Newbie Tractor/Repeller question

[SgtBigG]

I'm pretty new at SE IV. I have a quick question. I built a DN with a tractor, several rippers, and a repeller. When it fires it tractors the ship in and that's it. The other weapons don't fire. If it still has movement left I can move it away and then fire the rest of the weapons. Can anyone tell me what's up with this?
Thanks,
Mike

[TerranC]

Tactical combat relies on range; the tactical map is made from many squares, with one of them making the range of 1.

Tractor moves the ship to your ship.
it probably moved it right to your ship.

All weapons have range, but none of them can find point-blank. After you pull in the ship, you need to move at least 1 square away from the ship to fire your weapons in order for it to fire as it is not programmed to fire at range 0.

You can see the range of a weapon by looking at it's statistics. (Right Click)

Edit: damn spelling errors.

[ May 31, 2002, 01:21: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by SgtBigG:
I'm pretty new at SE IV. I have a quick question. I built a DN with a tractor, several rippers, and a repeller. When it fires it tractors the ship in and that's it. The other weapons don't fire. If it still has movement left I can move it away and then fire the rest of the weapons. Can anyone tell me what's up with this?
Thanks,
Mike

What's up is you have found a bug. It's not supposed to pull the ship right on top of you, but only to an adjacent square. What Version of SE IV are you using? If it's the latest Gold patch, 1.67, then report your finding to MM so they can fix it.

[Shadowstar]

I am wondering what exactly is so useful about tractor/repellers? I just dont see a great need in combat to move the enemy around much, at least not when I could have a weapon in that slot instead that actually does respectable damage. Hmm, maybe it could be useful for pushing ships into planets? Does that work?

[ June 01, 2002, 07:26: Message edited by: Shadowstar ]

[Phoenix-D]

It's wonderful when using things like Ripper Beams (good damage, 20kt, crap range). Yank the enemy into range, shoot him up, knock him back out of range

With long-ranged weapons, a Repluser can keep the enemy out of their effective range or disrupt his fleet, letting you concentrate fire on one or two ships while taking less return fire (since his ships are knocked back).

Wormhole beams are fun too. Completely random movement. he may move one space closer, he may end up in the opposite corner. Great for keeping pesky ships away from fighterless carriers.

Phoenix-D

[oleg]

Tractor beams might be usefull to boarding ships too, for all too obvious reason.

[Taera]

Tractor beams are the more strategical weapons. For most weapons, enemy that is closer will receive more damage (this including PPB & APB) and would be especialy powerful when used with Graviton Hellbore.
Repulser beams are universal weapon. First the fleet breaking mentioned before. Another two uses mght be to shoot the enemy and put it away. Especialy powerful when you're in advantage of speed because a Large mount repulsor could realy pull it away so it'll have to go towards you long way. then your move, and you can go point blank and shoot, and then push it away again.

But the more useful way is to add repulser weaponS (stress on the multiple) on your heavy load ships. WMG could be the perfect example - BB with several WMGs and repulsers would break havoc in enemy lines. Shoot them, and push them away (heavy mount repulsers are realy great at doing so).

Two things to mention:
1. Someone explain me the use of heavier-than-normal tractor beams?
2. It is important to mention that tractor/repulser weapons DO_NOT work on ships with greater tonnage than the attacker

[Gryphin]

Do either or both work in Simutaneous mode/ Is there something to watch out for?

[LGM]

Tractor beams have a rather short range, so anything other than Standard mounts are a waste. Generally, you just want to be able to drag your enemy about 3 squares closer for Ripper Beams.

Note that with Repulsors, the ships will all move at the conclusion of your movement so that your other weapons can hit them (I only play Simultaneous mode). You will see all repulsed ships sudden jump positions at the end of your turn in the replay.

I am not sure if I would recommend using multiple repulsors as I doubt that Multi-tracking will work properly. You may hit the same ship with multiple repulsors.

[SgtBigG]

Thanks, that explains it. I'm using the non updated 1.02 Version . I started playing as soon as I got it and now I'm in the middle of a game so I can't patch.