Fire-Control System:

"After you perform an attack, you may acquire a target lock on the defender."

My question is this:

At what point exactly is your "perform an attack" over? Is it once you are finished rolling and modify your attack dice and defender would roll their defense dice? Or is it after both attacker and defender have rolled their dice and all damage has been resolved?

Thank you for your help!

At what point exactly is your "perform an attack" over?

After the entire combat sequence.

The rulebook lists all 7 steps on page 10. The attack is over after the last step deal damage. Then FCS triggers.

Thank you for your reply.

After reading the rules I have a follow-up question.

If the defender is destroyed does FCS trigger before that ship is removed or would it not be until after it is removed from the play area? The reason for this question is when a ship has FCS and Weapons Engineer. For example, I attack a ship and deal enough damage that would destroy it but I have FCS and WE on my ship. Would FCS trigger allowing me to lock onto the defender and then WE would trigger due to FCS allowing me to acquire a lock onto another enemy ship before the defender is removed from the play area?

Thanks!

So if you were wondering if you could use the target lock granted by FCS during the attack, then the answer is no.

The defender is destroyed once they have damage cards equal to or exceeding their hull value and then removed immediately. So if you no longer have a target for FCS, then Weapons Engineer isn't going to work either.

Perhaps this is oversimplifying things but it may help if you think of the FCS acting after your attack to get you a TL on that ship. It has no influence on the attack that triggers it and that attack can even negate it if there is no ship left to target with the TL.

Thank you for your reply.

After reading the rules I have a follow-up question.

If the defender is destroyed does FCS trigger before that ship is removed or would it not be until after it is removed from the play area? The reason for this question is when a ship has FCS and Weapons Engineer. For example, I attack a ship and deal enough damage that would destroy it but I have FCS and WE on my ship. Would FCS trigger allowing me to lock onto the defender and then WE would trigger due to FCS allowing me to acquire a lock onto another enemy ship before the defender is removed from the play area?

Thanks!

Parrovan is right, but there is a corner case where I think you could get the TL. If that ship is the same pilot skill as you and has the opportunity to attack this round but hasn't taken its attack yet, the figure would not be removed from the board until after it attacks. In that case, I think you should still be able to get your Target Lock on it.

Oh and if your target is Fel's Wrath, but these days that seems like even more of a corner case.

WE says "When you acquire a target lock, you may lock onto 2 different ships.". The defending ship died, so you never actually acquire a TL, thus WE never kicks in.

Side question: Does Jendon's ability count as 'acquire a TL'? If Jendon gives his TL to a ship with WE, does that ship get to acquire a second TL off of that? I can't think of any time this would be necessarily useful, just curious.

WE says "When you acquire a target lock, you may lock onto 2 different ships.". The defending ship died, so you never actually acquire a TL, thus WE never kicks in.

Side question: Does Jendon's ability count as 'acquire a TL'? If Jendon gives his TL to a ship with WE, does that ship get to acquire a second TL off of that? I can't think of any time this would be necessarily useful, just curious.

I'd say it does. As far as I know, there is no difference between getting a target lock outside of an action (FCS, for instance) or receiving one from Jendon. Neither one has you performing an action and the verbiage for "Get TL outside of action" seems to be "acquire a target lock."

So, I see Weapons Engineer not caring how you got the TL, but as long as it's there, you get a second for free!

WE says "When you acquire a target lock, you may lock onto 2 different ships.". The defending ship died, so you never actually acquire a TL, thus WE never kicks in.

Side question: Does Jendon's ability count as 'acquire a TL'? If Jendon gives his TL to a ship with WE, does that ship get to acquire a second TL off of that? I can't think of any time this would be necessarily useful, just curious.

I'd say it does. As far as I know, there is no difference between getting a target lock outside of an action (FCS, for instance) or receiving one from Jendon. Neither one has you performing an action and the verbiage for "Get TL outside of action" seems to be "acquire a target lock."

So, I see Weapons Engineer not caring how you got the TL, but as long as it's there, you get a second for free!

I disagree.

Weapons Engineer clearly says "When you acquire a Target Lock".

FCS says "...acquire a Target Lock...", so WE would trigger and let you acquire a second TL.

However, Jendon says "...assign 1 of your blue target lock tokens...", so the receiving ship didn't "acquire a target lock", it was "assigned a blue target lock token", and therefore WE doesn't trigger.

FCS says acquire target lock on defender. If defender is dead there is no acquired target lock. Don't have FAQ in front of me so don't know it has been addressed.

Does Jendon's ability count as 'acquire a TL'?

No. The beneficiary receives a blue TL token. He does not acquire a TL. You do not resolve the procedure for acquiring a TL. You do not measure from the beneficiary to the target ship. You do not place a red TL token.

Does Jendon's ability count as 'acquire a TL'?

No. The beneficiary receives a blue TL token. He does not acquire a TL. You do not resolve the procedure for acquiring a TL. You do not measure from the beneficiary to the target ship. You do not place a red TL token.

This does mean that Jendon's ability doesn't require that the recipient has the ability to acquire target locks, incidentally.

Does Jendon's ability count as 'acquire a TL'?

No. The beneficiary receives a blue TL token. He does not acquire a TL. You do not resolve the procedure for acquiring a TL. You do not measure from the beneficiary to the target ship. You do not place a red TL token.

This does mean that Jendon's ability doesn't require that the recipient has the ability to acquire target locks, incidentally.

No, the target of Jendon's ability is only receiving the blue token, so he doesn't need to have the ability to acquire a target lock. The same can be said for FCS. You can equip it to a ship that does have the Target Lock icon in it's action bar and you can still acquire a target lock, just not as an action. You get a free target lock on the defender of your attack, but because it's not an action, you can still acquire it even when you're stressed.

Assigning a Token to Your Ship

When an ability instructs you to assign a token to your ship, this is different than performing a free action that provides the same token.

Acquiring a Target Lock

When an ability instructs you to acquire a target lock, this is different than performing an ‘acquire a target lock’ action. It is possible to acquire a target lock while stressed, and a ship can acquire a target lock multiple times during the same round.

Does Jendon's ability count as 'acquire a TL'?

No. The beneficiary receives a blue TL token. He does not acquire a TL. You do not resolve the procedure for acquiring a TL. You do not measure from the beneficiary to the target ship. You do not place a red TL token.

This does mean that Jendon's ability doesn't require that the recipient has the ability to acquire target locks, incidentally.

No, the target of Jendon's ability is only receiving the blue token, so he doesn't need to have the ability to acquire a target lock. The same can be said for FCS. You can equip it to a ship that does have the Target Lock icon in it's action bar and you can still acquire a target lock, just not as an action. You get a free target lock on the defender of your attack, but because it's not an action, you can still acquire it even when you're stressed.

Assigning a Token to Your Ship

When an ability instructs you to assign a token to your ship, this is different than performing a free action that provides the same token.

Acquiring a Target Lock

When an ability instructs you to acquire a target lock, this is different than performing an ‘acquire a target lock’ action. It is possible to acquire a target lock while stressed, and a ship can acquire a target lock multiple times during the same round.

"Doesn't require" I said.

Sorry, trying to read on my phone without my glasses. Always a bad idea.