Hello fellas, i just recently got to play around with a buddy of mine and we tried out the tractor beam within lists of all three factions and its kind of anoying.

I see an actual hype about this card and i´m wondering, is nobody afraid of it ruining the game almost like the pre-nerf phantom did?

First of all just a small recap of our matchups:

1st game was:

Ten Numb /w Tractor beam, Calculation, FCS

Etahn A´baht /w R2 astromech, PTL, Adv. Sensors

Stresshog

vs.

Vessery /w Crackshot, Tractor beam, TIE/D, TIE mk2

Delta /w TIE/D, Ion Cannon, TIE mk2

Delta /w TIE/x7

First round of shooting brought vessery onto an asteroid by Ten´s TB avoiding any shots of Vessery, hoever next round Vessery k-turned beside the b-wing and the bwing banked just in Vesserys arc at range 1. In this situation Ten was in range 1 to vessery, range 2 of the x7 delta and out of arc of the ion delta. TB of vessery hit and boosted ten forward resulting in him beeing in range 1 of every defender on the board, thus killing him with one ion shot and 3 modified 4 dice attacks of the defenders. game was soon over after this. All in all this game took about 15 minutes!

2nd game was:

Serissu /w Juke, Tractor beam

Latts Razzi /w Bossk, Weapons Engineer

Syndicate Thug /w TLT

Black Sun Soldier

vs.

Red Ace /w R2-D2, Comm Relay, AT

Green Squadron pilot /w PTL, Juke, A-wing Testpilot, AT, Chardaan Refit

Warden Squadron Pilot /w TLT, Adv. SLAM, Extra Munitions, Conner Net, Intel Agent

2nd Round the k-wing moved a little to close so was able to get shot by Serissu´s TB, Barrel rolled to the side and suddenly was in arc and range of ALL the opposing ships with 0 green dice to defend himself resulting in the loss of 4 shields and 2 hull. Well on top of that my opponent had the dice on his side and i managed to do no damage at all. Even though landing a Conner net on top of Serissu, the k-wing got killed that next round and the t-70 and a-wing were not able to get rid of the 2 remaining hull points of Serissu. In the end i surrendered not beeing able to kill Serissu at all with only the a-wing left.

Conclusion:

In my opinion TB will have a serious impact in the game. Given the cost of only 1!! point the weapon is worth its cost just by adding it onto a ship if you got 1 point to spare. The presence alone on the battlefield is really intimidating even if you never use it over the course of a game. Just accounting the presence of it in your opponents list is kind of increasing every asteroids radius by aproximately 3,1 inches for the sake of maneuvering choices.

In a game where good piloting of ships is seperating the wheat from the chaff and determines who comes out victorious in the end, its an absolute discourtesy of the game designers to allow the opponent those movement shenanigans with my ships. It just punishes you for wrong determination of distances which you can never guess 100% right i.e. being out of or barely at range 3. And suddenly your whole plan is disrupted.

So in my sentiment this card is way to low costed for what it does, also acounting for giving up your primary attack!

And the movement shenanigans should be accounted for in a way that it only happens if the small ship recieves the 2nd tractor beam token in a round, otherwise my gut feeling is that it will be totally broken and kill our actual beloved versatile meta!

I tend to agree that it will have a heavy impact. I do think it will be annoying to play against.

Maybe a solution is to not take asteroids but the other assets at least on your side if you expect to face them.

I don't know if it's going to be game shattering, simply because on everything but the TIE Defender your sacrificing your attack in order to use it. It can be used to place ships onto asteroids, but that's where better flying and asteroid placement comes in handy. If you're facing a tractor beam, place the asteroids far away from each other and don't fight near them.

I haven't play tested against it so this opinion is liable to change, but I think the Ghost with Autoblaster turret and Accuracy Corrector is going to be more ridiculous than Tractor Beam.

I don't know if it's going to be game shattering, simply because on everything but the TIE Defender your sacrificing your attack in order to use it. It can be used to place ships onto asteroids, but that's where better flying and asteroid placement comes in handy. If you're facing a tractor beam, place the asteroids far away from each other and don't fight near them.

I haven't play tested against it so this opinion is liable to change, but I think the Ghost with Autoblaster turret and Accuracy Corrector is going to be more ridiculous than Tractor Beam.

I would rather have a ship put on an asteroid than hit with 3 or 4 red dice. Maybe.

I think it will actually balance against the rebel control lists. The k, y, b wings are going to have to think about how close they are to the edge or asteroids. High agility ships and large ships won't worry

I can't wait to put Miranda on a rock. Regen that!

I also think this will break not only the current meta, but also smart movement based gameplay.
For one ridiculous point, you can mess up with any formation-based tactics; that sounds really heavy to me.

Vessery is going to become very popular that's for sure.

But I don't see it being common on terrorists or criminals because you're sacrificing your main attack.

But even a delta could boost things like a swarm suddenly those two attacks get alot more potent.

I think the tractor beam is going to be very strong on high PS Defenders with the /D title, and more of a corner case everywhere else. Giving up your attack for the turn is a sizeable downside, as the tractor beam does no damage by itself, and it's at its best on a high PS pilot who are usually the people you want to be giving up their attack the least.

Outside of Defenders, Serissu looks quite solid as a tractor beam carrier, but I'm not seeing too many other good options after that unless you've got a spare point and not much else to do with it.

I don't know if it's going to be game shattering, simply because on everything but the TIE Defender your sacrificing your attack in order to use it. It can be used to place ships onto asteroids, but that's where better flying and asteroid placement comes in handy. If you're facing a tractor beam, place the asteroids far away from each other and don't fight near them.

I haven't play tested against it so this opinion is liable to change, but I think the Ghost with Autoblaster turret and Accuracy Corrector is going to be more ridiculous than Tractor Beam.

I would rather have a ship put on an asteroid than hit with 3 or 4 red dice. Maybe.

That really depends on how modified the dice on both sides are. If you have the PS to put someone on a rock before they shoot, you also have the PS to just arc dodge them and still shoot a damaging shot.

yes, it will. like most other cards before it.

the meta will be reshaped, and that's not a bad thing..

If it ruins the meta...

I'm all for it!

But, no... I don't think it will.

Will it cripple the awesome versatile meta?

Wait, what?!

We have an awesome verastile meta?

And I thought it was TLT-Acewing

Tactically and psychologically, Tractor Beams are going to be huge.

Take a look at the examples in the OP. It's a force multiplier. Absolutely no-one is going to want to get run into range one of other enemy ships, or onto an asteroid, or out of arc. So once players cotton on to the various nasty effects it can have, they;ll do anything they can to avoid it.

It's place in PS warfare will be critical. Players may find themselves saving tokens when they could have been spent on attacks or defence elsewhere, in anticipation of a Tractor Beam attack.

I'm really looking forward to flying a YV-666 with it, for example

Moralo Eval - Tractor Beam, Bossk, Gunner.

No one's going to like taking that Tractor Beam shot, but if they successfully avoid it they've got a 3 dice attack attack with target lock and focus coming their way...

We've known about the card for, what, less than a month? Give people time to see it in action and figure out how to defend against it before we call it meta-breaking.

It will make Stresshog and TLT slightly less popular, I think. That should further diversify the meta.

Poor B-wings though

Will it cripple the awesome versatile meta?

Wait, what?!

We have an awesome verastile meta?

And I thought it was TLT-Acewing

Guess what? That isn't the case for most people.

Guess what? That isn't the case for most people.

Very true. Unfortunately, in that particular case you might as well be talking to a brick wall.

It is going to be horrific on defenders, otherwise there aren't many ships where its going to fit well. The lose of a shot is quite big but the effect of having it on the table maybe worth the point even if you never use it.

On high PS defenders, going to really hurt, combine with ruthless, I could see myself flying dual defenders (damit was trying to cut back on imperial ships) with a FOtie or Howlrunner.

Meta we are likely to see defenders which haven't been on tables much, is it likely to knock much out? Low PS low agility ships maybe, only hard counters are high agility arcdodgers that are already on the rise and large bases that have been falling.

Guess what? That isn't the case for most people.

If somebody thinks that having 1\4 pilot choices for a ship that don't suck is an 'awesome versatile meta'

i'm happy we're still having young players that are optimistic and don't give a ****.

I don't think the TB itself is going to be particularly meta-warping, but Imperial Veterans, when it comes out, just might be.

That being said, I don't think this is going to result in meta-dominating builds, just alternative options. It's going to expand the meta - because Defenders don't really feature competitively at the moment, but this will make them a *lot* more viable.

It is going to be horrific on defenders, otherwise there aren't many ships where its going to fit well. The lose of a shot is quite big but the effect of having it on the table maybe worth the point even if you never use it.

Agree TIE Defenders will have an absolute field day with it, but it'll also find a regular home on any ship that has both the Cannon slot and either a crew slot to take Gunner or a similar ability (looking at you IG88).

Eh a cheap cannon that needs very high ps to be most effective. It looks like a great counter to rebel regen and encourages swarm builds.

If anything it will greatly expand the potential lists for all sides and make debris more attractive

It is going to be horrific on defenders, otherwise there aren't many ships where its going to fit well. The lose of a shot is quite big but the effect of having it on the table maybe worth the point even if you never use it.

On high PS defenders, going to really hurt, combine with ruthless, I could see myself flying dual defenders (damit was trying to cut back on imperial ships) with a FOtie or Howlrunner.

Meta we are likely to see defenders which haven't been on tables much, is it likely to knock much out? Low PS low agility ships maybe, only hard counters are high agility arcdodgers that are already on the rise and large bases that have been falling.

Try this:

Rexler Brath — TIE Defender 37

Push the Limit 3

Ion Cannon 3

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II 1

TIE/D 0

Ship Total: 44

Colonel Vessery — TIE Defender 35

Veteran Instincts 1

Tractor Beam 1

TIE/D 0

Ship Total: 37

Scimitar Squadron Pilot — TIE Bomber 16

Fleet Officer 3

TIE Shuttle 0

Ship Total: 19

It was horrifying to see in action I didn't take any damage and won 100-0.

Having said what I did, I think it will be strategy-warping though, to some extent. People will have to learn to play with it in mind, just like they did stressbots, Tacticians, even post-nerf Phantoms, TLTs etc etc. And just like those, it will find its level within the meta.

E: and I have to say, for me as a new player on the competitive scene, it's really nice having something new in the meta like this just as I'm starting, it means I'm on a much more even footing with everyone else.

I'm considering it on lists with open cannon slots. It's only a point and any time you face a list with low agility they have to avoid rocks like the plague. I may not use it more than one game out of three, but that's still worth it.