Jorus Merrill
is mek bote
Intent: A very powerful long-range tractor beam, suitable for shoving away enemies and dragging friendlies out of harm’s way; capable of moving other ships through hyperspace.
Development Thread: Note that this submission is a drastically scaled-down version of the tractor beam technology found within the Codex of Tython. Obtaining the Codex and its contents has been the subject of a long-term storyline comprising the following threads:
Model: Great River-type Tractor/Pressor Emplacement
Affiliation: Authorized members of the Underground/The Kathol Outback
Modularity: No; it is a component.
Production: Semi-Unique
Material: Electronics
Strengths:
Description: The Great River was Luke Skywalker’s vision for an underground railroad that could lead Jedi out of persecution and danger. During Jorus Merrill’s long years as Master of First Knowlege, the historical Great River influenced his creation of vaults, boltholes, and safehouses all across the galaxy. He began to dream of a starship that could intervene in deadly situations, grab hold of the innocent, and drag them to safety. As caretaker of the Jedi Order’s records and holocrons, he had kept a close eye on all research concerning the Codex of Tython, which held advanced tractor beam technology. Working with his erstwhile copilot and old friend Chloe Blake, Jorus had secured the final piece of the Codex and accessed its deepest secrets. He discussed various incarnations of this plan with other Jedi, and with the leaders of the Levantine Sanctum. In the end, however, the project would not come to fruition until Jorus began to defend the Kathol Outback.
Working from the research that Jorus had overseen, the outlaw techs of the Outback put the finishing touches on a relative handful of truly massive tractor/pressor beam emplacements. Each emplacement was five times more powerful than a standard capital ship heavy tractor beam, with commensurate bulk and power cost. (OOC/ For gun count purposes, 100 capital weapons.)
Typically, a Great River emplacement would be installed in a specially modified capital ship. A usage scenario might unfold as follows:
It should be noted that, so far as range is concerned, the Great River emplacement is comparable to the tractor beams on the Death Star: it can lock onto targets from a range of several hundred kilometres. This range is significantly better than that of most capital ship tractor beams. However, the Great River emplacement cannot tow targets into hyperspace at range; targets must be dragged close before jump. Crucially, then, the Great River emplacement can only tow targets into hyperspace when fitted to a ship that has a suitable level of hyperdrive technology, so as to enclose the target in the hyperspace bubble. Discount class-two drives simply won’t cut it.
Primary Source: Not influenced by any Chaos submissions. It is important to note that this submission is on a far smaller scale than the super-tractor beam described in the Codex of Tython. That beam was strong enough to crush capital ships or throw planet-killing asteroids; by contrast, this one operates in a much more normal scale. Apart from its range and its hyperspace-towing capabilities, it is identical to several heavy capital ship tractor emplacements operating as one.
Development Thread: Note that this submission is a drastically scaled-down version of the tractor beam technology found within the Codex of Tython. Obtaining the Codex and its contents has been the subject of a long-term storyline comprising the following threads:
Playing With Fire (18 posts) - Codex secured
A Helping Hand (16 posts) - Codex returned to the Jedi Order, part 1
Trust Your Friends (15 posts) - Codex returned to the Jedi Order, part 2
Black Lagoon (63 posts) - Codex examined by Jedi research team
This Day All Gods Die (57 posts) - Codex shard secured from its guardian
Weekend Treasure Hunt 1: Winner Take All (202 posts; posts 130-202 directly relevant) - Final Codex shard secured and complete Codex examined by Jorus (then Master of First Knowledge) and Chloe Blake
Starbound (18 posts) - Codex examined by a group of Jedi under Jorus’ direction
Wish You Were Here (11 posts) - Concept work on the tractor beam and related ship designs
Total: 271
Model: Great River-type Tractor/Pressor Emplacement
Affiliation: Authorized members of the Underground/The Kathol Outback
Modularity: No; it is a component.
Production: Semi-Unique
Material: Electronics
Strengths:
Very powerful tractor beam, capable of dragging friendlies out of harm’s way or pushing hostiles away.
Capable of pulling starships through hyperspace.
Not optimized against small targets, such as warheads or starfighters.
A tractor beam’s use is constrained by the relative mass, velocity, and engine strength of the acting ship and the target ship, as well as the structural supports of the emplacement. In other words, don’t expect a light freighter to drag a Star Destroyer anytime soon.
Massive gun count equivalency (100 capital weapons) creates hard limits on the sizes and types of ship in which the Great River emplacement can be installed.
When ship-mounted, can only be installed on a ship with a Class 1 hyperdrive or better -- and hyperspace towing slows the fitted ship to Class 3.
Description: The Great River was Luke Skywalker’s vision for an underground railroad that could lead Jedi out of persecution and danger. During Jorus Merrill’s long years as Master of First Knowlege, the historical Great River influenced his creation of vaults, boltholes, and safehouses all across the galaxy. He began to dream of a starship that could intervene in deadly situations, grab hold of the innocent, and drag them to safety. As caretaker of the Jedi Order’s records and holocrons, he had kept a close eye on all research concerning the Codex of Tython, which held advanced tractor beam technology. Working with his erstwhile copilot and old friend Chloe Blake, Jorus had secured the final piece of the Codex and accessed its deepest secrets. He discussed various incarnations of this plan with other Jedi, and with the leaders of the Levantine Sanctum. In the end, however, the project would not come to fruition until Jorus began to defend the Kathol Outback.
Working from the research that Jorus had overseen, the outlaw techs of the Outback put the finishing touches on a relative handful of truly massive tractor/pressor beam emplacements. Each emplacement was five times more powerful than a standard capital ship heavy tractor beam, with commensurate bulk and power cost. (OOC/ For gun count purposes, 100 capital weapons.)
Typically, a Great River emplacement would be installed in a specially modified capital ship. A usage scenario might unfold as follows:
The rescue ship intervenes in a pirate attack on a convoy of light to medium freighters.
The rescue ship identifies the convoy vessels that are the most at risk, and trains its Great River emplacement on them.The Great River emplacement might be used to pull convoy ships out of immediate danger.
The Great River emplacement might be used to shove the pirate vessels away, in hopes that they retreat. If not, the hope is that confusion and distance will give the rescue ship time to protect the convoy or call in reinforcements.
If necessary, the rescue ship locks its Great River emplacement on a handful of the most vulnerable light freighters and microjumps to a point several light-hours away. It deposits the rescued ships and, if appropriate, returns to the combat zone to repeat the process.
It should be noted that, so far as range is concerned, the Great River emplacement is comparable to the tractor beams on the Death Star: it can lock onto targets from a range of several hundred kilometres. This range is significantly better than that of most capital ship tractor beams. However, the Great River emplacement cannot tow targets into hyperspace at range; targets must be dragged close before jump. Crucially, then, the Great River emplacement can only tow targets into hyperspace when fitted to a ship that has a suitable level of hyperdrive technology, so as to enclose the target in the hyperspace bubble. Discount class-two drives simply won’t cut it.
Primary Source: Not influenced by any Chaos submissions. It is important to note that this submission is on a far smaller scale than the super-tractor beam described in the Codex of Tython. That beam was strong enough to crush capital ships or throw planet-killing asteroids; by contrast, this one operates in a much more normal scale. Apart from its range and its hyperspace-towing capabilities, it is identical to several heavy capital ship tractor emplacements operating as one.
