Do ion torpedoes do damage or only ion

Do what the card says. Do not do what that card does not say.

The card does not indicate that you should cancel any dice or in any way reduce the damage dealt, so don't do that. It also doesn't say that you should hand any damage off to other ships at r1, so don't do that.

You roll your 4 dice, he rolls his evade dice, you work out if you've hit. He takes any [boom] and [kaboom] remaining after that, and then he and all ships at r1 of him (note, including your ships if applicable) gain 1 ion token each.

thespaceinvader had it covered.

Attack with your 4 dice just like you would any other piece of ordnance. The target ship suffers any and all damage that would result from that attack. Then the target and every ship in R1 of it picks up an Ion token.

That's the way I read it but needed a second opinion.

Do what the card says. Do not do what that card does not say.

The card does not indicate that you should cancel any dice or in any way reduce the damage dealt, so don't do that. It also doesn't say that you should hand any damage off to other ships at r1, so don't do that.

You roll your 4 dice, he rolls his evade dice, you work out if you've hit. He takes any [boom] and [kaboom] remaining after that, and then he and all ships at r1 of him (note, including your ships if applicable) gain 1 ion token each.

This is one of the problems I have with the way FFG words some of their cards. If you do EXACTLY what the card says, there's no mention of damage other than being ioned and the range 1 effect. And yes, I know it doesn't say to cancel dice after inflicting the ion damage.

I think this is caused by different designers being cycled in and out of the teams.

Do what the card says. Do not do what that card does not say.

The card does not indicate that you should cancel any dice or in any way reduce the damage dealt, so don't do that. It also doesn't say that you should hand any damage off to other ships at r1, so don't do that.

You roll your 4 dice, he rolls his evade dice, you work out if you've hit. He takes any [boom] and [kaboom] remaining after that, and then he and all ships at r1 of him (note, including your ships if applicable) gain 1 ion token each.

This is one of the problems I have with the way FFG words some of their cards. If you do EXACTLY what the card says, there's no mention of damage other than being ioned and the range 1 effect. And yes, I know it doesn't say to cancel dice after inflicting the ion damage.

I think this is caused by different designers being cycled in and out of the teams.

I think you're quite right about the cycling of staff. It has to be one reason for the inconsistencies in text templating on these damned cards. And you're not the only one to get caught out by the Ion Torpedoes. When I first saw it, I also wondered about the damage, because prior to that every ion weapon I had cancelled the dice, so I assumed it was the same.

Never, never assume with this game!

Do what the card says. Do not do what that card does not say.

The card does not indicate that you should cancel any dice or in any way reduce the damage dealt, so don't do that. It also doesn't say that you should hand any damage off to other ships at r1, so don't do that.

You roll your 4 dice, he rolls his evade dice, you work out if you've hit. He takes any [boom] and [kaboom] remaining after that, and then he and all ships at r1 of him (note, including your ships if applicable) gain 1 ion token each.

This is one of the problems I have with the way FFG words some of their cards. If you do EXACTLY what the card says, there's no mention of damage other than being ioned and the range 1 effect. And yes, I know it doesn't say to cancel dice after inflicting the ion damage.

I think this is caused by different designers being cycled in and out of the teams.

I think you're quite right about the cycling of staff. It has to be one reason for the inconsistencies in text templating on these damned cards. And you're not the only one to get caught out by the Ion Torpedoes. When I first saw it, I also wondered about the damage, because prior to that every ion weapon I had cancelled the dice, so I assumed it was the same.

Never, never assume with this game!

As a new player you're constantly bombarded with the mantra, "Do what the card says..." and then you run into cards like this. The OPs question was answered many months ago and that's when I found out I was playing it wrong. I showed the card to my friend and he thought the same. We never questioned the wording because it appeared to be very obvious. I should buy stock in TUMS. The game is easy, it's the cards that are giving me heartburn.

Perhaps the best way to phrase it would be 'only change what the core rules say when a card says to do so'. Nothing about this says to change the core rules that you roll attack and defence dice then deal damage based on any leftover red results, so that happens.

Perhaps the best way to phrase it would be 'only change what the core rules say when a card says to do so'. Nothing about this says to change the core rules that you roll attack and defence dice then deal damage based on any leftover red results, so that happens.

Or FFG could add those three little words that's on the Plasma Torpedo card: "after dealing damage".

That would work.

Yep that too.

WOuldn't it be nice if there was some proper templating for these things...?

You know what? I actually never realized Ion Torpedoes worked that way. I'm a strict advocate of "Do what the card says!", but I somehow missed this as well. Maybe because it's the only ion weapon that doesn't cancel hits. Can't wait to use them on my Bombers / Punishers!

Yep that too.

WOuldn't it be nice if there was some proper templating for these things...?

Along with cycling designers in and out, I think part of the problem is the old "familiarity breeds contempt" adage. They are so familiar with their product that what they take as obvious doesn't necessarily carryover to the end user. Other times it seems they included "notes to self" on cards which should have been omitted.

If we're having this kind of trouble with our native language, I wonder how the translations are coming through?

If all the other ion weapons say to cancel damage, and ion torps don't then its fairly obvious they don't cancel damage.

I am a little confused by everyone posting here saying "all the other ones say to cancel but ion torps don't say that so i assumed they did" If all the other say to cancel, then its pretty clear that if they meant to cancel the damage they would have stated that on the card like all the others.

This came up yesterday, someone fired ion torps and i said "does it do full damage or just one" he read the card said "full" handed it to me i read the card and went yep it does not say to cancel damage. Its very clear cut, i am not saying FFG does not make ambiguous and confusing cards but in the case of ion torpedoes the card is quite clear.

The wording on Ion torps falls in line with all there other missile wording.

If all the other ion weapons say to cancel damage, and ion torps don't then its fairly obvious they don't cancel damage.

I am a little confused by everyone posting here saying "all the other ones say to cancel but ion torps don't say that so i assumed they did" If all the other say to cancel, then its pretty clear that if they meant to cancel the damage they would have stated that on the card like all the others.

This came up yesterday, someone fired ion torps and i said "does it do full damage or just one" he read the card said "full" handed it to me i read the card and went yep it does not say to cancel damage. Its very clear cut, i am not saying FFG does not make ambiguous and confusing cards but in the case of ion torpedoes the card is quite clear.

The wording on Ion torps falls in line with all there other missile wording.

Of course it's clear. 100%. It was just the habit of canceling ion weapon hits that tricked me.

Which is what catches most players out. It's a very easy mistake to make.