Can you continue to fire at a ship that has been reduced to 0 Hull, but has not yet taken its Simultaneous Fire attack?

For example, player one has the Initiative and has 2 ships that are PS8, player 2 has one remaining ship at PS8. Player 1 attacks with the first of his two ships and manages to kill player 2's last ship. Player 2's ship remains in play because it will get its Simultaneous fire attack before it is removed from play. Can Player 1's second ship shoot Player 2's ship in the hopes that he'll force player 2 to draw a crit like Blinded Pilot or Weapons Failure?

Yes you can (and if the "dead" ship is Biggs you may have to).

It's actually a very good idea to press the attack on the "dead" ship because any damage cards will apply, and if you can minimize the return fire or even eliminate it, it may keep your margin of victory a bit healthier.

Thanks fellas. I love the idea that you have to keep killing Biggs even though he's already dead.

Follow up clarification; the destroyed ship stays on the board and it's game effects remain in play until it has had "the opportunity" to attack. That means that the ship and all its effects remain in play even if it didn't have a shot that turn (nothing in arc/range), correct?

For example with Biggs, say he's within range 1 of another friendly ship, and he gets killed by another PS5 ship before he's had his chance to shoot. However he doesn't have an enemy ship in arc. He still remains in play until he gets his turn to shoot, meaning that other enemy ships shooting at PS5 would have to shoot him if they could, right?

Some folks were arguing that having "the opportunity" to attack requires that you could actually attack something within that combat round. But I'm fairly certain it just means that they stick around until it's their turn to shoot, regardless of if they actually have a shot or not.

Yep, Biggs stays on the board until after he is activated to attack, even if he has no targets in arc. The rules reference is pretty clear on that: "Even if the ship did not have a valid target for an attack, it is removed after its opportunity to attack passes." (p.17)

You're quite correct. Biggs would stick around until ALL enemy PS5 ships have had the chance to fire, then he has his chance to fire, and if he has no target, then he's removed.

A ship may start the combat round with nothing in its sights but there are things that could potentially put a target in front of another ship. They may not be common but consider that Turr could shoot and "destroy" a PS 7 Biggs (why you have VI on him I don't really know) and then potentially roll/boost right into Biggs's fire arc probably to set up for the next turn. This is why having a target isn't always important.

Allso, you are not even allowed meassure for arc/range to check if a ship has a valid target untill it is that ships turn to attack, so it can't realy be any other way