Tractor beams in combat?

[Ragitsu]

Good Morning.

I am curious: why aren't tractor beams used more frequently in ship-to-ship combat? Is this technology too slow to initiate and/or easily neutralized by shields?

 

[Unicron]

I occasionally wonder about this myself, as only the Borg seem to utilize them in an offensive capacity. Some Star Wars sources treat tractor beams as a weapon system, even though they mainly fill the same role of capturing and holding targets.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Tractor Beam effectiveness seems to be only close to "Point Blank Range".

If you have weapons that can fight at great distances, tractor beams are largely a non factor.

 

[blssdwlf]

Good Morning.

I am curious: why aren't tractor beams used more frequently in ship-to-ship combat? Is this technology too slow to initiate and/or easily neutralized by shields?

It depends on the situation and the target. If you have a lot more power than the target ship you could use tractor beams to grab and hold the target. If they try to power out of it they risk burning out their engines or overloading and blowing up. But if the target ship is equal to yours then they can just as easily fire weapons at you. Since your ship has put power into tractors then that is less power available to shields, weapons and propulsion which would give the target ship an advantage over your ship in terms of power allocation. So in combat both sides are less likely to use tractors because of that, IMHO.

Example of one side being overpowered: "The Corbomite Maneuver" shows the powerful Fesarus tractoring and holding the Enterprise in place at great distance.

Special cases: In "The Way of the Warrior" the Defiant has to drop her shields to beam aboard Cardassian survivors while under attack from a Klingon Vor'cha battlecruiser. The Vor'cha has closed to point-blank range. Defiant "modulates" her tractor beam to deflect half of the Klingon warships disruptor fire.

DAX: You were right, Mister Worf. The modulated tractor beam's deflecting some of the Klingons' disruptor fire.
WORF: Disruptor's effectiveness at fifty percent.​

I think in another episode a tractor beam was used in an attempt to limit enemy weapons from being able to aim but I don't recall which one that is.

 

[publiusr]

Nerroth is your go-to guy on this.

In SFB, it’s tactical use is called the “Gorn Anchor.”

Defiant was able to shove the nose of a Vor’cha aside to limit it’s firing arcs…like a running back’s stiff-arm.

 

[blssdwlf]

I remember now. In "The Battle" the more powerful Enterprise-D uses her tractor beam to limit the Stargazer's field of fire...

DATA: This class starship has enough power to use our tractor beam on it. Seize it, limit it's field of fire.
​

Edit: Corrected episode name.

 

[publiusr]

I forgot that one…USS Hathaway was in “Peak” however.

 

[blssdwlf]

I forgot that one…USS Hathaway was in “Peak” however.

Doh! You're right. "The Battle" is where it is from.

 

[UssGlenn]

The Tractor beam was my go to when playing the Star Trek: Starfleet Command computer game. Lock on, put power to forward shields, and blast away. Worked pretty good. Did it so much that when I played the Mirror Universe mission and had to fight my mirror self, guess what technique he pulled?

 

[blssdwlf]

The Tractor beam was my go to when playing the Star Trek: Starfleet Command computer game. Lock on, put power to forward shields, and blast away. Worked pretty good. Did it so much that when I played the Mirror Universe mission and had to fight my mirror self, guess what technique he pulled?

Yeah you could do that in ST: Starfleet Command. The SFB-style rules doesn't really penalize players for using tractors, IIRC.