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The magical STO Tractor beam
dassemsto
Member Posts: 792 Arc User
Ever since my first week in STO, back in April -09, I've had a major issue with the STO Tractor beam.
A tractor beam is supposed to link the emitter to the receiver, but in STO it does NOT. In STO it links the target to space, just like pinning a note to the wall. In STO, TB is just a glorified "disable engines" ability.
I wish they would give us the "real" tractorbeam. Then the tractored ship would be linked to you, and both ships would be moving as one, their movement being dictated by the engine output and maneuvring of both objects. (with whoever has most engine umpf affecting movement most)
This issue resurfaced when yesterday I saw a mine pinning a Neghwar to space. It looked completely idiotic.
In Star Trek, we see ships tractoring each other and pulling each other along. This would be really nice if it could be done in STO also. We could pull enemies out of the enemy group, pull friends away from explosions etc.
I think this is the one ability that could be changed to add a completely new dynamic to STO space combat.
(Also, Tractor Beam Repulsors should push the dealer equally hard in the opposite direction! For EVERY action, there is a equal and opposite reaction, damnit! )
A tractor beam is supposed to link the emitter to the receiver, but in STO it does NOT. In STO it links the target to space, just like pinning a note to the wall. In STO, TB is just a glorified "disable engines" ability.
I wish they would give us the "real" tractorbeam. Then the tractored ship would be linked to you, and both ships would be moving as one, their movement being dictated by the engine output and maneuvring of both objects. (with whoever has most engine umpf affecting movement most)
This issue resurfaced when yesterday I saw a mine pinning a Neghwar to space. It looked completely idiotic.
In Star Trek, we see ships tractoring each other and pulling each other along. This would be really nice if it could be done in STO also. We could pull enemies out of the enemy group, pull friends away from explosions etc.
I think this is the one ability that could be changed to add a completely new dynamic to STO space combat.
(Also, Tractor Beam Repulsors should push the dealer equally hard in the opposite direction! For EVERY action, there is a equal and opposite reaction, damnit! )
Post edited by dassemsto on
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Tractor Beams would be much more useful if they would work like in the shows. But i am afraid the devs might think that a mechanic like that would overstrain some players too much.:D
Live long and prosper.
I'm afraid if would overstrain the devs too...
Cool idea, I like it! Though, I think smaller ships attempting to tractor a larger ship should take some minor damage. But eh, I like your idea just fine.
In the show, in my opinion, they added 'special effect'' to be more interesting like to shake ship and making some 'boom' sounds instead of people standing arms crossed watching other vessel while tractor beam is working or not.
Energy never link anything phisicaly unlike the NX class with his graplor.
The only realistic things to add would be a drain on engine power or auxilary power, the more other ship is trying to get free the more power you need to ad to emiters.
What I found realy odd is that part of the way you want it to work is already in the game but only borg do that... like cubes are using tractor beam to remove you from their top to send you heavy torpedo
Ah, but there's a difference in energy types! Cannons, beams and photons do not create recoil cause they have no tangible mass.
A graviton beam on the other hand, is linkning two object together like two magnets. Like magnets, the polarity can be reversed to create a repulsion effect. Regular tractor beams can be used just like a grapplor, to hold someone relative to your position. Not relative to a point in space.
The effectiveness of the tractor beam should be directly affected by the effective mass and engine output of both ships. For example, a shuttle should not be able to stop a Galaxy-class starship moving under full power (but in STO it can).
By the same token, a Galaxy-class should not only eliminate whatever motion the runabout had before, but should drag it along with it (regardless of whether the Galaxy is the emitter or the target).
The only time we've ever seen a runabout move a starship was when Dukat's Galor got disabled. Key word there... "disabled". the Galor wasn't under power, so the Runabout could act as a tugboat and pull it along. But if they had tried it while the Galor had power? good luck.
If it worked this way it would be come useful. You could use your slow cruiser, tractor something so it's right in front of you and then finally be able to fire your torps when the shield drops.
And now you have given the reason for it staying the way it is from a pvp perspective.
Any one who pvp's does ~not~ want to be stuck in the frontal arc of any ship is the 90 degree arc in front of a ship is where not only torps fire from, but also most of the offensive boff skills work from.
Also, 2 powered ships moving in on the exact same heading when tractor beamed would do nothing, problems would start to occur when either ship is taking a different direction to the other, at which point something will give on one ship or another, be it emitters of the one using tractor beam, or a section of the ship on the one being held.
As for unpowered ships, the crew in the target ship would get jostled around due to lack of power for the inertial dampners, this could also effect the emitting ship if the power to the inertial dampners is not high enough to begin with.
unless ofc the ship has sufficient mass to have it's own noticeable gravity!
No, mass is not relevant, but inertia is. The same way as inertia makes a big ship accelerate slower. This would only mean that getting a bigger ship up to speed would be slower.
As for engines, it appears all ships in STO use the same impulse engines. This is pretty true to canon, where full/half/quarter impulse are almost used as fixed speeds. Anyway, adding a big TRIBBLE impulse engine to a cruiser would not make it go faster, just accelerate faster.
So the natural elements to affect the towing would be:
- Engine power
- Points in graviton particles
- Aux power
- TB version
- Inertia (but just for acceleration purposes)
Perhaps in order to bring them towards environmental effects like a gravity well or to pull them into mines? Any more? That seems a bit limited.
IMO, a canon TB would lead to more dynamic gameplay.
The current TB lets you hold someone in place, removing their defence bonus. That's all.
Linking the target ship to yourself would only negate the movement defence at the cost of your own movement defence. You could still hold someone in place, but you would also have the option to move someone.
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It would remind me of the old Netrek days, driving a battleship, tractoring people in to mercilessly phaser them to death. Plus, the tractor beam was totally useful back then. You maneuvered a clunker like a battleship using your tractorbeam like a bat-grapple to help you corner, turn, accelerate, and brake, casually yanking on friendly and enemy ships alike, pulling friendlies out of incoming fire, shoving enemies into it...good times.
Hardcore PvP players can deal with it, they are anyway almost permanently immune to tractor beams so who cares? Whatever the change is they find a way to complain.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.