Tractor & Repulser weapons

[dmm]

If a repulser beam can target an enemy ship 6 squares away and toss it 12 squares, then the corresponding tractor beam should have a range of 18. EXCEPT, that they have to "lock on," which involves aiming, so obviously it should be harder to lock on with a tractor at range 18 than to lock on with a repulser at range 6. UNLESS, the push/pull effect is impulsive (i.e., the momentum transfer happens all at once in a single burst), in which case the current range rules make sense. But then the damage levels ought to be a lot higher, because the target is being shoved/yanked very roughly. You could argue that the weapons work by warping space so the damage is correct, but then you've got no argument for having relative size matter.

[PvK]

quote:

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Originally posted by dmm:
OTOH, bigger ships can do that now, in reverse, to smaller and same-size ships. So it can't be terribly unbalancing. At least, I haven't heard anyone complain. Can anyone think of a reason why this is less unbalancing than the above would be?

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Well, if you could T/R your own ship, you'd be moving relative to the entire enemy fleet, whereas if you just T/R an enemy ship, only one enemy ship is affected. Very often, there is more than one enemy ship, so you embarass one of them, and then his pals come stomp you. If you could T/R yourself in and out, you could embarass the whole enemy fleet, until you got stuck on the map edge and they nailed you.

Of course, if you miss, you embarass yourself... and get stomped.

PvK

[dmm]

quote:

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Originally posted by PvK:
Of course, if you miss, you embarass yourself... and get stomped.

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Hmmm...If you T/R yourself and miss the R, then you are stuck in the midst of the enemy fleet. But if you T/R the enemy and miss the R, then you are stuck next to only one ship. Looked at this way, T/R of an enemy is _more_ unbalancing than T/R of yourself (because it is less risky).

Plus, if you T/R an enemy ship, you can pull him into the midst of your fleet and all your buddies can kick his butt. (Just like high school.) Then you all run away before his buddies can catch you. Repeat as needed. Of course that would only work in tactical combat; the AI is too stupid (too noble?) to use gang tactics in strategic combat.

But, suppose you are trying to remain at a distance from the enemy fleet. If you are outnumbered then it would be better to be able to T/R yourself. If you outnumber the enemy, it would be better to T/R them (but then it's probably not so impt since you outnumber and outweigh them).

I really like the idea of T/R on yourself. It lets you make a hard-to-kill scout. On the whole, it doesn't seem unbalancing or illogical to me.

[ 17 April 2002: Message edited by: dmm ]