.
But I'll wait to see the entire card before giving my final judgment.
I think it is a good addition to the game. It isn't an easy thing to use. Imagine a list with 4 ships, 1 of which is carrying the Tractor Beam. To get any effect,
1) the Tractor Beam must fire first
2) the Tractor Beam attack must hit the target
3) the other 3 ships must attack the same target
As the game progresses, these become more and more difficult to achieve. And as you lose ships, the effectiveness of the Tractor Beam decreases.
EDIT: And point #1 means you practically have to build around this one cannon that deals no direct damage.
Edited by Budgernaut1) the Tractor Beam must fire first
People who were hoping to use a bunch of cheap Scyks to lock down enemies with Tractor Beams so more powerful ships could tear them apart are going to be disappointed.
That is the other problem.1) the Tractor Beam must fire first
People [like you, Budgernaut,] who were hoping to use a bunch of cheap Scyks to lock down enemies with Tractor Beams so more powerful ships could tear them apart are going to be disappointed.
I fixed that quote for you.
*cry*
Anyone think that a 1pt weapon that lowers a ship agility by 1 is too powerful.
Not in the slightest because the ship attacking with the tractor beam doesn't do any damage. However you build it out there's a weakness. If it's a single high pilot skill ship with a swarm of lower ps attackers your enemy is going to wipe out your tractor beam carrier 1st and eliminate that threat. If it's a B-Wing you are dropping a lot of points into that set up on a 1 agility ship. If it's on a Scyk then the Scyk is already dead because it's a Scyk. 3 Defenders could be really good which is great because we needed them to be better but they still have their deficiencies. That version gives up the more survivable upgrade option. And if a Tractor Beam list rises up that is really good against something powerful in the meta then that powerful thing in the meta adjusts or falls from the meta.
Tractor Beam is not over-powered. The question is if it's powerful enough and the jury is very much out on that.
Yet another awesome aspect of the game!
Though I'm holding out for Zuckuss Crew and/or 4-LOM pilot/crew to be able to do damage with tractor beam tokens...
I'm actually glad it doesn't force or prevent maneuvers, there is enough of that in the game already.
I'm picturing a group of same PS ships with a couple Tractors. Then just choose what order to fire to maximize damage.
PS "1 for the Money"
2 X Delta, TIE MK II, Tractor, Tie/D
3 X Academy
100 points (or drop the MK II's so you can gain initiative over the other guy who is almost certainly running the same list because its awsome!)
Block like crazy with the Academies, then pound away with the Tractor AND primaries of the Deltas. Against lower agility targets, hit one enemy with a Delta and as many Academies as needed to finish it and when its dead, light up another target with the 2nd Delta. Against high agility targets, hit it twice with the Deltas first and hope at least one Tractor lands and then let the Academies loose.
It's similar to Latts Razzi's pilot ability, and that doesn't get a vast amount of play
4 Omicrons with Tractor Beams and Acc. correctors are going to be a sight to behold!
4 Omicrons with Tractor Beams and Acc. correctors are going to be a sight to behold!
Yep, I pity the ship that gets beamed & pommeled by the other 3 Omicrons, esp. if that ship has only 1 agility. We all know how quickly a 0 agility ship can go down, so it may be a big mistake to have the beam with the ability to lower agility without something that will can perm. increase one's agility.
Does the steath device stay on when hit by the beam?
4 Omicrons with Tractor Beams and Acc. correctors are going to be a sight to behold!
Yep, I pity the ship that gets beamed & pommeled by the other 3 Omicrons, esp. if that ship has only 1 agility. We all know how quickly a 0 agility ship can go down, so it may be a big mistake to have the beam with the ability to lower agility without something that will can perm. increase one's agility.
Does the steath device stay on when hit by the beam?
No. It doesn't.
I'm picturing a group of same PS ships with a couple Tractors. Then just choose what order to fire to maximize damage.
PS "1 for the Money"
2 X Delta, TIE MK II, Tractor, Tie/D
3 X Academy
100 points (or drop the MK II's so you can gain initiative over the other guy who is almost certainly running the same list because its awsome!)
Block like crazy with the Academies, then pound away with the Tractor AND primaries of the Deltas. Against lower agility targets, hit one enemy with a Delta and as many Academies as needed to finish it and when its dead, light up another target with the 2nd Delta. Against high agility targets, hit it twice with the Deltas first and hope at least one Tractor lands and then let the Academies loose.
I cant wait to run a list with Vessery, Tractor tie/D and RUTHLESSNESS!!!!!!!!! I see your crack swarm and i MURDER IT. fly in tandem with Redline with Assault missiles for maximum swarm hate.
Would a pair of Brobots, either one or both with a Tractor still not be worthwhile. On occasions where they can gang up on a single target, furthest away goes first and uses the TB whilst the closer one fires primaries/manglers/whatever.
Quite situational, but for 1 or 2 points it could be nasty, and nobody really uses the second cannon slot on the aggressor for anything else do they?
I'm still waiting to see the whole rule card.
That is the other problem.1) the Tractor Beam must fire first
People who were hoping to use a bunch of cheap Scyks to lock down enemies with Tractor Beams so more powerful ships could tear them apart are going to be disappointed.
Tansaari with Decoy maybe.
That is the other problem.1) the Tractor Beam must fire first
People who were hoping to use a bunch of cheap Scyks to lock down enemies with Tractor Beams so more powerful ships could tear them apart are going to be disappointed.
Tansaari with Decoy maybe.
Not a bad choice, but not exactly cheap either.
It's similar to Latts Razzi's pilot ability, and that doesn't get a vast amount of play
I love Latts ability personally. I've used her a bunch, to fairly good success. Her ability IMO works a lot better than tractor beam though becuase you don't hvae to hit with a 0 damage attack first to trigger it.
Would a pair of Brobots, either one or both with a Tractor still not be worthwhile. On occasions where they can gang up on a single target, furthest away goes first and uses the TB whilst the closer one fires primaries/manglers/whatever.
Look at it this way. Would you rather have 2 HLC attacks (since that's what brobots usually run), or 1 3-dice tractor attack that does 0 damage then an HLC attack against -1 agility? Personally, I'd rather just shoot the 2 HLCs. If your tractor beam hit, your HLC would have hit to, and done a minimum of 1 damage, maximum of up to 4 depending on the dice on each side.
^See this is the real issue with the tractor beam. It can increase damage later in the combat phase a the cost of damage now. For it to be worth even the one point cost, you have to be sure your later shots against a lower agility will do more damage than just a normal shot would have. If you are not getting at least 3 more shots in after the tractor beam, it would probably have been better to just use the primary.
Now with the Tie/D defenders you get to shoot your own primaries after the tractor so the trade off is between the control of Ions or Flechetts and the chance for more damage after a Tractor hit.
As others have said, we really need to see what the rest of the card says. If it says something like after removing tractor tokens assign a stress token then holy cow this is awesome. If its really nothing then, well, we may only see the occasional tractor beam when all you have is 1 point to spend.