So this happened last night. And since It was 3:30 am, I couldn't be very much help clarifying this sort of thing.

We ruled that it was legal based on what happened.

Here is the turn,

The CR90, reveals a concentrate fire command, and targets Howlrunner with 1 hp left.

Howl Runner has both defense tokens ready.

The Anti Squadron dice are added to the pool from the CR90, and the command is spend to add an additional blue die to the pool.

The CR90 rolls 1 hit, and 1 critical trigger.

The CR90 players uses overload pulse to exhaust the defenders defense tokens.

Howlrunner dies as she is unable to tank both the 2 total damage from the attack.

(we all agreed that Howl could use the exhausted token to scatter the attack, but it was late, Howl was dead.)

So the question is, is this legal? Is this blue crit effect trigger applicable in this instance?

And, while I'm at it. When you roll 1 hit and 1 crit trigger blue, for Overload pulse is that die spent to get that effect? or is 'Blue crit die face' just a what is required to use that effect. But the damage is still 2 total, not just 1 because of spent die.

I know that the rules reference states that you do not spend a die unless the card specifically instructs the player to do so. But I'm thinking that none of the core set cards require the 'spending' of a die, ... at least based on what I'm reading thus far.

Thanks all.

Malev

The RRG states that you cannot use critical effects against squadrons.

RRG, p. 4, "Critical Effects," emphasis mine:

"Squadrons cannot resolve or suffer critical effects unless otherwise specified."

So Overload Pulse cannot be used against Howlrunner.

Please note that Overload Pulse exhausts the defender's defense tokens after the defender has a chance to use them. Check the timing for attacks in the RRG (or see below). So even if Howrunner could be hit by Overload Pulse, she could exhaust the readied Scatter token before you ever have a chance to activate Overload Pulse (and thus exhaust her Brace as well).

To answer your second question, you do not "spend critical results" to activate critical effects. When attacking a ship with another ship, or a squadron with Bomber, after you have had a chance to modify the dice spend any accuracy results, the defender gets to use defense tokens. After which, add together all remaining crit and hit results. This is your damage pool, which may be modified if they had used the Brace defense token. Then you may activate one critical effect, if you had rolled at least one critical result (of the appropriate color, in the case of Overload Pulse). Then, the defender suffers the damage on the damage pool.

Note that you do not have to specify that you are firing "a weapon". You don't "fire" Overload Pulse. You fire your normal battery, then trigger Overload Pulse if you want. Even if your ship has multiple effects available, you don't have to specify which you'll use until you're ready to allocate damage.

Last thing, to clarify: the game will instruct you to "spend a X" when it wants to you. At no other time is the expenditure of a token, dial, or die necessary.

Cael is correct.

And good that you noted she should not have died anyway as she could have discarded the scatter,

Thank for the answers !

I have another question though concerning the Overload pulse, based on the way it works, would triggering Overload Pulse on a Defender that already has exhausted defense tokens, would those tokens be discarded ?

Or, would the exhausts stack?

Malev

They would not be spent (discarded) as the Overload only exhausts. Overload Pulsing a ship with all defines tokens exhausted is a waste.

Here is the turn,

The CR90, reveals a concentrate fire command, and targets Howlrunner with 1 hp left.

Howl Runner has both defense tokens ready.

The Anti Squadron dice are added to the pool from the CR90, and the command is spend to add an additional blue die to the pool.

The CR90 rolls 1 hit, and 1 critical trigger.

The CR90 players uses overload pulse to exhaust the defenders defense tokens.

Howlrunner dies as she is unable to tank both the 2 total damage from the attack.

◊ If the attacker or defender is a squadron, the damage is the sum of all [hit] icons.

◊ If the attacker and defender are ships, the damage is the sum of all [hit] and [crit] icons.

Critical faces do nothing unless both the attacker and the target are capital ships. You don't just ignore the critical effect when there's a squadron at either end of the exchange. You ignore the damage too.

...unless the attacking squadron has Bomber. Then that squadron can count and resolve crits against ships (but not against other squadrons). Darth Vader may also count crits, though due to his wording, he still cannot resolve crit effects.

...unless the attacking squadron has Bomber. Then that squadron can count and resolve crits against ships (but not against other squadrons). Darth Vader may also count crits, though due to his wording, he still cannot resolve crit effects.

...unless the attacking squadron has Bomber. Then that squadron can count and resolve crits against ships (but not against other squadrons). Darth Vader may also count crits, though due to his wording, he still cannot resolve crit effects.

Well, sure. But any rule can be overridden by a card effect.

Just pointing out the exceptions.