No ability in the game triggers and does nothing. If something triggers, there is an effect. Otherwise it didn't trigger.

Most players use trigger to mean "the required conditions to activate have been met". Most FAQ entries seem to follow this logic as well, with trigger and effect discussed as two separate issues. At the very least, there is nothing in the rules which defines it as you do here, and no ruling to back it up.

You're inventing things from whole cloth to define an unnecessary rule to win an argument that means nothing. The ability activates when the ship is hit. It may resolve by causing the target to suffer damage in the normal flow (step 7) or it may cause the ship to immediately suffer the I canceled result, just like an asteroid hit causes you to immediately suffer a result. Either reading is valid, and nobody really knows which it is.

What I do know is that any poor souls who stumble on this discussion are going to come away dumber about X-wing than they were when this started. Please, just make it stop.

Couldn't agree more, Buhallin.

What I do know is that any poor souls who stumble on this discussion are going to come away dumber about X-wing than they were when this started.

I agree with this, but 'academic' discussions are convenient from time to time in order to better understand X-Wing's inner cogs.

What I do know is that any poor souls who stumble on this discussion are going to come away dumber about X-wing than they were when this started.

I agree with this, but 'academic' discussions are convenient from time to time in order to better understand X-Wing's inner cogs.

In this case, though, we're completely off the path. We've got people on both sides of this debate telling people the other side is wrong because they aren't following the made up rules. We use "trigger" as a term a lot, but it's not defined, and telling people they're wrong based on a made up definition is silly. Same goes for your distinction between "trigger" and "condition". Neither is an actual game term, but you're getting plenty obnoxious over someone's inability to tell the two apart, like it actually means something.

We have to derive a lot of X-wing's rules, but it's important to recognize what's actually grounded in the rules, or required to make a ruling work,mane what's not. Are there any rulings which require a trigger/condition distinction to function? Is "triggering only happen if an effect takes place" an underlying necessity for anything?

Academic discussions are important, but avoiding junk science is even more important.