It would be possible to escape the tractor depending on your mass and velocity.

Do I really need to repeat the fact that existing mechanics are not my problem moron? CCP obviously have the power to change the mechanics.

As I said, I want a ship based tractor, so whether the citadels have one is irrelevant... But since citadels will have them, that would indicate that a ship based tractor is possible.

Are you able to warp out of the new citadel tractor beams?

... If not, then yes I think the mechanic should be updated. Don't you?

Max tractor speed = tractor strength - (mass x "Y" x (target velocity))

Afterburners also add mass when activate and fitting an oversized prop mod is viable on many ships, so no, i do not believe a MWD with become any more the " de facto" module than it already is.

You sure have a charming way of speaking to people.

As you will note, this is an algebraic equation and as such, exact figures are not necessary at this stage. There is nothing stopping you or anyone else from assigning a value for the tractor strength or "Y".

To explain to you how this works, as you don't seem to understand... Should CCP decide to implement this feature, they would need to look at all ship classes and come up with a value for the tractor speed and "Y" to ensure the mechanic was balanced. Expecting players to precisely design every idea in the "features and ideas" section is utterly unreasonable.

With regards to the value for "Y", you will note that i said that this is a balancing factor and as such, its purpose is to bring the sum of the "tractor speed - ship speed x mass" equation for the different hull classes, in line with each other. Clearly, the figure will be < 0 with the smallest hulls having the highest "Y" value.

For example, if Y= 0.0004 for my proteus and the tractor strength was, lets say, 500 m/s. With my MWD activated, i would be able to pull away at a speed of 380 m/s . However, if my MWD was switched off for some reason, i would be pulled in at a speed of 390 m/s.

My proteus: base mass = 14,153.5 t mwd speed 1164 m/s

So to answer your specific question again, the tractor speed is fixed and the "Y" value is variable

Oops thanks for pointing that out, it should have read:
Max tractor speed = (mass x target velocity x "Y") - tractor strength

Also the Y in my example should have been 0.00004

Thus

X = (19,153.5*1164*.00004) - 500
= 391.79

To clarify, the "ship velocity" is actually the vector in relation to the tractor ship.

Are you saying the proteus has 64,153.5 t mass with 100 MN AB? ...I'm not able to test right now but that doesn't sound right.

If we changed the formula the reflect this and used a Y value of for for frigates 0.0002, a Tristan with level 5 skill using a tech 2 MWD to travel 2980 m/s would be able to escape a tractor at a speed of 69.78 m/s... And if it were to use a T2 10mn AB at a max speed of 2076m/s, the Tristan would pe pulled in at a speed of 103.1m/s.

For now and taking into account that I have not even started sims on this one yet I am inclined to go with more mass and / or larger sig radius would make it easier for the tractor to hold a ship.

Another thing is we need to eliminate the "Y" factor if possible. While Rek's basic formula works by varying the "Y" factor the simple truth is that you end up with the over sized prop mod becoming a requirement so you can get away from this tractor and that would be a bad thing for the game since it would eliminate more fitting options than it would add.

Incorrect. If we make the change discussed in post 79, the size of the prop mod is taken out of the equation.

Also, i don't like the idea of smaller ships finding it easier to escape than bigger ships as it's completely the opposite of the original intention