Hey guys, I wasn't sure about this and I'd love some input. Can a ship without the Target Lock ability but with the Fire Control System upgrade (currently the Phantom will be the only ship capable of this, I believe) still acquire a TL from the FCS? I haven't seen anything that says it wouldn't, but I'd love to know for sure. Thanks!
FCS on ships without TL icon.
Yes. The upgrade allows you to do so.
Things that tell you to acquire a Target Lock, that do not tell you to perform a Target Lock action, allow you to TL regardless of whether you have the icon in your action bar, just as Expert Handling allows you to perform barrel-rolls without having a barrel-roll action.
Things that tell you to acquire a Target Lock, that do not tell you to perform a Target Lock action, allow you to TL regardless of whether you have the icon in your action bar, just as Expert Handling allows you to perform barrel-rolls without having a barrel-roll action.
This is how I started to word it as well, but I ran into a problem. Expert Handling says 'perform a free barrel roll action'. R7-T1 says to perform a free boost action. Yet they both allow you to do so when you don't have the action in your bar.
Yet during the activation phase for taking an action, if it only said take an action in your action bar, you'd be prevented from taking any other actions, such as damage cards. I'm not sure there's an easy way to explain it without laying out the whole rules for the subject. I'm still trying to figure out the best wording of it.
'Acquire a target lock' is gaining the TL tokens but doesn't use an action to do so.
Performing the 'acquire target lock action' is gaining the TL tokens but using an action to do so.
If it doesn't say action with the use of the ability it means to gain the tokens without using an action to do so when acquiring a target lock.
Note also that Fire Control System says you may acquire a Target Lock on the defender. So if you attacked the previous turn and acquired a lock on that target, you're not required to switch if you attack a different target the next turn.
'Acquire a target lock' is gaining the TL tokens but doesn't use an action to do so.
Performing the 'acquire target lock action' is gaining the TL tokens but using an action to do so.
If it doesn't say action with the use of the ability it means to gain the tokens without using an action to do so when acquiring a target lock.
Nope, Dutch says to allow a ship to "Acquire a target lock" and the errata stats that ships without target lock (Currently no rebel ships except the attackless transport lack the action however) can't acquire a lock, this is different from jendon who passes his target lock token to another ship, thus allowing them to gain a lock and the benefits it grants. From a balance and fluff perspective I'd say it wouldn't be horrible to allow it, but I don't think it is consistent with the rules we've seen.
Nope, Dutch says to allow a ship to "Acquire a target lock" and the errata stats that ships without target lock (Currently no rebel ships except the attackless transport lack the action however) can't acquire a lock ...
The errata says so? I am unable to find that anywhere in the latest FAQ.
Nope, Dutch says to allow a ship to "Acquire a target lock" and the errata stats that ships without target lock (Currently no rebel ships except the attackless transport lack the action however) can't acquire a lock, this is different from jendon who passes his target lock token to another ship, thus allowing them to gain a lock and the benefits it grants. From a balance and fluff perspective I'd say it wouldn't be horrible to allow it, but I don't think it is consistent with the rules we've seen.
The FAQ says nothing of the sort.
If an ability grants a particular action to the ship, the ship can complete that action. There is no prerequisite that it be able to complete it otherwise. This allows an X-wing with Expert Handling to barrel roll, a Y-wing with R7-T1 to boost, etc.
When you take your action during the Perform Action step, you must perform an action the ship is capable of. This will be one from the action bar, or from an ability the ship has (either an upgrade or critical damage effect) with the "Action" header.
'Acquire a target lock' is gaining the TL tokens but doesn't use an action to do so.
Performing the 'acquire target lock action' is gaining the TL tokens but using an action to do so.
If it doesn't say action with the use of the ability it means to gain the tokens without using an action to do so when acquiring a target lock.
Nope, Dutch says to allow a ship to "Acquire a target lock" and the errata stats that ships without target lock (Currently no rebel ships except the attackless transport lack the action however) can't acquire a lock, this is different from jendon who passes his target lock token to another ship, thus allowing them to gain a lock and the benefits it grants. From a balance and fluff perspective I'd say it wouldn't be horrible to allow it, but I don't think it is consistent with the rules we've seen.
Gotta agree with Sergovan here. When Dutch acquires a TL, he can hand on a TL to another ship in much the same way Jendon does. The target ship doesn't need to have the TL action icon as it's not performing an action, but receiving it through other means. Ships without an appropriate action icon can't perform that action, but can still get TL given to them via abilities.
From the FAQ, Page 4:
Acquiring a Target Lock
When an ability instructs you to acquire a target lock, this is different than performing an ‘acquire a target lock’ action. It is possible to acquire a target lock while stressed, and a ship can acquire a target lock multiple times during the same round. A ship can only perform one ‘acquire a target lock’ action per round.
Each ship is able to maintain one target lock, unless stated otherwise by a game effect.
Edited by Sergovanand the errata stats that ships without target lock
You're going to need to provide a quote or at last a page and section reference for that. Because I can't find any such thing in the current FAQ.
You're going to need to provide a quote or at last a page and section reference for that. Because I can't find any such thing in the current FAQ.
Page 4, FAQ. 
Page 4, FAQ.
I know where the correct quote is. 
I was wondering what Errata Vonpenguin was referring to.
Page 4, FAQ.
I know where the correct quote is.
I was wondering what Errata Vonpenguin was referring to.
I could have sworn that the first one to come out after wave 3 made a distintion between Dutch and Jendon's abilities. I may be misremembering and/or flat out wrong but I could have sworn seeing that ruling bandied about in the aftermath.
Granted I didn't look too deep since it seemed a pointless bit of COA at the time.
I could have sworn that the first one to come out after wave 3 made a distintion between Dutch and Jendon's abilities.
Sort of... If we look back at FAQ 1.3 & 1.4 we find this:
Q: If a ship doesn’t have the [TL] action icon
in its action bar, can it acquire and/or
maintain a target lock granted by some
game effect, such as Captain Jendon’s
ability?
A: Yes.
I think this was meant to solidify that Jendon worked on ships without the TL icon. However the wording makes it pretty clear that it works with other abilities that allow a ship to "acquire" a TL, like Dutch and FCS.
Now, that particular wording does not appear in the latest version of the FAQ. One could assume that it is an oversight, but we've already seen one case where previous wording was removed intentionally to "clarify" a previous ruling (involving overlapping and the Shuttle's 0 maneuver). Add to this the knowledge that there was some last-minute waffling on Jendon's entry that resulted in 2 different FAQ versions within about 30 minutes. I don't have a copy of 2.0 because I wasn't quick enough, but the current 2.0.1 FAQ entry has been previously quoted.
So we really have 3 ways a TL can get onto a ship: performing the TL action, "acquiring" a TL via an ability such as Dutch or FCS, and having a TL token passed via an ability such as Jendon's. Under the OLD FAQ, the TL could be given to a ship which did not have the TL icon by the latter two methods. Under the NEW FAQ, we know that Jendon's ability to pass tokens still works, but it is now unclear whether "acquiring" via an ability such as Dutch's will work on ships without the TL icon. In some ways I suspect the removal of the previous wording may indicate that they are rethinking how that will work with the upcoming Phantom. As stated before, until the Phantom it was sort of a moot point, but now it could become an issue.
TL;DR Certain wording has been removed from the current FAQ to make it unclear whether Fire Control Systems can be used to let a ship without the TL action "acquire" a TL.
I don't have a copy of 2.0 because I wasn't quick enough, but the current FAQ entry has been previously quoted.
FAQ 2.0 contradicted the pilot ability:
Colonel Jendon
If Colonel Jendon assigns a blue target lock token to a ship that is already maintaining its maximum number of target locks, that ship must discard one of its previously-held target locks.
FAQ 2.0.1 replaced that with the following for obvious reasons:
Colonel Jendon
Colonel Jendon may assign 1 of his blue target lock tokens to a ship that does not have the target lock action listed in its action bar.
Edited by dvorYeah it was probably just either me half skimming or someone else saying it and me going "I guess that makes sense sort of".
My bad.