Ok, this may be an elementary question but its been a point of confusion since I'm new to the game.

When your opponent plays a card and u have something in my researve that will work against it, I can play that straight from my reserve, right?

Do I have to spend focus points to play that or not? If i dont have any reserve points available can i play it? That's been the biggest confusion so far.

If it is a reaction yes you can. You cannot play it if it has a cost and you have no ready resources.

I'm not sure what you mean by "reserve."

Near the back of the rule book there is a flow chart that shows how a game turn runs, with sections marked as "Action Windows." During those, the players alternate using actions. So, after your opponent uses an Action ability you then have the next chance to use an Action ability. Reactions and Interrupts can be used at any time when their triggering condition becomes true. If the ability is on an event card in your hand, you do have to pay the cost in the top left corner of the card. If the ability is on a card already in play, any cost will be listed as part of the ability itself (usually in the form Do X to do Y, where X is the cost).

Does that help?

By reserve he means hand as in reserve value on the affiliation cards.

...or do you mean the common reserve, used in 3- & 4-player games?

reserve = the cards in your hand

So playing an action or reaction that is not already on the table (from your hand) costs the focus points that are on the card. Correct?

I've heard some say that it does and others say that it doesn't.

So playing an action or reaction that is not already on the table (from your hand) costs the focus points that are on the card. Correct?

I've heard some say that it does and others say that it doesn't.

You pay for every card that you play from your hand (except FATE CARDS). The dfference is that Units and Enchancements stay in play and Events work only once.

In fact you usually do not pay for Action or Reaction (unles directly stated in the effect) but for the card itself.

Just going back to the original post. Generally, effects on events can only be triggered when the event is in your hand - at which point you pay the event card's cost. Generally, effects on units and enhancements can only be triggered when they're in play (and those cards will have been previously paid for already when they entered play, or were "put into play" for free by an effect - you don't pay for them again to trigger their effect). Is that the source of confusion?

The exceptions to this are some rare effects that specifically say you can do otherwise, but they'll be obvious once you understand the core rules.

OK, so here's the scenario from the other day just to make sure I understand this right.

I was playing as the DS and I had "There is No Escape" & "Force Lightning" in my hand. During the LS conflict phase I could play either of these cards but I would have to have free resources (cost of the cards; 4 & 3 respectively) to do so. If all of my resources were spoken for I would not be able to play them but if I had a card that was 0 cost I could. Correct?

Now, Backstabber (a unit card) has an action that says "During an engagement, play this unit from your hand as a participating unit on your side." Do I pay the 3 focus to do so?

Again, I'm sorry if these are rudimentary questions. I'm still learning the game.

Correct, you would need the resources.

Yes if it says Play you pay. Put into Play is free. This is explained in the rules on page 13 of the Rulebook in the Term Summary sidebar.

Thank you for your patience in explaining this. I hope this will make me a better gamer as I try to get others in my area interested in this.