I want to clarify the wording of the. Tractor Beam Card and the FAQ.
The card says that when you tractor a small ship, you "may" choose to boost or barrel roll the ship. This implies you can choose to do it or not.
The FAQ says if you have Rutlessness you "must" boost or barrel roll the enemy ship first.
So is it correct to assume that you have the choice on whether to move a ship without Ruthlessness and lose that choice when you have it?
What the FAQ is saying is that the Tractor Beam needs to be done before Ruthlessness takes effect.
The FAQ is there to clarify that you could not shoot something with a Tractor Beam, use Ruthlessness to damage something, and THEN move the ship. Why would you want that? Simply because you may find another hostile ship at R1 of where the target starts but then move it out of R1 of other hostiles while moving it into R1 of one of your own ships which you may not want to damage.
What the FAQ is saying is that the Tractor Beam needs to be done before Ruthlessness takes effect.
The FAQ is there to clarify that you could not shoot something with a Tractor Beam, use Ruthlessness to damage something, and THEN move the ship. Why would you want that? Simply because you may find another hostile ship at R1 of where the target starts but then move it out of R1 of other hostiles while moving it into R1 of one of your own ships which you may not want to damage.
If that is what the FAQ intends, then it is poorly written, because it says you MUST boost or barrel roll the ship prior to triggering Ruthlessness.What the FAQ is saying is that the Tractor Beam needs to be done before Ruthlessness takes effect.
The FAQ is there to clarify that you could not shoot something with a Tractor Beam, use Ruthlessness to damage something, and THEN move the ship. Why would you want that? Simply because you may find another hostile ship at R1 of where the target starts but then move it out of R1 of other hostiles while moving it into R1 of one of your own ships which you may not want to damage.
I disagree;. it's quite clear. With TB, you may choose to BR or boost the ship. If you choose to do so, you must do it before Ruthlessness kicks in; not afterwards.
Edited by Dr Zoidberg
If that is what the FAQ intends, then it is poorly written, because it says you MUST boost or barrel roll the ship prior to triggering Ruthlessness.What the FAQ is saying is that the Tractor Beam needs to be done before Ruthlessness takes effect.
The FAQ is there to clarify that you could not shoot something with a Tractor Beam, use Ruthlessness to damage something, and THEN move the ship. Why would you want that? Simply because you may find another hostile ship at R1 of where the target starts but then move it out of R1 of other hostiles while moving it into R1 of one of your own ships which you may not want to damage.
Like many things in the FAQ, this is poorly written. It's possible that it was added to the draft of the FAQ before the decision was made to make the forced movement from tractor tokens an optional effect.
Edited by WWHSDIf you read the whole entry for Tractor Beam, you can deduce that anything that triggers after an attack is resolved after the target has been moved via the tractor beam. And that's if you choose to move it, which is still optional. So, I see it as quite clear.
The only word that causes something to be absolute is "cannot" and that's not used here. If you want to follow the word of the FAQ to the letter, then going by that, you "must" boost or barrel roll the target each time you hit it with a tractor beam during the round. And we all know that doesn't happen.