I think a more hands on view is needed.

When attacking Dark Curse I elect to spend my target lock.

The dice has already been thrown and are on the table.

I spend my target lock, returning the tokens to the stash.

I then elect not to reroll dice as stated in the FAQ.

I never touched the attack dice so when we check Dark Curses text we find that no dice was rerolled, and that satisfies his ability.

Any ability triggering from spending the target lock is now going to take effect.

From the original posters question:

Yes you can, acquire a target lock then spend it to remove the stress on Hobbie.

All other points being made seem to be counter productive to the original question.

We all know that spending the TL is going to remove the stress from Hobbie. That's not the issue here. The issue is whether Dark Curse can block the spending of the TL. He prohibits rerolling of the dice, but in spending the TL, is rerolling "0" dice still counted as a reroll?

From the original posters question:

Yes you can, acquire a target lock then spend it to remove the stress on Hobbie.

All other points being made seem to be counter productive to the original question.

We all know that spending the TL is going to remove the stress from Hobbie. That's not the issue here. The issue is whether Dark Curse can block the spending of the TL. He prohibits rerolling of the dice, but in spending the TL, is rerolling "0" dice still counted as a reroll?

It can't, because otherwise you can never attack Dark Curse at all because you will always reroll 0 dice, thus defying his ability. He flat-out can't prevent the use of a TL without causing a universe-ending paradox.

Until there is an FAQ to say otherwise I would allow an opponent to spend a target lock and not re roll zero dice. As far as i am concerned this satisfies Dark Curses restriction as the card does not say that you cannot spend target locks (which would make it even more annoying to kill!). I don't imagine it would come up that often to be a game breaking combo.

The only ships that I can think of the combo benefiting off the top if my head are Dutch with the astromech and Hobbie

It's been posted twice in this thread already, but anyway- the FAQ specifically says you can spend a target lock but choose not to reroll dice. So Hobbie can spend his target lock and clear his stress. He can't reroll dice, because Dark Curse doesn't let him, but he doesn't need to. There's no necessity to weasel about whether rerolling zero is "any". The player simply chooses to spend the target lock but not to reroll.

It's been posted twice in this thread already, but anyway- the FAQ specifically says you can spend a target lock but choose not to reroll dice. So Hobbie can spend his target lock and clear his stress. He can't reroll dice, because Dark Curse doesn't let him, but he doesn't need to. There's no necessity to weasel about whether rerolling zero is "any". The player simply chooses to spend the target lock but not to reroll.

I must have missed that in the FAQ, can someone please provide a page reference please.

Page 8 of the FAQ:

Spending Tokens
When attacking, players may spend focus tokens or target locks and elect not
to modify any attack dice.

Five is right out.

I'm not here to offer any insight, other than to acknowledge that the inclusion of this sentence is excellent.

So, Dark Curse cannot be "locked onto". I believe the "spirit" of the rule is that one must be locked onto in order to remove any stress, ect...just lock on to some other target.

So, Dark Curse cannot be "locked onto". I believe the "spirit" of the rule is that one must be locked onto in order to remove any stress, ect...just lock on to some other target.

He can be "locked onto". His ability is: "...ships attacking you cannot spend focus tokens or reroll attack dice." You are free to obtain a Target Lock on him, but you just can't use it to reroll any dice.

So, Dark Curse cannot be "locked onto". I believe the "spirit" of the rule is that one must be locked onto in order to remove any stress, ect...just lock on to some other target.

You can still spend the lock to attack with a secondary weapon. You just can't use it to reroll dice.

I see your point. But isn't the whole point of the lock on re-rolling attack dice?

I see your point. But isn't the whole point of the lock on re-rolling attack dice?

It can be, just not with Dark Curse. Him, he takes a missile to the exhaust pipe to stop.

As I only have the core set at present, my only secondary weapon is the proton torpedo. I guess the missiles don't require a lock-on.

I see your point. But isn't the whole point of the lock on re-rolling attack dice?

Not at all. As Sergovan points out, it can also be used to fire missiles. There are also a number of other effects which trigger on target locks, such as the R7 Astromech. Plenty of reason for having one which doesn't involve rerolling attack dice.

As I only have the core set at present, my only secondary weapon is the proton torpedo. I guess the missiles don't require a lock-on.

Missiles DO require a lock on.

But just like missiles, you spend the target lock to fire them, meaning you don't have a TL when dice are rolled.. Dark Curse does not stop this. He stops you from being able to re-roll dice (which is the OTHER use of target lock).

Thanks Godof. Reading the FAQ now.. Makes sense. Gotta get some expansions.

As I only have the core set at present, my only secondary weapon is the proton torpedo. I guess the missiles don't require a lock-on.

Missiles DO require a lock on.

But just like missiles, you spend the target lock to fire them, meaning you don't have a TL when dice are rolled.. Dark Curse does not stop this. He stops you from being able to re-roll dice (which is the OTHER use of target lock).

We should be careful with this. Not all missiles require a lock (Proton Rockets) and potentially all of them (Deadeye). Also, not all missiles or torpedoes require you to spend the lock in order to fire them (Homing Missile, the upcoming Ion Torpedo).

The best guidance is just to do what the card says. Attack (Target Lock) means you need a lock in the target to fire. If the card requires you to discard it you do, otherwise no. I'm not a fan of generalizations or shortcuts, but it's especially risky with ordnance because there's a pretty wide variety of them. I can't think of any shorthand that actually holds in all cases.

As I only have the core set at present, my only secondary weapon is the proton torpedo. I guess the missiles don't require a lock-on.

Missiles DO require a lock on.

But just like missiles, you spend the target lock to fire them, meaning you don't have a TL when dice are rolled.. Dark Curse does not stop this. He stops you from being able to re-roll dice (which is the OTHER use of target lock).

We should be careful with this. Not all missiles require a lock (Proton Rockets) and potentially all of them (Deadeye). Also, not all missiles or torpedoes require you to spend the lock in order to fire them (Homing Missile, the upcoming Ion Torpedo).

The best guidance is just to do what the card says. Attack (Target Lock) means you need a lock in the target to fire. If the card requires you to discard it you do, otherwise no. I'm not a fan of generalizations or shortcuts, but it's especially risky with ordnance because there's a pretty wide variety of them. I can't think of any shorthand that actually holds in all cases.

True, however the 2 you examples you provide are the exception to the rule, not an example to follow. In both cases, as you say, it is clearly labelled on the card how they operate. As always, you should follow what it says to do on the card.

Since Buhallin brought up Deadeye, if you did try to use it to fire a missile at Dark curse, you could not. DC's ability blocks spending focus tokens; to modify dice, to deadeye a missile/torpedo, or to fire a blaster turret. You would have to TL him and fire it normally, without the Deadeye.

Homing missile with deadeye does not spend the focus token. That combination works against DC.

Homing missile with deadeye does not spend the focus token. That combination works against DC.

True. There are so many combination with missiles/torpedos now. Homing missiles only require you to have one to use them (if you were Deadeye-ing them) which is why it works against DC.

True, however the 2 you examples you provide are the exception to the rule, not an example to follow. In both cases, as you say, it is clearly labelled on the card how they operate. As always, you should follow what it says to do on the card.

My point is that there really isn't any example to follow, there are no exceptions because there are no rules. Know the actual rules, know how to read the card, avoid over-generalized shorthands that will only get you in trouble at some point. How many exceptions does it take? We've got at least 3 so far that don't require you to spend the token, we have several that use focus instead of TL and an EPT that makes that apply to any of them.

There are no "core rules" regarding missiles/torpedoes and tokens. Some need target locks, some need focus. Some spend the token, some don't. Blanket statements like "missiles spend the target lock to fire them" are not helpful, and lead to extra confusion when we get new cards that do something differently.

So, again: avoid untrue overgeneralizations. Look at each upgrade individually, don't create baselines where none exist.