Brian Anderson
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Posted - 2008.09.19 18:39:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Anig Browl
1. reduce the range to 15km...but allow a relevant skill (perhaps anchoring) to increase that by 20% per level.
Like the idea, but maybe make a new skill call Tractor or something like that and it would have a req of Science IV. That would give the range bonus to the modules and it would also allow the placement of a tech II version of the module too. Have it add range and/or speed (or thrust)
Originally by: Anig Browl
1a. Alternatively, have the tractor range/speed be a factor of ship size. It's not really logical that a Battleship and a Frigate have identical tractoring power.
That would not lend itself to most of the other modules in the game. Beside the ECM burst, the size of a ship has no factor on the effect of the module. If you could fit a Large Hybrid Laser on a frig it would still do the same dmg as if it was on the battleship.
Originally by: Anig Browl
2. Allow tractoring of non-owned cans, wrecks etc. The requirement to shoot them first is a bit silly; the tractor beam is just a machine, after all. It's still a form of aggression.
Agreed, have it cause a kill rights as if you stole from them, but not flat out can not.
Originally by: Anig Browl
3. The biggest change: allow tractoring of ships, like a weak kind of webbing. It would require some math, but no more than is used for gunnery or missiles - not an 'OMG WTF lag' problem. It's a vector differential equation, similar to (but slightly simpler) than the tracking calculation. This would give them a very interesting tactical dimension. Per 1a, the mass of your ship could be factored into this calculation once, at fitting time.
4. Allow capital tractor beaming on the other capital ships. Now whether any sane person would want to do such a thing is another question. Half the fun in Eve is seeing the clever/stupid things people do with their ship which nobody anticipated. Is it really your problem if someone decides to build a salvage titan? How about a carrier that steals ships? Narrow specifications like 'only this ship can use that module' prevent emergent gameplay, exacerbating the tendency towards every-larger blob warfare.
5. Multiple beams on a single ship can tractor one item. this actually works now, but only if you activate them at the same time. If you activate one and then the other you get an error. Doesn't make sense. Multiple tractor beams from multiple ships, probably not because you could get race conditions in the code (but see #6).
6. If small ships are targeting a much bigger one (or an anchored structure), they are pulled towards it. I'm thinking that this might help reduce the desync problems people often complain about with capital jumps. Or it could be a way to prevent such jumps - these are discussion suggestions, not prescriptions.
I like this idea, you could apply the same formula for both ship, cans, and wracks. For example a single tractor beam would provide 100000 thrust on the two objects pointing at each other. The thrust and mass would be calcualted just as it is now to get the speed. Objects would be anything that is not anchored down.
The mass of a can or wreck would be based on whatever is in it.
If this cant be done, at least make a Tech II version that has better range and beam speed.
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