From the FAQ:

Dash Rendar

When declaring a barrel roll or boost, Dash Rendar must choose whether or not to use his ability before measuring if he would overlap an obstacle.

Can someone explain the purpose of this statement? I can't see how it matters at all. When would you voluntarily choose not to ignore obstacles?

edit: Here is Dashiel's card text for reference:

You may ignore obstacles during the Activation phase and when performing actions.

If you were not sure if you would overlap an obstacle with a boost/BR you might not want to ignore obstacles. Dash gets to ignore obstacles during activation, but not during combat. So if he manages to boost himself onto an asteroid, he would not be able to fire that round.

So if you have dash and want to boost, you can say "I choose not to ignore obstacles" and if you would overlap an obstacle, you would not be able to complete the action and could choose to do something else.

Edit: keep in mind that, at least in a tournament setting, if you declare an action you must do it. So if you said boost left and you chose to ignore obstacles and your ship overlapped the obstacle, since you're dash this would be a legal move and you would have to complete it and you would not be able to attack as long as you remained on the asteroid.

But why would you ever not ignore the obstacle, even if you aren't going to land on it? There's no downside, so choosing not to ignore it is just setting yourself up for trouble for no reason

But why would you ever not ignore the obstacle

Dash + EU. Land on a rock then boost off it to get a good shot at something. It's really just a matter of it being better to have the option then to not have it.

If it is your second action, and you aren't sure about clearing the obstacle.

Without the faq, you could declare the boost, then after realising it lands on the obstacle, say "but I dont want to trigger Dash's ability", thus you dont boost, and can then do a different second action.

If it is your second action, and you aren't sure about clearing the obstacle.

Without the faq, you could declare the boost, then after realising it lands on the obstacle, say "but I dont want to trigger Dash's ability", thus you dont boost, and can then do a different second action.

Exactly! Helps you from boosting or barrel rolling onto obstacles.

You know, I was thinking about this the other day, and...the faq doesn't change anything, at all; it just makes things more inconvenient. With the faq, all the player has to do now is say they're ignoring Dash's ability during his action (note: not his maneuver), all the time, every time. Then they boost or barrel roll, see where he ends up, and if they like it, then they reset Dash and do the exact same action again, except this time they say they're not ignoring his ability.

Exact same results as them landing on an asteroid and then deciding whether or not to stop using his ability. The player just has to take the exact same action twice now, with the faq change.

I suspect that you'd have to declare whether you're using the ability or not before declaring your actions.

... then they reset Dash and do the exact same action again, except this time they say they're not ignoring his ability.

Exact same results as them landing on an asteroid and then deciding whether or not to stop using his ability. The player just has to take the exact same action twice now, with the faq change.

When this came out, the general consensus was that you can't just pick the same thing over again. This is pretty well supported (rules/rulings say you can pick another action) and, as you point out, it otherwise does nothing.