This little cargo equipment warrants its own section as there is a lot it can do.

The Tractor is used to grab or hold anything ship sized or smaller. The Tractor does not acquire Used markers but it is at a penalty to use equal to the number of objects it is holding. Each use of the Tractor spends a point of Guns power.

(Engineering vs. Distance + 2 x Speed + 2 x Size)

If successful, move the target ship one hex closer to the tractoring ship. If in the same hex with the same heading and Speed, you can initiate a tractor dock. You cannot initiate a tractor on a ship if either you or your target are within two hexes of a moon, planet or larger object.

Select external doors for both ships that line up to provide a link allowable by the geometry of the ship layouts. Ships may link forward to aft or port to starboard. Ships at Speed zero may link on any external doors allowed by geometry but cannot accelerate.

Note that these doors lining up does not grant access to the enemy ship. The doors must be hacked or broken down in order to pass through (see page 31).

Count the greater Shields value for both ships with regards to third party attacks. Apply the total Shields for both ships when they are attacking one another. They may attack one another with weapons having arc on the facing side only (or those that don't require arc).

The Speed of tractored objects is considered 0 with respect to the tractoring ship.

Add the Size of the other ship as a penalty to maneuvers while docked. Apply changes to Speed and facing to both ships.

Increase the OOC on the ship with lower OOC until it matches that of the higher OOC ship. Anything that affects OOC to either ship affects both.

The Tractor dock lasts until a character with access spends an automatic action to disengage the Tractor or the Tractor is broken or the Guns power of the tractoring ship is reduced to zero.

A ship that is docked to another ship or an installation adds that other object to its silhouette for purposes of hit allocation by everything except one another. This means it might be shielded by its Tractor buddy (until that ship blows up in a Tractor and deals a ton of damage).

If a ship is docked with something that explodes, they suffer the explosion effect twice.

(Engineering vs. Distance + 2 x Speed + 2 x Size)

Microships are considered Speed 6.

Spacewalkers and microships are considered Size 0. Spacewalkers have their personal target number. For a linked group, select the smallest target number and reduce it by one for each additional member in the linked group.

If successful, bring the object (spacewalker, missile, fighter, drone, mine, relay station, etc.) into your hex and immediately decide whether to hold it or reel it into any external module on your ship. (You can tractor land a fighter in a launch tube in this fashion).

You may choose at a later time to reel it in. Objects held in your hex provide a penalty of +1 each to any attempt to use the Tractor. They are released if the Guns level of your ship drops to 0, the tractor is broken, or by an automatic action from any authorized user.

If reeled in, warheads must be defused by an adjacent character (with a Science skill check of 11) or they detonate during the next missile resolution.

Boarding Missiles, Life Pods and Rescue Pods reeled in immediately disgorge their contents into the module as though a boarding missile hit (page 139).

A tractored missile held in place rolls its attack dice during missile movement to break away. Any character aboard a held boarding missile may make a Piloting skill check instead of the missile's attack dice. If the attack dice or Piloting skill check is greater than or equal to the tractoring ship's Guns power + 8, the missile is freed from the tractor. It will move a number of hexes this Phase equal to the successes (to a maximum of 6) and attack if possible.

Tractored missiles that are targeting the ship they are tractored by roll their attack as normal but subtract the Guns power of the tractoring ship.

(Science vs. 11)

Renders the object harmless. Failure detonates it instantly in the module where it is reeled in.

Any tractored object is at Speed zero for purposes of being targeted by the tractoring ship.

A tractored fighter adds the tractoring ship's Guns power to the difficulty of any skill check taken aboard the figher and subtracts the ship's Guns power from its movement. If after suffering both of these penalties, the remaining movement is 1 or more, the fighter is free of the tractor.

You cannot tractor anything off another ship. You cannot tractor anything off the surface of an asteroid, planet, or moon unless you are docked to that body.