Airen Craken and Luke are facing off against IG-88A. IG-88A has VI and initiative. Luke has R5-D8.

IG-88A lands two hits on Luke, dealing him enough cards to equal his hull. Because everyone is PS8 Luke is not destroyed until after he attacks. Airen Cracken takes a shot at IG-88A which allows him to pass a free action to Luke. Luke uses his free action to activate R5-D8 and rolls an Evade results, which allows him to discard a face down damage card. Luke now has one less damage card than he has hull. Luke resolves his attack against IG-88A. Is Luke destroyed?

Previously I would have thought that the answer is "yes, he would be destroyed" but in light of Alex's response regarding the timing of IG-88A's shield regeneration, I'm not so sure.

No he's not destroyed. He is not removed until he attacks, and after he attacks he is not destroyed. Did this actually happen to you, or just a hypothetical? That'd be awesome if it did.

Edit: I need to stop trying to apply one ruling to another because every ruling seems arbitrary.

No he's not destroyed. He is not removed until he attacks, and after he attacks he is not destroyed. Did this actually happen to you, or just a hypothetical? That'd be awesome if it did.

I don't believe this is correct - but I would need to do some sleuthing to see if anything official has been stated on this. It is not currently in the FAQ, but my understanding is this would not work.

Edit: found it:

Rule Question:

Airen Cracken and Luke are squadmates.

Luke takes fire and has 3 hits to his hull, but it is simultaneous fire and Luke and Airen still have time to go. Airen shoots and gives Luke a free action. Luke uses R5-D8 to remove one of the hits to his hull.

Is Luke destroyed or not?

Luke is destroyed. Due to simultaneous attack rule, after Luke has his chance to attack, he is removed. Even though he is removed with fewer than the number of damage cards to normally remove him he “was destroyed” so he is still removed.

Thanks,

Frank Brooks

Associate Creative Content Developer

Fantasy Flight Games

No he's not destroyed. He is not removed until he attacks, and after he attacks he is not destroyed. Did this actually happen to you, or just a hypothetical? That'd be awesome if it did.

It's totally hypothetical. After seeing Alex's reply to how the timing for IG-88As shield regen would work I got curious to see if there was anything that would be able to prevent a ship from being destroyed after recieving a number of cards equal to its hull. This scenario is what I worked out.

It seems that once you equal or exceed the damage cards to hull ratio, there's no turning back.