That's a good idea, the restriction of being outside the arc makes sense. I don't think it needs to be 3 points, since FCS for 2 points gives you about the same damage boost. I would make it:

Tractor Beam (2 points)

When attacking a small base ship from outside it's firing arc at range 1, reduce the defender's agility value by 1 (to a minimum of 0).

or

Tractor Beam (3 points)

When attacking a small base ship from outside it's firing arc at range 1-2, reduce the defender's agility value by 1 (to a minimum of 0).

OK, im fine with both versions so far. Lets talk about the 2 other beams then:

Jammer Beam (2 p):

When defending at range 1, the attacker don't get the +1 bonus.

Decoy Beam (1 p):

You can't be a target of a Target Lock action at range 3 or further.

Option for the Jammer Beam:

Jammer Beam (3 p):

When defending and the attacker is inside your firing arc, reduce the attack value by 1.

If the attacker uses his primary weapons, cannons or turrets.

Still trying to decide of I like beam weapons. Do they all have to be "when attack/defending against an opponent in your primary arc" since they are weapons? At such low point costs and garunteed to work I think that might be a good restriction

Just consider the Beam Weapons as a modifier on attack and defence rolls, and you are fine.

Or even better:

System Upgrades affect your own ship; Beam Weapons affect enemy ships

System Upgrades are buffs, Beams are debuffs ....

That I'm on board with them i think but automatic debuffs vs every attacking and defending ship at such cheap point costs is going to bog down and lengthen games. I would still suggest the primary firing arc restriction.

You are absolutely right.

Coming from the computer games, the beams affected targets in front of you - except for the decoy beam ... which was omnidirectional ... thats strange, yeah. For X-Wing all beams could limited to the front arc only, thats right. I do also like the idea of this. so lets take a look on them now:

Jammer Beam (3 points):

When defending and the attacker is inside your firing arc, reduce the attack value by 1.

If the attacker uses his primary weapons, cannons or turrets.

Tractor Beam (3 points)

When attacking a small base ship from outside it's firing arc, reduce the defender's agility value by 1 (to a minimum of 0), if the defender is a small ship.

Decoy Beam (2 points):

You can't be a target of a Target Lock action by a ship inside of your firing arc.

Im pretty satisfied with those beams. Point costs may need a tweak, though, after the beams were tested in play.

Tractor Beam (3 points)

When attacking a small base ship from outside it's firing arc, reduce the defender's agility value by 1 (to a minimum of 0), if the defender is a small ship.

I still have to think about the other 2, but Tractor Beam as written would be about on par with FCS, or probably a little worse. I would think 2 points might be a better point cost. It's basically Wedge's ability, but super-restricted: range 1, and outside the firing arc.

The other option is to actually make it change the ship's movement template next turn, like another way of Ioning the ship. Those mechanics would be hard to figure out, since it basically locks the target ship's speed to your own. If you could make it work, that would introduce a much more interesting dynamic than simply reducing agility by 1.

Generally FFG introduces new mechanics, not just stat modifiers. Just thinking out loud.

Sorry, but restricted to range 1 the tractor beam would be just crap on the Gunboat. I think it would be difficult enough to get behind the enemy force, hence the Gunboat would more likely get a dial between the Y-wing and the B-Wing ...

So no super-fancy Interceptor dial. So, it would be VERY difficult to get behind the enemy ship in range 1 - and you cant even use your HLC ... you just have 3 attack dice.

I'll rather stick to my version - its restriced enough, though it represents the tractor beam we know from the computer games fairly well.

And for other mechanics: the Defender had an even stronger tractor beam which was possible to draw the enemy ship nearer to you ...

Oops I missed that you dropped the range 1 requirement on your version. OK, makes sense. So basically it's like Backstabber but it's a debuff, which means that it's actually slightly weaker than +1 attack die. Got it. I would say that it's overcosted at 3, but then it has no trade offs, and could stack with primary or secondary weapons: rolling 4 dice with HLC vs 2 dice on a TIE would be good. Definitely 2-3 point as written though.

Adding a mechanic that would allow you to actually tractor the enemy ship's movement would be even cooler, but significantly harder to figure out mechanics for and balance.

Thats what I wanted to archive. If combined with a cannon upgrade, it should be worth it.

Yeah, its 3ish pointwise. It may be too strong for 2 points ... it depents on the dial ... but there are probably more ships to come with a beam upgrade, so I think with 3 points we are quite right.

Any thoughts about the other beams? ^^

Maybe put range restrictions on the beams still. Again, for game bog down and not making them auto include. Tractor and Jammer could be range 1-2 and Decoy only at range 2-3? Restricts their use a little more so they can still be cheap but won't end up being "build your best 4 ship list at 90pts and put a beam on each".

Also provides and requires more tactical choices instead of being "always on".

Hm ... just like you get 4 B-Wings and add 4 System Upgrades? ^^

I would test them right like they are and add range restrictions and/or price variations to balance them out.

Right at this stage I wouldn't add more restrictions.

The Tractor Beam has one benefit and 2 restrictions and thats the limit for my taste - adding a third restriction is just too much. Too much rules slow the game down and you'll make more errors during play.

So either you go with a range restriction, or with the 'Backstabber' restriction.

Except that 10pts of automatic debuffs is seriously going to impact the math and speed of the game where as taking an action before you move or just not removing a target lock will not (and sometimes will speed it up).

Range restrictions will actually cause more bog now that I think about it (more measuring), so that might not be the best restriction either.

For now, play test and report.