I am trying to wrap my head around using the Force dice and the Force powers, specifically the spending of light/dark side force points.

Firstly, most characters will start with a Force Rating of 1. That means they can only roll one Force die. They can therefore generate a maximum of 2 light force points or 2 dark force points. A PC can spend light force points with no problems but if they spend dark force points, they must flip one light-side Destiny token to the dark-side and suffer strain equal to the number of dark force points spent (max 2). I think I got that right.

Now for a character with the Force Power Sense, using the basic power, if he generates one force point, he can either sense all living things within short range OR sense the current emotion state of one living target. If he generates TWO force points, he can do both sense living things and current emotional state of one target. Is this correct?

If that PC purchased the Control (sense thoughts) upgrade and the first Range and Magnitude upgrades, will he still need 2 force points to sense the thoughts of one target (Control) up to short range (Range)? Also 2 points to sense the thoughts (Control) of TWO targets (Magnitude) in engaged range? Therefore, the PC will never be able to sense the thoughts (Control) of TWO targets (Magnitude) up to short range (Range) until he gets another Force Rating and thus be able to generate 1-4 force points, correct?

So what happens if a PC wants to activate a power + upgrades that require 2 force points but the PC only generates 1 force point from a Force dice? Is he simply unable to do his Force action?

Thanks!

the pc gets to decide what to do with the force pips generated. they cant do the planned idea but can do something else

Posting in this to stay updated on this.

Force powers are always "successfully" activated ... and once the check has been fully resolved (either by using force points to use the power or not), then that concludes the action. So the player determines what force power they are attempting to activate, they roll their force die (or dice) and can use the force points generated accordingly. Thematically, it makes sense ... a force user can normally tap into the force, but there could be several things that prevent him/her from doing so to their full potential ... such as emotional state, fatigue, training, and so forth.

And yes ... basically, you first activate the basic use of the power using force points, then can spend any additional force points generated (if any) to increase the Range, Magnitude, etc. of your use of the power that particular time, assuming you've purchased the upgrades. (There may be some exceptions to that, such as some of the Control or Mastery upgrades that say: make a [force] power check .... where the check itself is based off that specific upgrade)