Is tractor beam viable on anything besides Defenders?

Sure, not as viable but clever use of it will really mess up people's plans. It will move them out of formation, or put them on a rock, or stick them some place where they can't get an attack next round.

If you put it on a low PS ship even if it hits if your the lowest PS on the board the agility reduction is meaningless.

Depends on the list, put it on a PS2 M3-A, and all other PS2 M3-A's or other PS2 pilots will be able to attack after the agility penalty.

It's not a straightforward upgrade like the HLC is but has the potential to be more game changing then the HLC is in the right hands and in the right list.

Is tractor beam viable on anything besides Defenders? To get the most use out of it you need it on a high PS ship since you remove the token at the end of the round and it reduces agility only for the combat phase it hits in. If you put it on a low PS ship even if it hits if your the lowest PS on the board the agility reduction is meaningless. So if you go the other way and equip it on a high PS ship is it worth the 20-30 some points your spending for using tractor beam to make your ship strictly a control ship? I guess it would be OK on IG-88B with his ability. Again, someone sell me on using tractor beam outside of Defenders.

You just need all your ships to be the same PS. Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)Tractor Beam (1) Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)Tractor Beam (1) Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)Tractor Beam (1) Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)Tractor Beam (1) Total: 100 View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Very nice! Didn't think of this, thanks for showing me the light!

I think the best Rebel application of the tractor beam is the mental fatigue you will give your opponent when they line up across from you. Gotta consider three possible outcomes if you get hit by a TB. Not fun for the opponent.

I had already considered the Quad-Dagger option. I think this could be fun too.

Is tractor beam viable on anything besides Defenders?

Sure, not as viable but clever use of it will really mess up people's plans. It will move them out of formation, or put them on a rock, or stick them some place where they can't get an attack next round.

it is now

before, just -1 agility at the cost of an attack was weaksauce

now it's just gravy. Obstacle damage excluded, you can also force off auto-thrusters and get shots you otherwise would not have gotten, or even save your buddy by forcing the enemy to arcdodge himself

Blue Squadron Pilot (28) x 2
B-Wing (22), Ion Cannon (3), B-Wing/E2 (1), Tactician (2)

“Leebo” (44)
YT-2400 Freighter (34), Predator (3), Tractor beam (1), "Zeb" Orrelios (1), Outrider (5)

someone came up with a Ten Nub T-beam build

that **** is now viable; extremely viable

Nuby (calculation, t-beams) [33]

3 Blue Squaddies [66]

--> 99 total

Having no Huge ship myself, i am uncertain about the exact rules: but would'nt you get the most damage out of a Tractorbeam in epic by pulling the opponent small ship just in front of your own huge ship, where it is crushed when the huge one moves?

Wow, okay, the second half of the Tractor Beam card was a hell of a lot more than I thought it was going to be.

I thought maybe there would be some rule that a ship can't move anymore after a certain number of Tractor Beam tokens. This is way more complicated.


I think it still needs this though:

someone came up with a Ten Nub T-beam build

that **** is now viable; extremely viable

Nuby (calculation, t-beams) [33]

3 Blue Squaddies [66]

--> 99 total

You give up an average 1.5 damage for an average 1.05 damage (IF the 3 others all shoot the target)...

Having no Huge ship myself, i am uncertain about the exact rules: but would'nt you get the most damage out of a Tractorbeam in epic by pulling the opponent small ship just in front of your own huge ship, where it is crushed when the huge one moves?

Tractor beam is during combat phase. They will be able to move after that and before the Huge ship stomp them.

it is now

I agree, it was meh before, now it's killer. But it's the best kind of killer... Killer in the right hands.

IMO some of the best upgrades/abilities are the ones that require some creativity, because they can be mechanically ok, or perhaps even a bit underpowered but can be game winning when used correctly.

They are in fact so good, I'm going to have to give serious thought to getting a Mist Hunter now, and the Imperial Vet's box, neither of which I was considering before.

Rebels will benefit most from the threat of a tractor beam rather than the actual use of the beam. Make your opponent sweat and overthink each of their maneuvers. And unless the position is perfect, proceed to hit them with your standard weapon anyway.

T-beams now are just the best

not necessarily competitively, but for fun in general

the dice suck, but I play this game for the flying and T-beams just let me fly more ships (much to my opponents' chagrin, I'm sure )

Wow, okay, the second half of the Tractor Beam card was a hell of a lot more than I thought it was going to be.

I thought maybe there would be some rule that a ship can't move anymore after a certain number of Tractor Beam tokens. This is way more complicated.

I think it still needs this though:

if they release a "death beam" im all for Death beam phantoms.

Is tractor beam viable on anything besides Defenders? To get the most use out of it you need it on a high PS ship since you remove the token at the end of the round and it reduces agility only for the combat phase it hits in. If you put it on a low PS ship even if it hits if your the lowest PS on the board the agility reduction is meaningless. So if you go the other way and equip it on a high PS ship is it worth the 20-30 some points your spending for using tractor beam to make your ship strictly a control ship? I guess it would be OK on IG-88B with his ability. Again, someone sell me on using tractor beam outside of Defenders.

You just need all your ships to be the same PS.

Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)

Tractor Beam (1)

Adaptability (0)

Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)

Tractor Beam (1)

Adaptability (0)

Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)

Tractor Beam (1)

Adaptability (0)

Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)

Tractor Beam (1)

Adaptability (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Fixed that for you.

Having no Huge ship myself, i am uncertain about the exact rules: but would'nt you get the most damage out of a Tractorbeam in epic by pulling the opponent small ship just in front of your own huge ship, where it is crushed when the huge one moves?

Tractor beam is during combat phase. They will be able to move after that and before the Huge ship stomp them.

As said, not really knowing the fine details of Epic rules. If you take a ship which already has moved, would it get crushed?

do note the second half DOESNT WORK on large ships

Probably for the same reason that Barrel Rolls were nerfed on them. They move twice as far as small ships when using movement actions. It'd be too easy to shove something off the board.

Unfortunately it does not look like this, but it would have been cool, that in analogy to ion effect, the effect would occur when a large ship is hit successfully by another tractor beam in the same round, thus having 2 tokens.

( And again, the Scyk looks a bit sad in its corner, they were probably to afraid of having really useful Scyk swarms. At least it gets one more flanking role, and this time at least the -1 AGI effect is stacking, unlike the stress Scyk.)

I can understand that it would be a bit strange "reality"-wise that 2 small Scyks swing around a big freighter over a large distance just with the help of tractor beams.

However GAME-wise, I think it would be fair. Large ships prefer a lot from having EU, and thus covering hilarious distances, where even fast TIEs or A-wing have problems to catch up. Downside being caught by 2 tractorbeams. And by making it 2 tokens it won't happen too often.

Since its in the combat phase, the Epic ship has also already moved, so the ship hit with the tractor beam will get another maneuver before a potential crushing.

I do think its kind of funny that the one thing the tractor beam really can't do is slow down a ship you're pursuing; which seems like it should be the whole point.

I do think its kind of funny that the one thing the tractor beam really can't do is slow down a ship you're pursuing; which seems like it should be the whole point.

A reverse boost would of been thematic but perhaps hard to balance. But even then you can slow down a ship you're chasing, by half a base worth. Not a huge amount I agree but you can pull them backwards a little bit.

Is tractor beam viable on anything besides Defenders? To get the most use out of it you need it on a high PS ship since you remove the token at the end of the round and it reduces agility only for the combat phase it hits in. If you put it on a low PS ship even if it hits if your the lowest PS on the board the agility reduction is meaningless. So if you go the other way and equip it on a high PS ship is it worth the 20-30 some points your spending for using tractor beam to make your ship strictly a control ship? I guess it would be OK on IG-88B with his ability. Again, someone sell me on using tractor beam outside of Defenders.

You just need all your ships to be the same PS.

Which Adaptability might make so you don't have to take all ships with the same PS to begin with.

I think the pushing or pulling out of/into different range bands is more interesting than the obstacle benefit.

Push a TLT Y-Wing onto an asteroid. No shooting for you!

Push Dash into his donut hole. Shoulda took a Mangler instead of a HLC.

Push an enemy out of range 3. Cya later.

Push Poe out of firing arc. Better luck next turn.

Tbeam forced move is small ship only

do note the second half DOESNT WORK on large ships

Probably for the same reason that Barrel Rolls were nerfed on them. They move twice as far as small ships when using movement actions. It'd be too easy to shove something off the board.

I think they used the terms Boost and Barrel roll to prevent people to make enemy ships being move out of the map, since you can't Boost nor Barrel Roll out of the map now.

I think they use the same term to keep the number of rules exceptions down.

It would make a bit more sense for a TBeam to be able to push a ship backwards as well as sideways or forwards, but having it be a boost with a few exceptions makes things a bit more streamlined, I guess.

Tbeam forced move is small ship only

Argh, you're right. I'm that guy today.

Push Dash into his donut hole. Shoulda took a Mangler instead of a HLC.

You aren't pushing Dash anywhere. The boost/barrel-roll is only against small targets.

*That post took longer to submit than I thought it would, fickle beat me to it.