Tractor Beam

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Ship Functions

Slots Crew

EPS Main Energy Reactor Warp Core Flight Cost Flight Range Deflectors

LRS Cargo Bay Beam Capacity Torpedo Capacity

Hull Shields Armour Evasion Weapons

Tractor Beam Hiding Solar Panels Bussard Collectors Ore Collectors Hangar Docking Ports Special Docking Spaces Subspace Tracking System Blockade Wreck Extraction

All ships and space stations (except probes) have a built in tractor beam with which other ships can be captured and towed. To activate the tractor beam the other ship must be visible in your own SRS (Short Range Sensors), must not be docked and must not have its shields activated. Activating a tractor beam costs 1 Energy and consumes 1 energy with every tick change - activating a tractor beam requires a minimum of 20% crew efficiency.

When towing ships the flight cost is calculated by adding the flight cost of the ship being towed to the normal flight cost of the towing ship. Towing also affects the flight range of the ship, this is calculated based on the new flight cost, for example if the flight cost has doubled, the flight range will be halved.

Space stations (along with platforms and gates) cannot be towed, however they are able to capture other ships with their tractor beam to dock them or pull them into the hangar.

Contents 1 Enemy Ships 2 Rescue Operations 3 Bridging longer flight routes 4 Wreck Extraction

Enemy Ships

Docked ships can neither activate their own tractor beam nor be caught by a tractor beam. Spaceships with activated shields or ships already caught by another tractor beam cannot be taken in a tractor beam.

Neutral or enemy ships will automatically try to break free of a tractor beam if they are at alert condition Yellow or Red. Activating the tractor beam causes a battle tick which may cause other ships in the sector to fire at you.

If a foreign ship held in a tractor beam activates its shields a feedback impulse is created to try to break the tractor beam. If both ships are owned by the same person, the tractoring ship will automatically deactivate the tractor beam if they other ship raises shields. The towing ship can activate its shields at any time, even before the tractor beam is switched on.

Rescue Operations

In order for a foreign spaceship to be towed, it must switch off its shields and be temporarily set to alert condition Green because otherwise it will resist the tractor beam and even trigger automatic defense measures.

Bridging longer flight routes

If you want to cover a longer range in a tick than your spaceships flight range, you can first tow it with a second ship as far as the second ships flight range will allow. Afterwards the ship can continue to fly for its entire flight range alone with full EPS and energy.

Wreck Extraction

Main Article: Wreck Extraction

Ships with wreck extraction capabilities such as Tugs, Extraction Ships and Ortygias must first capture the debris in a tractor beam whereupon the button "Extract Resources" appears. Each unit of energy reduces the integrity of the debris field by 2, the quantity of goods extracted depends upon the build costs of the destroyed ship. When extracting over several ticks leaving the tractor beam active will prevent the debris field from deteriorating, this uses 1 energy each tick. Resources can be extracted from a debris field until it reaches 1 integrity. Then you can destroy the debris field, for which you gain +50 external reputation (as a "reward" for cleaning the universe.)