Forgive the noobish question but I dont think it ever occured to me to ask this question before.
The effect of the Vader crew card says to do 2 damage to yourself in order to do a crit to an enemy ship.
Does this damage immediatly go to your hull or does it take off shield tokens first?

Shield tokens first. You're being dealt the damage, so it follows all the normal steps damage would follow. Similarly, the crit you are dealing to your opponent is a critical hit, not a face-up damage card, so if they have shields it will strike those first.

If a card says to suffer damage, shields are used up first. If it says to deal damage cards, it ignores shields.

Interesting. I ask because of a Raider build im toying with. Since Vader pings the shields instead of the hull, with the right combo Vader would basically be used for free.

So to be clear : Suffer damage or deal damage = remove shield tokens.
Deal face up damage card or deal damage cards = ignore shields.

Is this right?

So to be clear : Suffer damage or deal damage = remove shield tokens.

Deal face up damage card or deal damage cards = ignore shields.

Is this right?

Spot on

Though I don't think you will ever find "deal damage" any where. It's either suffer damage or deal damage cards. Could be wrong though...

Cheers!
Thanks for the help. That clears up my question very nicely and gives me a couple other ideas besides.