why do people do it or ask you to do it? if the ship is dead and is not firing back, I don't see a reason for it. am I missing something?

It's the correct way to play. Any "overkill" damage cars arebdealt as normal.

It affects the odds of getting double damage etc so can actually have an impact.

When a ship is destroyed, you collect the damage cards dealt to it and place them in a discard pile. The contents of the discard pile are public information; either player can look at the discard pile at any time.

It's rarely very relevant, of course. It certainly affects the frequency and probability of future damage effects. That's why it's important.

It is part of the rules and it provides a small increase in public knowledge of what unrevealed damage cards remain. That is assuming the ship is actually destroyed and not sitting around because of the simultaneous fire rule where those extra damage cards COULD affect its performance until it attacks and is ultimately destroyed.

The more practical reason is that it can help catch people who have errors in their DD such as too many, or potentially too few, of a given card in a deck.

Now from a casual perspective there is no really good reason (outside of simultaneous fire situations) to even deal the damage cards to a ship that is going to die anyway. It provides more information but the randomness of what comes next in the DD doesn't care all that much.

Whoops! I will admit that I haven't been doing that in casual games with my son (as I saw no point - at the time). That makes a lot of sense, I will be sure to do this the right way from now on! Thanks a bunch for asking this question!

Good way to detect a stacked deck.

Good way to detect a stacked deck.

Just shuffling your opponent's deck is a much better way of avoiding a stacked DD and while you're at it you could give it a brief inspection to see if you think all of the cards are in there. Doing these things would be far more effective than relying on the discard pile of damage cards.

Whoops! I will admit that I haven't been doing that in casual games with my son (as I saw no point - at the time). That makes a lot of sense, I will be sure to do this the right way from now on! Thanks a bunch for asking this question!

While technically wrong there is little point to dealing out the extra damage cards. Aside from still needing some kind of token to track damage (which cards do wonderfully well) I say you can do fine just leaving the damage deck alone unless you happen to get something that calls for a face-up card at which time you figure out what the card is and leave it in play as appropriate.

Wait, do u actually have to reveal the discarded cards (flip them face up)? .. I was unaware of this, I have only been dealing them out as they were and flipping up only the crits.

Cards in the Discard Pile are now deemed to be common knowledge and either player can check through to see what has been dealt. So in theory, they are discarded faceup.

Cards in the Discard Pile are now deemed to be common knowledge and either player can check through to see what has been dealt. So in theory, they are discarded faceup.

Thank you, I shall proceed to do this from now on.

I hope nobody thought I was attempting to cheat or hide an invalid damage deck :S. I really thought that discarding meant discarding them as is, and not revealing them.

Thanks.

In my experience, while it's correct to place into discard pile, many people just leave them on the destroyed ship till cleanup at the end. I doubt anyone would have had an issue with you.

Xwing competitive play tends to be pretty relaxed most if the time. Doesn't hurt to do the little things right though.

Cards in the Discard Pile are now deemed to be common knowledge and either player can check through to see what has been dealt. So in theory, they are discarded faceup.

This in not theory. The rules say the discard pile is faceup. I am not sure that it is acceptable for players to look through the stack, as it presents a potential delay in play. The practical reason for stacking discards faceup next to undrawn cards is to avoid mixing them up.

Cards in the Discard Pile are now deemed to be common knowledge and either player can check through to see what has been dealt. So in theory, they are discarded faceup.

This in not theory. The rules say the discard pile is faceup. I am not sure that it is acceptable for players to look through the stack, as it presents a potential delay in play. The practical reason for stacking discards faceup next to undrawn cards is to avoid mixing them up.

Rules Reference, page 9: "Players can look at the Damage card discard pile at any time."

In heavy hulled decks, it can be important to deal out the excess as it is possible to "deck" your opponent. When this happens you shuffle the discard pile to form a new damage deck, meaning all those lovely direct hits can now be drawn again.

In heavy hulled decks, it can be important to deal out the excess as it is possible to "deck" your opponent. When this happens you shuffle the discard pile to form a new damage deck, meaning all those lovely direct hits can now be drawn again.

"Decking" your opponent isn't much of an advantage. It's generally hard to do and while the more effective cards may find there way to dead ships more easily they could still be any of the unrevealed damage cards still in play.