Also, shouldn't tractor beams pull in fired torpedoes, making them automatically hit?
Just thinking about how tractor beams should actually work from a logical perspective, not gameplay, because my brain works like that.
Well... Tractor Beams can be set to hold an object in place. If we look at Starfleet Command 1 and 2, Tractor Beams are a common defensive countermeasure to missiles, usually by grabbing and holding them until they run out of fuel or are shot by phasers set to point defense. It wasn't until SFC2 that Anti Missile Defense systems became a thing that automatically tried to shoot down missiles.
It works like that in game as well. But the torpedoes are too quick for the tractor beam system. Of course the slower and more powerful torpedo's.. Like plasma torpedoes. Can be stopped. I do that often. I see a Romulan or a Borg plasma torpedo comming towards me slowly. I target it and press my tractor beam. The tractor beam snares the torpedo and it vanishes (destroyed)
In Star Trek it's explained that normal torpedoes move to quickly for the tractor beam to lock on. Being small as well, same thing can be seen in the show that they struggle to lock onto quick moving shuttles and probes.
And yes it is quite weird that smaller vessels can hold larger vessels inplace with a tractor beam. This can be because of how a tractor beam works and mass and weight work differently in space. Of course there are some restrictions. Don't think of the tractor beam as just an object holding your ship. The tractor beam is a physical beam of matter snarring something, holding it inplace. Pushing it away etc. That's how larger objects can be "held" by a smaller ship. It's not just the ship holding you. There's a lot of small items being generated by the tractor beam emitter. Best way I can explain it... Imagine it's like being stuck in the mud, lol. Your ship engines are unable to push your ship out of the thick mud. Tractor beam.
Same thing as a force field, it sends molecules.. Which ones god knows. Back and forth so quickly nothing can pass through. That's why broken force fields flicker like a broken TV screen. Since things aren't being sped around in the field quickly enough.
I say we nerf every power so that instead of doing something useful instantly, you just hear a random bit of technobabble with your crew arguing for about 5 minutes and then, it can either work or fail.
What I find amusing is that tractor beam makes no account for ship mass. I frequently get locked down or moved around by tiny little Mesh Weavers in my significantly larger Arbiter Battlecruiser and of course it also happens to much larger ships as well. It's like a motorcycle attaching a grappling line to a semi truck and -the truck is the one that moves!-. As we all know, game mechanics may work that way but physics sure as hell do not.
That could have been interesting if the game had normal collisions mechanics and vastly improved tractor beams with the size and mass of the ships taken into account. That'd lead to a possible new tactic:
Get "caught" by (a) smaller ship(s), promptly drag them into their biggest allies for shield-bypassing damage (since in SF, ramming almost always ignores shields).
Tractor beams were only used once in combat, during the cannon series? o.O
That's weird because...
Don't forget TOS as well! The Corbomite Manuver The Grand Lady gets tractored by the First Federation ship. Doomsday Machine where she and the Constelation are tractored. I'm sure there are others.
I'd like them to go too, but not in the way the OP meant. It is highly annoying that the animation stays, while the beam is no longer active. When I fly out of the 5 km range. They stick to my ship, even when I am at 10 or 15 km. They also stay when I neutralize them with polarize hull. To be specific, they are there, but are not working, hence it looks like the game is not responding.
Take this. A ship fires a cannon at me. I target it with subsystem weapons. It makes the weapon go offline. Should I still see bullets comming at me? Right, so when I am out of range, the beam is gone, when I use poloarize hull or any other hard counter, the beam goes away.
Actually, I agree with many of the things people are saying as mockery.
For instance, if a gravity well was generated by a science ship, it should affect EVERYTHING in range, friend and foe. It's a gravity well, a force of nature, it has no idea of friend or foe. Same with torpedo spreads and all the aoe abilities and weapons.
I'm for anything that improves the "realism" of the game.
I'd love for friendly fire to be implemented correctly, of course the AI would have to suffer it as well. Even if by some miracle the devs wanted to do this I see it as a modification to the game that seems unlikely to be possible by reasonable means.
Leader of The Temporal Guard and Temporal Defence Force
Serioiusly, complaining about Tractor Beams. Just when my opinion on the average STO players' ability couldn't get any lower, I see them TRIBBLE up CCA on top of that yesterday
I guess in Trek they have more fine control over tractor beams and they do more than just pull, they can also push or hold in place. In most sci fi, tractor beams work in the classic "they're pulling us in!" "reverse engines!" "no effect, it's too strong!" sort of way and the answer to that is fire a projectile and the beam will pull it right into the tractor beam projector. I always wondered why the Falcon didn't do that against the Death Star, fire a pair of proton missiles into the beam and let them destroy the projector and then run for it. Of course, then we wouldn't have a movie but still...
because the death star has over seven HUNDRED emitters - even IF they had destroyed one, another would've activated almost instantly
and the falcon has concussion missiles, not proton torpedoes
however, that method of breaking a tractor HAS been used a few times in the EU - one notable instance being luke firing a torpedo and hitting full reverse after being snared by the chimaera, which successfully knocked the tractor out and allowed him to haul TRIBBLE away from thrawn
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Serioiusly, complaining about Tractor Beams. Just when my opinion on the average STO players' ability couldn't get any lower, I see them **** up CCA on top of that yesterday
One of today's runs BOTH of the shockwave optionals failed... That was kinda pathetic yeah.
I'd like them to go too, but not in the way the OP meant. It is highly annoying that the animation stays, while the beam is no longer active. When I fly out of the 5 km range. They stick to my ship, even when I am at 10 or 15 km. They also stay when I neutralize them with polarize hull. To be specific, they are there, but are not working, hence it looks like the game is not responding.
Take this. A ship fires a cannon at me. I target it with subsystem weapons. It makes the weapon go offline. Should I still see bullets comming at me? Right, so when I am out of range, the beam is gone, when I use poloarize hull or any other hard counter, the beam goes away.
In theory, in those cases since the beam isn't disengaged you could become subject to the effect if you either get closer or your polarize wears off.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Comments
That's weird because...
Well... Tractor Beams can be set to hold an object in place. If we look at Starfleet Command 1 and 2, Tractor Beams are a common defensive countermeasure to missiles, usually by grabbing and holding them until they run out of fuel or are shot by phasers set to point defense. It wasn't until SFC2 that Anti Missile Defense systems became a thing that automatically tried to shoot down missiles.
In Star Trek it's explained that normal torpedoes move to quickly for the tractor beam to lock on. Being small as well, same thing can be seen in the show that they struggle to lock onto quick moving shuttles and probes.
And yes it is quite weird that smaller vessels can hold larger vessels inplace with a tractor beam. This can be because of how a tractor beam works and mass and weight work differently in space. Of course there are some restrictions. Don't think of the tractor beam as just an object holding your ship. The tractor beam is a physical beam of matter snarring something, holding it inplace. Pushing it away etc. That's how larger objects can be "held" by a smaller ship. It's not just the ship holding you. There's a lot of small items being generated by the tractor beam emitter. Best way I can explain it... Imagine it's like being stuck in the mud, lol. Your ship engines are unable to push your ship out of the thick mud. Tractor beam.
Same thing as a force field, it sends molecules.. Which ones god knows. Back and forth so quickly nothing can pass through. That's why broken force fields flicker like a broken TV screen. Since things aren't being sped around in the field quickly enough.
Hope that explains the logic behind it. lol.
^ This exactly!
My character Tsin'xing
That could have been interesting if the game had normal collisions mechanics and vastly improved tractor beams with the size and mass of the ships taken into account. That'd lead to a possible new tactic:
Get "caught" by (a) smaller ship(s), promptly drag them into their biggest allies for shield-bypassing damage (since in SF, ramming almost always ignores shields).
Don't forget TOS as well! The Corbomite Manuver The Grand Lady gets tractored by the First Federation ship. Doomsday Machine where she and the Constelation are tractored. I'm sure there are others.
Take this. A ship fires a cannon at me. I target it with subsystem weapons. It makes the weapon go offline. Should I still see bullets comming at me? Right, so when I am out of range, the beam is gone, when I use poloarize hull or any other hard counter, the beam goes away.
I'd love for friendly fire to be implemented correctly, of course the AI would have to suffer it as well. Even if by some miracle the devs wanted to do this I see it as a modification to the game that seems unlikely to be possible by reasonable means.
rendering it USELESS
L2P dude
because the death star has over seven HUNDRED emitters - even IF they had destroyed one, another would've activated almost instantly
and the falcon has concussion missiles, not proton torpedoes
however, that method of breaking a tractor HAS been used a few times in the EU - one notable instance being luke firing a torpedo and hitting full reverse after being snared by the chimaera, which successfully knocked the tractor out and allowed him to haul TRIBBLE away from thrawn
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
My character Tsin'xing
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"