Start of Tow during Movement Phases

[Phaidros]

Hi,

this is a topic I brought up earlier and Magik said he'll look into
it. So perhaps it's time to ask for an update.

Is taking up a tow of an own ship by rendezvous during the movement
phases possible or not?
Does somebody have any recent practical experience with that kind of
manouver?

And would you consider it unbalancing to extend a capability to start
a tow during movement phases and not only at the beginning, to the
towing of enemy ships?

Phaidros

[protomatter]

Post by Phaidros
Hi,
Is taking up a tow of an own ship by rendezvous during the movement
phases possible or not?
Does somebody have any recent practical experience with that kind of
manouver?

yes you can tow mid movement at reandezvous point.

Proto

[Lord Owl]

Post by protomatter
yes you can tow mid movement at reandezvous point.

Even when the to towed ship has a speed set (on the condition that
it's own tow power is less than that of the towing ship)?

[protomatter]

Post by Lord Owl

Post by protomatter
yes you can tow mid movement at reandezvous point.

Even when the to towed ship has a speed set (on the condition that
it's own tow power is less than that of the towing ship)?

its been my experience, and in many practices, that a ship with a
speed greater than zero cannot be towed. even if it is your own. now
regarding the tow contest rules....

this confuses many people and perhaps magik can correct me on this if
im in error.
a tow contest is not actually between the tower and the towee. its
between two ships trying to tow the same target towee. the ship that
wins the tow contest has rights over the towee. this is useful when
trying to steal an enemy ship being towed. ive never been able to tow
any of my own ships when the speed was greater than zero.

example.:UEA lawdog was towing a UEA Dreadnaught with superlaser. an
aries was able to sneak in and steal the dreadnaught via tractor beam
using a midmovement tow. leaving the lawdog to fend for itself without
its towee to back him up in the fight. now in this situation its
obvious the dreadnaught had a speed of zero. or it wouldnt be towed by
either race.

Prototow

[protomatter]

Post by protomatter
example.:UEA lawdog was towing a UEA Dreadnaught with superlaser. an
aries was able to sneak in and steal the dreadnaught via tractor beam
using a midmovement tow. leaving the lawdog to fend for itself without
its towee to back him up in the fight. now in this situation its
obvious the dreadnaught had a speed of zero. or it wouldnt be towed by
either race.
Prototow

another good example for reandezvous point midturn towing is "handing
off" basically you can tow one your ships with speed set to zero to
point "A" in space. then use another ship with greater speed and tow
power head to point "A" with tractor beam on for the speed zero ship,
and basically steal it from the first ship. winning the tow contest
due to your second ship having enough power to win the tow contest.

this isnt used as much, but sometimes your towing with lower speed
ship to bring in either a captured hull, or a wounded ship of your
own. but this slow ship is taking to long due its not so fast speeds.
so you reandezvous and steal the tow midturn with a much faster ship.

Proto

[Amaranthine]

I believe there is a tow contest between tower and towee. Otherwise
simply setting all of your stationary ships to at least 1ly would
totally defeat any agressive tow action. I believe it is possible to
tow an enemy ship if the tower has the greater tow power. I could
easily be mistaken, but I believe that is how it works.

Post by protomatter

Post by Lord Owl
Even when the to towed ship has a speed set (on the condition that
it's own tow power is less than that of the towing ship)?

its been my experience, and in many practices, that a ship with a
speed greater than zero cannot be towed. even if it is your own. now
regarding the tow contest rules....
this confuses many people and perhaps magik can correct me on this if
im in error.
a tow contest is not actually between the tower and the towee. its
between two ships trying to tow the same target towee. the ship that
wins the tow contest has rights over the towee. this is useful when
trying to steal an enemy ship being towed. ive never been able to tow
any of my own ships when the speed was greater than zero.

[rumata]

Post by protomatter

Post by Lord Owl

Post by protomatter
yes you can tow mid movement at reandezvous point.

Even when the to towed ship has a speed set (on the condition that
it's own tow power is less than that of the towing ship)?

its been my experience, and in many practices, that a ship with a
speed greater than zero cannot be towed. even if it is your own. now
regarding the tow contest rules....
this confuses many people and perhaps magik can correct me on this if
im in error.
a tow contest is not actually between the tower and the towee. its
between two ships trying to tow the same target towee. the ship that
wins the tow contest has rights over the towee. this is useful when
trying to steal an enemy ship being towed. ive never been able to tow
any of my own ships when the speed was greater than zero.
 example.:UEA lawdog was towing a UEA Dreadnaught with superlaser. an
aries was able to sneak in and steal the dreadnaught via tractor beam
using a midmovement tow. leaving the lawdog to fend for itself without
its towee to back him up in the fight. now in this situation its
obvious the dreadnaught had a speed of zero. or it wouldnt be towed by
either race.
Prototow

The wiki is actually quite up to date on this:
<http://planets4.hood-net.org/wiki/index.php/Towing#Tow_contest>

Short version:
A contest happens if:
-towee trys to escape (speed > 0)
-two ships try to tow the same target

Who wins depends on:
-number of engines (more is better)
-hull speed (higher is better)
-engine speed (higher is better)
-engine damage (less is better)
It does _not_ depend on tractor beam strength. See wiki for formula.

The discussion on the wiki page indicates that the Super Nova (fitted
with transwarps) is the King of towing, followed by the Nexus
(transwarp) and the Annihilation cube (transwarp).

Cheers,
Michael