Author Topic: Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel  (Read 1583 times)

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Offline Atlantia (OP)

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Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel
« on: September 29, 2011, 04:26:28 PM »
I love my tugs, they've been very useful, even if it takes them half a year to haul my JCS to a jump point. I also use them to retrieve ships that have run out of fuel for one reason or another.

This has just happened to my aging Cargo taskforce (they still use the first nuclear engine, and I'm now on Magneto-Plasma), and I've found that I can't simply tractor the ship and bring it to a colony. Although it registers as being in tractor, because it's part of the same task group as the tug, it can't follow the order "Release Tractored Ships at Earth." This order apparently supersedes the tractor and influence of the tug.

1. Without ordering a fuel equalisation between the tug and the cargo ship, is there a way to get it back to Earth?

2. I wanna get rid of these danged slow ships. I've marked them obsolete, and I have better ones. (How) can I do this?

Thanks in advance! (And also for putting up with my myriad issues/questions over the past few days!)
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Offline Jacob/Lee

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Re: Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2011, 04:52:08 PM »
1) Nope, without a tug of course.

2) You can simply destroy them from the ship menu, which produces a wreck, and IIRC there is a way to dismantle ships at shipyards, actually giving you some of the resources and wealth back without salvaging.
 

Offline user-unknown

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Re: Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2011, 05:31:04 PM »
2. Yes - order your ships back to Earth and then select the 'Scrap' command from any shipyard and select the appropriate class and ship.  You will get all the components back as well as some minerals and wealth.  This will use up a slipyard for the duration of the scrap order but IIRC I don't think the shipyard has to be an appropriate size or type (i.e. any shipyard can disassemble any ship).

Alternatively, you can use tool a shipyard up for the new class and use the 'refit' command to convert the old ones to the new class.  However given the massive difference in tech, this will probably end up costing more than building a new member of the recent class...
 

Offline Kostya7er

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Re: Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2011, 05:38:32 PM »
also u can just get them in 1 task group and delete it with ships in it.
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Offline Atlantia (OP)

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Re: Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2011, 05:42:16 PM »
Thanks, folks!
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Offline Charlie Beeler

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Re: Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2011, 07:19:01 AM »
You can also send a tanker to refuel the recalcitrant ship(s) and have them return to your yards under there own power.
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Offline Father Tim

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Re: Tractor Beams and Ships out of fuel
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2011, 04:54:30 AM »
1. Without ordering a fuel equalisation between the tug and the cargo ship, is there a way to get it back to Earth?


Putting even 1 litre of fuel on the cargo ship will 'fix' the 'out of fuel forbids TG movement' problem, and then you can tow it back to earth just fine.  On the individual units window (F6) you'll find a tab for transferring fixed amounts of fuel & maintenance supplies between ships in the same location.