In playing a game this evening, my opponent said that he had been told by several people at a Store Championships, that a Y-wing with BTL-A4 can only use R3-A2 on one of its attacks.

Since my list for my final Store Championships depends on exactly this double effect, I wanted to check that this was not the case. I have used my considerable search-fu and have come up with no chatter anywhere on the Internet to the effect that R3 can't trigger twice in one turn. Every time I've seen R3A2 and BTL mentioned in conjunction, the possibility of double stress in a single turn is brought up, with no dissent. This assumption has become commonplace.

Has anybody heard anything about this being not the case? I'm crossing my t's and dotting my i's here, but just checking.

R3-A2 triggers when you declare your target, and the BTL-A4 lets you make a second attack, which includes declaring a target. I see no reason why R3 wouldn't trigger for the second attack. You'd end up with two stress, but so would the defender. It's not an action, so the "no actions while stressed" rule doesn't kick in.

End result: Two attacks, two opportunities. Seems legit to me.

It's possible that people think R3-A2 can't be used if you're already stressed. A lot (I'd even say most) of the abilities that cost a stress to use have that stipulation. R3-A2 doesn't, but it can be an easy difference to miss. I've forgotten it several times myself.

Parravon is correct - R3-A2 can be used for both attacks. I happen to think it's a bad idea, but it is legal

An other possiblity for confusion might be people misstakenly assuming the second attack has to be done agains the same target. Ofcource BTL-A4 doesn't actualy have any such restrictions, but that question has come up on these forums atleast once so...

Remind your opponent that you do what the card says - not what it doesn't say.

As a general rule, whenever a particular upgrade has a restriction on its use, or can only be used if certain conditions are met, those restrictions and conditions are stated clearly on the card.

If it was the intention that R3-A2 was a once per round effect, it would be a simple matter to make this clear by having the card say "Once per round, when you declare the target of your attack....." or if it couldn't be used if the attacker was already stressed it would say "when you declare the target of your attack, if you have no stress tokens,...."

But R3-A2 stipulates none of these, so the only restrictions are the standard conditions required for declaring an attack (detailed on page 10 of the core rules): Arc, Range, not overlapping - if you meet those 3 conditions you're golden.

Just to add to the choir: if you make two separate attacks, you declare your target twice. So if you have an effect that happens when you declare your target, you have two opportunities to activate that effect. You certainly can activate R3-A2 twice if you have the BTL-A4 title.

Thanks. I'm confident its legal.

However, has anybody ever heard someone claiming otherwise?

Remind your opponent that you do what the card says - not what it doesn't say.

This has to be one of the single biggest cause of mistakes in this game. To the point I'd call this the golden rule of X-Wing.

How many people have assumed that Ion Torpedoes cancel the dice just because other Ion weapons do? Or that you can't get a Focus/Evade/TL token because you're stressed.

Remind your opponent that you do what the card says - not what it doesn't say.

This has to be one of the single biggest cause of mistakes in this game. To the point I'd call this the golden rule of X-Wing.

How many people have assumed that Ion Torpedoes cancel the dice just because other Ion weapons do? Or that you can't get a Focus/Evade/TL token because you're stressed.

I think it might have been you that I first heard say this - I've made it my golden rule ever since and it's helped me out no end

That's no to say I'm impervious to making mistakes and misinterpreting rules - because I'm most certainly not

But I do it a lot less

Thanks. I'm confident its legal.

However, has anybody ever heard someone claiming otherwise?

No but StressBot doesn't feature much in my local gaming scene.

I can see the double-stress effect being questioned the first time it was used - because players tend to question things that hit them with a particularly nasty effect - that's only natural

But I can't see anyone arguing against it once the card text and general rules text are put together.

R3A2 and BTL-A4 work, and they work together great. You just have to be prepared that your BTL-A4 Ywing won't ever get actions after the first exchange. On a local tournament on Sunday, my Gold BTL-A4 R3A2 ship would usually finish the game with 10+ stress on it. He was doing his best Tycho impression. Once you realize it won't ever get actions again, just always double stress whoever it's shooting at everytime. There is no functional difference to a Ywing that has 3-4 stress or 8-10 stress. It's not going to be able to shed anything over 3 stress unless it takes itself completely out of the fight for 5+ turns.

Agree on forgoing actions. That also makes it easier for me to maintain good position by bumping other ships.

One of the advantages I see in this ship over Rookie as a stress droid carrier, was that I was too often trying to clear the stress, and would get jammed up in the middle of a scrum trying to fly on 1's. This way is more "let it go"