by mfaulk80
Darustet wrote:
MichMedia wrote:
Tractor beams seem like a good counter to fire-and-retreat PM fleets; kinda saddened they didn't make the cut.
:cry:
:cry:
The reason is, as LazyJ pointed it out, that fleet without dreadnoughts would have no change of surviving a missile fleet. The track beam would have been as good as useless against PM. You would have to use missiles yourself, but the enemy would still maintain the dreadnought advantage.
Only real advantage while using PM starbases.
I believe LazyJ was actually referring to the fact that Elders of Solstice don't have traditional Dreads so Tractor Beam isn't useful as a military tech. I'm making that assumption based on "...in a faction that can't build Drednoughts...".
Either way, I disagree with your assertion. Tractor Beam was plenty useful from the standpoint that you can definitely survive a missile fleet whether that includes Dreads, Cruiser, or Starbases. It wasn't necessarily too weak or too strong. IMO, it was cut because it just wasn't very exciting (relatively speaking). There were already several more interesting techs that could be used for more similar purposes (in terms of PMs specifically) so it just seemed like a natural cut. Of course, only Sampo or Touko can give the exact reasons...