Hello, Captain. If you're using Tractor Beam Repulsors (TBRs), this tactical briefing is must-see, must-remember for the betterment of your PVE/PVP experience.

Let's get the basics out of the way. You may already know that TBRs push targets out of range, or deal damage to those still within range. The repulsor distance scales with skill level, while damage dealing relies on the target being within 5km. The closer it is, the more violent the dps.

TBRs work best on ships with at least 3 Sci slots, so that you can still have some self-healing in the works. For example, I use this on an advanced escort, and between my DPS and captain abilities, I'd also throw in a TBR to help out.

TBR is awesome because it has 2 functions: Movement Control, and Damage. It is also terrible as you can end up breaking up clumped mobs or pushing stuff out of rifts and wells. Griefing on the level of skittleboats and rainbow Vestas.

So here's a short low-down to how to use the TBR effectively for those 2 purposes.

1) Movement control.

Nanites are charging the objective, and you can buy 10s of time with 1 button, not tied so much to Aux. Neat!

However, that only works if you're not firing into a Gravity Well! Grav well holds down 5 mobs. TBR holds only 3. Grav well >>> TBR at CC. So don't reduce the effectiveness of the well by pushing stuff out of it!

Instead, back up to 7km of a stuck sphere, come to a FULL STOP, then fire off your own TBR. This will push any stragglers back into the grav well, and if the grav weller had the doff the next well proc will catch them, giving your team well over 30s of CC on 8 spheres.

2) Damage.

Because some targets are just simply massive, your TBR isn't going to move them, and they will just sit there while you are deforming their hull with 9 billion teradynes of repulsor output. In short, it allows you to go RAMMING SPEED without actually going to 50% HP. And the damage is boosted by Tac captain buffs.

I typically save the TBR for the HPT coming my way and I somehow bug out and cannot target it (it happens).

When using TBR offensively, I'd hit every single AP skill and cap skill not on cooldown, then go full throttle right at the gateway or cube, then stop right next to the hull. Best to park yourself directly above or under said target, puts you out of torpedo firing arc. This deals about 2-5% HP loss per second, on top of whatever you are firing, plus instantly destroying any HPT being launched as long as the cube is the only target within a 5km radius.

Caution: Remember to full throttle out when the target drops below 5-10%, or you'd be caught in the blast. This is especially so on ISE when destroying the tactical cube opens a dialogue box and STOPS YOUR SHIP DEAD.

So there you have it, Captain. Stop and think a little before you order a repulsor blast. Practice. And your team will thank you for it.

Actually there'sa cute trick to getting even more if your Aux power is high enough.

Hit Evasive just after, they get shoved back a LOT furthar. It can also CC a lot more than 3 as once it's pushed some out of range it re-targets, the real issue is that too many see it as a good thing to shove everything around with this. If it's in a GW your probably fine, save the TBR for afterwards as that means by the time TBR wears off and they get back to where they where the other guy's GW will likliy be back of CD. In fact sci with 2 copies of TBR and GW are limited only by the scattering affect interms of how many mobs they can indefinetlly control this way.

My one golden rule when using TBR is this: Always stay between the enemy and their goal.
I.e. Stay between the probes and the portal or in CSE stay between the kang and the incoming mobs.


It's actually very very useful for CSE when dealing with the last cube. A person with TBR and decently high aux power can shove the neghvars right the way back, freeing everyone else to focus on the cube. The shover could then double back to the kang ready to hail the kang when the last cube goes up. Once that happens it's just a case of mopping up the neghvars.

I also find that if you need to get a couple probes moved away to engage TBR then hit evasive maneuvers, you'll really put some distance between probes and their destination.

I use this when someone pops a generator in Infected too soon, it keeps the nanite spheres far enough away they don't get stop us.

there's an option in the controls tab that when toggled lets you keep moving when a dialogue box pops up, thus solving your problem ;]