Honestly speaking, I support the idea of a physical harpoon despite the tractor beam already exists. Yes tractor beams does sort of overlap the harpoon in terms of closing the distance, but if the harpoon is like the hook which I had used in the above ship, it not only help reduce the distance, but also help maintain the distance and vector of the enemy so chasers may have a better time against kiters (even though it's been some time I left competitive shipbuilding)
Further elaborating on the "maintain distance" and "maintain vector", since the harpoon is a physical, presumably a fixed distance (be it a pre-fix distance or having the range fixed after connection), the harpoon allow one ship to "anchor" to another, keeping the enemy in range and in optimal angle regardless of the maneuvers that your enemy may make, or simply, exploit the mistake of a more-maneuverable enemy, while also maintain balance since the fixed angles work both sides, as the "optimal" angle that you picked while launching the harpoon may not be that optimal after several cannon salvos
In contrast to the current tractor beam, which can fire in all directions and is roof-mounted, perhaps this harpoon is a one-off consumable that isn't roof-mounted and fixed firing angles but got an adjustable range as well as a detach option (so there ain't a stick poking out all the time even if it miss its target)
