Remember when Dash was the new hotness, and people couldn't stop complaining about how broken he was, because he got to ignore rocks?

Tractor beams are next up (it might wait until Imperial Vets lands to really kick into high gear, not sure). The forums are going to be thick with complaints about how utterly brokenly overpowered they are, because (like Dash) they make the play space asymmetrical. If a player has a tractor, all of a sudden the rocks are way bigger for the other side, and that means they'll have to fly their list differently. People hate that. There is also the issue that they seem to snowball a little bit, in that if you can hit and fling a ship into rocks, that ship probably won't get actions next turn, which means they can get tractor beamed again more easily, and if there's another rock nearby...

All of that means that any productive discussion about tractor beams is going to get swamped by people yelling about how broken they are, because they won't adapt. Get your theorycrafting and your mathwing in now, folks!

Didn't we already know this three weeks ago?

Please don't encourage them.

Please don't encourage them.

Oh of course. It's probably going to define the meta for wave8. Anyway.

Sometimes you really wonder why ffg is so daring with some things and not daring enough with others.

Please don't encourage them.

Oh of course. It's probably going to define the meta for wave8. Anyway.

Sometimes you really wonder why ffg is so daring with some things and not daring enough with others.

That's actually a pretty solid point. They seem to be afraid to introduce something powerful.

Then this cannon costs one **** point, allows you to reposition your foe AND kill their agility. Undercosted like hell, and with TIE/D, friggin overpowered.

Doesn't mean I won't use it though.

Oh of course. It's probably going to define the meta for wave8. Anyway.

Sometimes you really wonder why ffg is so daring with some things and not daring enough with others.

That's actually a pretty solid point. They seem to be afraid to introduce something powerful.

Then this cannon costs one **** point, allows you to reposition your foe AND kill their agility. Undercosted like hell, and with TIE/D, friggin overpowered.

Doesn't mean I won't use it though.

Because you still have to hit with it, unless ran with /D you are giving up attacks, making the defender have to choose which attack to spend its mods on, and you must stack your PS to get full use. It's meant to be bundled as part of the defenders fix but also gives options to other cannon carriers. It's not OP unless you take all those factors out and see it in vacuum. Which this forum is all about.

I maintain that if Ion Cannons aren't dominating the meta then Tractor Beams won't either.

there we go.. *already started... again*

and concerning dash, I still complain about him. not in a "he's broken" way, but in a "takes all the fun out of navigating"-way. the only thing -more- boring to play is shuttles/vy666 in fortress-mode.

I maintain that if Ion Cannons aren't dominating the meta then Tractor Beams won't either.

TB equipped vessery is going to dominate alot of people if the games I've been playing are any indication shot denial from being pushed around is highly annoying for the other guy.

My Jonas brothers 2.0 list using /D and ion was just brutal and with the points freed up you can make Jonas more than just a buffbot.

Starting a thread with a title like this was a great idea!

Starting a thread with a title like this was a great idea!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy

I hear people talking about taking lists that are full of tractor beams. I think it's a mistake. I think one or maybe two in a list will be good, but taking a lot of them will just be stupid.

They will be good and interesting, but they won't be as game changing as fat turrets, Poe, or pre-nerf Phantom.

Oh here's an idea. Use your ability to choose obstacles before the battle to lessen the impact of tractor beams. 3 debris fields are not as damaging as asteroids and allows you to attack. The potential stress token can be mitigated with list building. Of course that require people to think outside of their (limited) comfort zone.

To the OP: You are probably right, it is likely the tractor beam will casue a flood of complaints.

Tractors are going to be a novelty with wave 8 because you have to give up your shot, but when Imperial vets is relased they will be everywhere and there will be much whineing and gashing of teeth, partly with good reason defender aces with tractor and ruthless will be very points effective, but mostly because anything that takes control of your game pieces out of your hands to your opponent with the only defence being be lucky, annoys players. That said we will see less whine than about PWT and regen because this forum is dominated by a few loud Imperial players when it comes to whine.

Take for example

Brarh VI tractor TieD

Vessery ruthless tractor Tie D

Howelrunner Stealth (sub in your prefered Tie or Tie FO Ace)

This list IMO counters most ace and swarm lists, facing it you would want to spread your ships out and avoid rocks, in other words it puts you at a disadvantage before you start, now how are you going to focus down a ship without lossing more yourself? Facing tractors on defenders you will have to play better to stay even. Hell I want to fly this even though I was planning to avoid buying more imperials, but certain I wouldn't want to face it in a tournament because it would be fustrating.

Please don't encourage them.

I think you vastly overestimate our ability to influence them.

Change has to start somewhere.

Oh sorry, this is the internet, obviously this is exactly how Palpatine came to power and caused the intergalactic civil war and the Alderaan extinction. Don't be like that.

Ghost and Decimator are immune to tractor. Should be fine.

Oh of course. It's probably going to define the meta for wave8. Anyway.

Sometimes you really wonder why ffg is so daring with some things and not daring enough with others.

That's actually a pretty solid point. They seem to be afraid to introduce something powerful.

Then this cannon costs one **** point, allows you to reposition your foe AND kill their agility. Undercosted like hell, and with TIE/D, friggin overpowered.

Doesn't mean I won't use it though.

Because you still have to hit with it, unless ran with /D you are giving up attacks, making the defender have to choose which attack to spend its mods on, and you must stack your PS to get full use. It's meant to be bundled as part of the defenders fix but also gives options to other cannon carriers. It's not OP unless you take all those factors out and see it in vacuum. Which this forum is all about.

Hitting with it isn't a prerequisite for the mind games you play. Wether you hit with it or not, your opponent will have to factor in that you can score a hit and push him on an asteroid or position you so you fly yourself off the field.

It's a single point upgrade, there's bound to be some room in lists.

The list in my sig (2 x blue TB, stresshog, warden) is chunky, taking time to chew through, and you don't fire the TB every turn, just when it could drag an opponent into range of the stresshog or other ships.

Played slow and carefully it can be a major pain and I can't wait for the Mist Hunter to arrive so I can play it without proxies.

The Tractor Beam pushes the game back towards the planning phase instead of the post movement repositioning, couldn't be happier.

Two ways to help against tractor beams

1) put rocks close to your side and fly past em

2) Don't take rocks. Use debris

There tractor beam not as bad

Ion doesn't cause a lot of complaining. I don't think Tractor Beams will either. Every faction can take them and not just one. I don't see what the problem will be.

I think it will be popular for a while with lots of complaining and then go away once people realise it's not that good.

If you face a big ship you are going to be very sad you brought that cannon on your defender instead of an ion or flachet. In fact I think most of the time you would rather have an ion cannon.

First off, people will whine about anything and everything they can.

That said, I do think that TB will cause complaining, and negative play experiences for players. I think it will be an issue because it allows your opponent to control your moves way more than Ion does. Ion already causes grumpy feelings as you watch your fancy ace/point sink get slowly walked off the board, and TB will allow people to roll you through rocks, or boost you and then Ion you, or mess with your fancy arc dodging.

In a game of millimeters and people appreciating precision flying, anything that allows your opponent to control your ships will make for complaints and sore feelings.

Two ways to help against tractor beams

1) put rocks close to your side and fly past em

2) Don't take rocks. Use debris

There tractor beam not as bad

Great, I've just forced you into giving up any advantage you might have gained in placing your asteroids.

We're already playing on my terms. Nice.

./

Played with Tractor Beams yesterday in a small Epic match on a couple Deltas. It was great being able to tractor beam and then fire. I was able to throw Poe on a rock to kill him. During a different round I pulled a different T-70 from range 2 to range one to fire 4 Red against 1 Green, although the Reds were unmodified due to my focus being used to guarantee the tractor beam.

Tractor Beams are fun on defenders, and they allow for some cool shenanigans. However, on any other ship, giving up your attack is going to be brutal. Considering you want that Tractor Beam token to be there for later attacks, you'll need to give up the attack of a higher PS pilot (which may be useful on the unique lambda's hmm...). If you don't put it on a higher PS pilot, you're counting on the repositioning gimmick to do something for you, else why would you give up the possibility for damage?

Overall, I think the Tractor Beam will introduce a very fresh and interesting mechanic to the game, but is not game-breaking in any regard.