Our locals have always
1. choose weapon
2. declare target
3. check range\arc restrictions
4. if possible, pay the price&roll the dice.
And it's definitely the better way to play, even if it's wrong. A game without pre-measure is a game of choice.
This way or another, putting "declare target" at the end of the Declare target step (after the cost is spent) is plainly illogical.
You already declared your intention to fire at this exact ship. It's a fixed choice before you spend the cost.
filthy nerf errata >:c
And if after choosing everything, this is not a legal target, your ship lost his opportunity to attack ?!
Sorry, but the rule never worked like that. You always had the right to check which target was legal to decide which one to attack.
And it is not illogical, you have to make sure the ship can pay the cost before declaring the defender as defending, if not, stuff with "When being the target of an attack" would trigger before the attacker even paid the cost of attacking.
These effect may not exist now, but no reason to block potential design space just because some people don't like a ship defending when it is really defending according to rules.
Edited by muribundi