Towing benefits of Command Ship?

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2302 days, 8 hours, 12 minutes ago
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void dragon
Towing benefits of Command Ship?Write Reply
I'm trying to understand the subtleties of the Command Ship ability available to Rebels and Colonies in a Campaign game.

Does it prevent enemies from towing your ships traveling with a Command Ship?

If not, ff there is a towing contest, does it let you always win?

In short, how does it affect towing?  It obviously lets you potentially evade new mine fields, but I don't quite understand what it does for towing, especially if an enemy ship is involved.
2300 days, 0 hours, 31 minutes ago
View eeon's profile
eeon
RE: Towing benefits of Command Ship?Write Reply
any ship including the command ship at the same location ( that does not have mission intercept set ) moves before tow can take place. now while i havent had the privilege of actually testing this, this is my understanding of it..

 some things to consider would be to not have any ship in the command ship group be under tow. if your towing a virgo for example i would assume it would be left behind as the tower would move to its destination before tow takes place. 

in summary if its good for evasion of cloaked enemy tows, then its safe to assume its not good for your own towing of vehicles.
2298 days, 21 hours, 21 minutes ago
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void dragon
RE: Towing benefits of Command Ship?Write Reply
That's too bad because towing with Cobols is big selling feature for Colonies in my book.  I was hoping the Command Ship feature would make this a safer option (to avoid having cloakers tow your ships off), not a non-option.
2298 days, 21 hours, 8 minutes ago
View joshua's profile
joshua
joshuaWrite Reply
Towing ships at command ships move first. So you can still tow. Then ships at command ships move. Then mine laying, mine sweeping etc. Then towing ships move then other ships move. Then intercepting ships move.
2298 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes ago
View eeon's profile
eeon
RE: Towing benefits of Command Ship?Write Reply
the i can assume as well that enemy ships such as a privateer MCBR can tow away a ship from the command ship group prior to them moving? is that correct?
2298 days, 19 hours, 45 minutes ago
View emork the lizard king's profile
emork the lizard king
emork the lizard kingWrite Reply
The description of the command ships says:
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Command Ship - All ships at the location of the command ship which are not intercepting will move before enemy ships and before minelaying. Ships will still fight after all other ships have moved.
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What is the meaning of "all ships" and "enemy ships" exactly? I assume
* all ships: all ships of the owner of the command ship
* enemy ships: all ships of other races - even allies at the same spot as the command ship

Is this correct?
An additional question would be what happens if two command ships of different races are at the same spot and one race tries to tow a ship of the other race. Would this work or is it dependent on race id or ship id?
2298 days, 19 hours, 32 minutes ago
View big beefer's profile
big beefer
RE: Towing benefits of Command Ship?Write Reply
So yes then, towing (and towed) ships at a command ship will always escape enemy tow. And enemies cannot use a low ID towing ship to escape your tow.

Combine that with offensive mine-laying (after movement, but before combat), fighter mine-sweeping after movement (you can sweep a field you start 181ly away from), and the freedom to move using the minefields you see, knowing they won't change before you move... this is a very powerful ship.

Even intercepting becomes too risky for enemies. since you can move away and then drop a 75ly radius minefield, just the right size that they can't sweep it before they come chasing after you.
2298 days, 18 hours, 56 minutes ago
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void dragon
RE: Towing benefits of Command Ship?Write Reply
Thanks guys.  That is how I was HOPING it worked, especially for a 50pt advantage.  Definitely getting that ASAP.

Last question (maybe): How would it work with towing an enemy ship?  Would you always "win" the tow contest between you and another enemy ship?

What if your tow target is also trying to tow you?  Is its tow cancelled or do you tow it first in the "command ship" movements and then it tows you too?  If the latter, that seems exploitable.
2298 days, 18 hours, 50 minutes ago
View joshua's profile
joshua
joshuaWrite Reply
You always win (unless he is set to tow break >81 ly). Because you tow first. Once you start the tow he won't be able to.
2298 days, 17 hours, 33 minutes ago
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void dragon
RE: Towing benefits of Command Ship?Write Reply
Ok, that ship definitely earns its 50pts.  It is a game changer.  Thanks Joshua.