Talk:Towing

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Unless someone can confirm the formula on Tims helpfile, it has to be assumed that it is wrong. As it contradicts in game experiences from host versions that are much newer than the help file in question and because of that the formula has been changed. Also the formula on Tim's help file can easily be proven false, by a tow contest between ie. a MCBR with transwarp engines (to be safe enable Grav Acceleration) and ie. a Vlatva with Transwarp Engines (and both ships having zero Generators), trying to tow any object with zero speed and a small enough hull mass (if ship and no Orbital Stabilizer) or a low enough mass if a pod, that's because 1600=380*2*2+2*40<15*90*2+15*40=3300, but 288880=380*380*2+2*40>15*90*90+15*40=122100. Of course this way, without further test, you do not confirm the formula (on this page), but you might as well assume that the wrong formula is due to a typo.

[edit] Towing disabled by Transporter

I thought that the use of transporters on board of the towed ship (or was it the towing ship? I don't remember) would interrupt the towing beam. I know definitely that this happened in the past, but of cause that might have changed in the meantime Flynx 15:42, 25 April 2007 (CEST)

This probably can happen, but it is not the case that what you describe does happen all the time. I never had problems with both towing and towed ship using transporters. But then the waypoints of the towing and the towed ship did usually match, of course the transporter were used at different locations (or better above different planets/bases).

from my obsevations the towing is interupted or fails if the tow target has a speed greater than zero. if the tow target is that of another race, you will fail everytime to tow if the tow target has either engine speed greater than zero, or waypoint set to anywhere. the formula above is supposed to be how it works but i think i read in forums that its not working as intended due to the waypoint drawback when facing enemy towing.--protomatter 01:55, 26 April 2007 (CEST)

The part about the speed >0 is clear, and there is absolutly no difference for ships of your own race, allied races or enemy races trying to tow a ship, it will fail, with the only possible exceptions that the ship to be towed has no engines, or the ship has Orbital Stabilisers or the engine (or system) damage is too high (and therefore the ship to be towed cannot move on its own) - ie. you could have looked at the recently answered questions in the research part of this article (before posting). The other part, about the waypoints, is IMO a myth, at least in the general case as you did state it above, but then it is easy to test via sims if that might be true - I doubt it (and in fact it contradicts some of the experiences I did have under older host versions). Furthermore suppose ship A is towed by a ship B at the beginning of the turn, this will generate a log message that a ship is towing a ship, but if during the turn another ship C, ie. by winning a tow contest against ship B, is towing ship A for the remainder of the turn, it does not generate a message of any kind - this was true for old host versions and it probably still is.

[edit] Tow Contest

Magik added: Hulls with a max speed of 300+ have a tow power of 0. From Tim: "Ships that are that fast are required to give up the power of tow as a general rule."

• Does this include the MCBR? I always had the impression that would be it's major purpose for an aggressive Pirate. Rumata 04:36, 13 February 2008 (CET)

Yes, it includes the MBR. It's a fast, nimble ship that doesn't have the weighty reinforcements necessary for excessive towing. It can't successfully tow someone that doesn't want to be towed. --Magik 06:45, 13 February 2008 (CET)

So basically the King of towing is the Annihilation Class Cube (most engines (12) on a transwarp capable ship, ignoring the spindizzy, which rules by definition). The Aczanny Roc has 20 (transwarp) engines, but a max. hull speed of 400 (no grav accelerator though), i.e. falls under the 300+ rule. Does this sound right? --Rumata 09:02, 13 February 2008 (CET)

The Super Nova is transwarp and has 20 engines, so I think this one would be the king of towing. A Nexus with transwarps fitted (max speed only 150 but 22 engines) would also have more tow muscle than an Annihilation as well. Shard 12:13, 13 February 2008 (CET)