Outrider Title Query

By Asmodi, in X-Wing Rules Questions

Hi all

Trying to put together my lists for the upcoming store and regionals.

I have a little query regarding Outrider title and my query is based on "How the card reads".

I personally have always viewed it as you cannot perform primary attacks under any circumstance but the card does not actually read that way.

The card states

"When you have a " " upgrade card equipped, you cannot perform primary weapon attacks and you may perform " " secondary weapon attacks against ships outside your firing arc.

Now here is the query.

At no point does it say you cannot perform Primary attacks inside your firing arc.

In order for that to be the case the card would need to read: blah blah blah You cannot perform Primary weapon attacks. You may perform " " secondary weapon attacks blah blah blah.

I know this is splitting hairs but that 1 punctuation mark makes that card read a completely different way.

Please rubbish my theory.

The card is very clear. You cannot perform primary weapon attacks. It doesn't matter if there is a punctuation mark or the sentence goes on to specify what you can do with your Cannon upgrade.

For the sentence to read how you suggested, it would actually need more punctuation marks. To be specific, it would need two commas.

Here's how the statement would need to be worded:

When you have a {Cannon} upgrade equipped, you cannot perform primary weapon attacks, and you may perform {Cannon} secondary weapon attacks, against ships outside your firing arc.

But, it isn't worded that way so we don't connect the "outside your firing arc" to the primary weapon.

Cheers!

There seems to be a problem with basic English comprehension. Not with the text on the card.

There seems to be a problem with basic English comprehension. Not with the text on the card.

Not everyone here is a native English speaker/reader. Loads of folks have comprehension problems that can be a result of a variety of challenges for whatever reason. Lots of us have different ways to interpret things we see, hear, read, or whatever all from our personal upbringing and life experiences.

It doesn't appear to be a comprehension issue. It's a question where the OP is asking, from the last line of the post, for the idea to be pulled apart.

When you have a [cannon] upgrade card equipped, you cannot perform primary weapon attacks and you may perform [cannon] secondary weapon attacks against ships outside your firing arc.

The first clause ("When you have…") sets a condition, and the rest of the sentence outlines a rules exception under that condition. If the card had been issued as you outlined (that is, with two separate sentences), the condition wouldn't apply to the second sentence.

The way it's currently written is "When A, B and C." Your reading isn't outside the realm of possibility, but it would be a very unusual way to structure the sentence, and it's a far more permissive interpretation of the card. Typical English grammar and a conservative perspective on the rules both suggest the simpler interpretation is probably the correct one: the card means that you can't make primary weapon attacks at all, but you can treat your cannon as a turret.

My understanding of the upgrade is that the Primary weapon is replaced by the Secondary weapon being mounted in the turret.

Yeah that's effectively what happens. When you have a cannon you effectively no longer have a primary. But if you were to lose that cannon due to a crit, you'd be able to use your primary again.