Canceling Tractor Beam

[Curis[IS]]

I imagine this is likely not the first time this has been brought up and discussed, but a forum search yielded only one post dealing with the topic, and that post had no replies. [url="https://forum.enb-emulator.com/index.php?/topic/5751-items-without-de-spawn-timers/"]https://forum.enb-emu...e-spawn-timers/[/url]

In Live, there was a method to cancel a tractor beam while tractoring in an item. As the linked thread describes, one simply had to click on the item being tractored and click the Loot button again.

Was this disabled for some reason, perhaps to deal with the issue discussed in the linked thread? Or, was this functionality something that was added to the Live game via a post-launch patch (I can't remember; it's been so long) and is not in the baseline client we all began with here? It's a small thing (gameplay-wise), but was actually a very handy feature. In Live, for example, I'm certain I provided many a lowbie some credits and more than a couple of Trade levels during my RD faction farming sessions Shield Nova-ing the Sabine at the Lagarto gate in Endriago. After each wave, I'd pull the loot from the corpses, then let it drift for the other players around me to loot. It was also very handy during mining, pulling unwanted ore from roids and then cutting the beam instead of just cherry-picking the ores you actually wanted.

I understand that a tractor beam can be canceled by cycling your warp engine, but this is obviously not very kind to your reactor's power--especially at lower levels. In any case, is this something that is potentially able to be reactivated/added to the client?

Lastly, let me just thank all of the DEVs and everyone else associated with this project. I cannot begin to tell you how heartbroken I was when EA dumped EnB (What can I say? I had not life then.) and to be able to play it again is just awesome. When I can, I will happily donate what I can to do at least a little toward helping all of you see this project through.

Thanks,
Curis

[jrichards]

yeah, cancelling warp was the only way to do this in Live. That it currently makes the item untractorable is a bug and should be reported in the bug tracker.

NOTE: once you get to level 6+ reactors this really doesn't hit yer reactor power unless yer using a high level engine......which is kind of pointless when mining imo. Not sure why you would want to do this below this level though. Mostly this was used to power level other group members Explore and trade xp in Live.

[Curis[IS]]

[quote name='Crichton' timestamp='1329255282' post='53731']
yeah, cancelling warp was the only way to do this in Live. That it currently makes the item untractorable is a bug and should be reported in the bug tracker.

NOTE: once you get to level 6+ reactors this really doesn't hit yer reactor power unless yer using a high level engine......which is kind of pointless when mining imo. Not sure why you would want to do this below this level though. Mostly this was used to power level other group members Explore and trade xp in Live.
[/quote]

Cycling the warp engine may have been the only way to do it at the start, but at some point the other method described in my OP and in the post I linked to became an option. I can't recall exactly when, only that I know for a fact that it was there because I used it on many occasions. And, it wasn't for the purposes of power-leveling trade or explore XP--at least not intentionally. I mainly used it while farming for specific things, be it RD faction from killing those low-level Sabine at the Lagarto gate in Endriago, or gear from the Centuriata patrols in Odin Rex, for example. It wasn't uncommon for other players to stop by and watch (of course, this was Live, when other players were plenty), so I would just empty the corpses for them and let them collect what they wanted. It was as much a selfish act on my part (uncluttering the area of the corpses) as it was an offering to those players. Could I have just tractored the stuff into my hold and then spaced it? Of course, but that just seemed like a waste. I could also have just let the corpses be until the timer expired, but emptying the corpses gave me something to do in between the spawn waves of those mobs since, at least while farming faction out of the low-level mobs, I was generally able to stay ahead of the respawns.

Like I said in my OP, though, it was a very small matter and one that I freely admit is probably not worth the time or effort to [i]add [/i]back into the game. If it is something that is just currently deactivated but could be reactivated easily enough, then I don't see why it shouldn't be.

Though I did ask the question, the point of my post wasn't necessarily to see it put back into the game, but to find out what happened to that functionality (BTW, this is why I originally posted it in the General Discussion area instead of the Suggestions area; I see that it has since been moved). I could not remember if it was always an option from the start of Live, or if it was something that was patched into the game later on. I figured that if it wasn't available from the start, then that is likely why we do not see that in game now. I was hoping someone could shed light on it.

In the end, I'm just [s]happy[/s] [s]elated[/s] utterly thrilled to be playing the game again, and something this minor is certainly not going to detract from that. I was merely curious.

[Tienbau]

oh crap is that broken? not being able to tractor 'spaced' items? Took a lot of work getting it going in the first place - I'll get it fixed for the next restart.

[Curis[IS]]

I don't know that it's broken, or at least not [i]consistently [/i]broken. I've been able to tractor in 'spaced' items that I've come across without problem, but I've only come across a handful.

[grey406]

I've tried this and it seems to work consistenly every [b]other[/b] time. Every other item becomes non-selectable with an icon that can be seen across the entire map sector until you gate or dock.

[Tienbau]

thanks grey - I'll check that out. I know there have been intermittant problems with it, I'll see what I can find.