I'm very new to the game and I know this probably doesn't matter, but when you spend a focus token is the effect instant (does it modify the die result then only) or is it a global effect that is constant? For instance if the attacker rerolled any dice after spending a focus token and those came up focus, would those be changed to hits? I have the original rule book and it's not really clear, so if you could point out why it is either way and where it explains it, that would be great.

It's an instant effect. If you were to spend your focus on an evade roll; before you'd had a chance to attack that round, any focus you rolled when you did attack would not be able to be modified (unless you had a second token, or some other in-game effect). But generally speaking, you spend a focus token to modify specific dice during an attack/evade roll and then its gone.

Re-reading your post, I now see what you're asking.

If you've a TL and Focus tokens and you roll a combo of blanks/focus; re-roll the blanks before spending the focus. That way, if the rerolls come up focus as well, they all get modified. (Or if you're a gambler, use the TL to reroll the focus results as well in the hope they come up as hits/crits.)

I'm very new to the game and I know this probably doesn't matter, but when you spend a focus token is the effect instant (does it modify the die result then only) or is it a global effect that is constant? For instance if the attacker rerolled any dice after spending a focus token and those came up focus, would those be changed to hits? I have the original rule book and it's not really clear, so if you could point out why it is either way and where it explains it, that would be great.

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

For the defender it's the same except he rolls and rerolls, attacker modifies, defender modifies.

You can download the Rules Reference Guide. It's handy to keep on a phone or tablet.

It's an instant effect. If you were to spend your focus on an evade roll; before you'd had a chance to attack that round, any focus you rolled when you did attack would not be able to be modified (unless you had a second token, or some other in-game effect). But generally speaking, you spend a focus token to modify specific dice during an attack/evade roll and then its gone.

I'm very new to the game and I know this probably doesn't matter, but when you spend a focus token is the effect instant (does it modify the die result then only) or is it a global effect that is constant? For instance if the attacker rerolled any dice after spending a focus token and those came up focus, would those be changed to hits? I have the original rule book and it's not really clear, so if you could point out why it is either way and where it explains it, that would be great.

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

For the defender it's the same except he rolls and rerolls, attacker modifies, defender modifies.

You can download the Rules Reference Guide. It's handy to keep on a phone or tablet.

I'm very new to the game and I know this probably doesn't matter, but when you spend a focus token is the effect instant (does it modify the die result then only) or is it a global effect that is constant? For instance if the attacker rerolled any dice after spending a focus token and those came up focus, would those be changed to hits? I have the original rule book and it's not really clear, so if you could point out why it is either way and where it explains it, that would be great.

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

For the defender it's the same except he rolls and rerolls, attacker modifies, defender modifies.

You can download the Rules Reference Guide. It's handy to keep on a phone or tablet.

My rule book says you can resolve different dice modifiers in any order you choose. (Page 11, section 3). So if I spent my focus token, and then a lock on, could I wait to resolve the focus after the reroll from the lock on?

That's not quite correct. You'll actually spend your target lock first, then spend the focus token; you don't defer the effect of the spent focus token, you just spend it after the target lock.

I'm very new to the game and I know this probably doesn't matter, but when you spend a focus token is the effect instant (does it modify the die result then only) or is it a global effect that is constant? For instance if the attacker rerolled any dice after spending a focus token and those came up focus, would those be changed to hits? I have the original rule book and it's not really clear, so if you could point out why it is either way and where it explains it, that would be great.

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

For the defender it's the same except he rolls and rerolls, attacker modifies, defender modifies.

You can download the Rules Reference Guide. It's handy to keep on a phone or tablet.

My rule book says you can resolve different dice modifiers in any order you choose. (Page 11, section 3). So if I spent my focus token, and then a lock on, could I wait to resolve the focus after the reroll from the lock on?

That's not quite correct. You'll actually spend your target lock first, then spend the focus token; you don't defer the effect of the spent focus token, you just spend it after the target lock.

I'm very new to the game and I know this probably doesn't matter, but when you spend a focus token is the effect instant (does it modify the die result then only) or is it a global effect that is constant? For instance if the attacker rerolled any dice after spending a focus token and those came up focus, would those be changed to hits? I have the original rule book and it's not really clear, so if you could point out why it is either way and where it explains it, that would be great.

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

For the defender it's the same except he rolls and rerolls, attacker modifies, defender modifies.

You can download the Rules Reference Guide. It's handy to keep on a phone or tablet.

My rule book says you can resolve different dice modifiers in any order you choose. (Page 11, section 3). So if I spent my focus token, and then a lock on, could I wait to resolve the focus after the reroll from the lock on?

That's not quite correct. You'll actually spend your target lock first, then spend the focus token; you don't defer the effect of the spent focus token, you just spend it after the target lock.

I don't see anywhere in the rules where it says you have to spend the target lock first. Is this an update over the original rule book?

There's no rule requiring you to spend your target lock before your focus token, but it normally produces more damage to do it in that way - you don't want to spend your focus token only to have your target lock re-roll a blank result into a focus after you've spent your focus token.

You can spend a focus token to change ALL of the focus results that are currently showing into hit results or evade results (depending on the dice you just rolled). Once you've spent the token and changed the results, you no longer have it available for anything else. If you have a target lock and wish to spend that to reroll your results, any focus results that come up can't be changed because you've already spent the focus token earlier. It has no ongoing effect.

This is why everyone is suggesting that you use the target lock first. Because the focus token will change ALL focus results, but only once.

You don't have to use the lock first. But you can't start using the focus, interrupt it to use the lock, then use its effect later.

It's rarely relevant, because usually if you have both, you can spend them in either order, and there's no reason not to use the lock first.

The only reason you commonly might face this situation is if you're using R4 Agromech to generate a TL mid-attack after spending your focus. In that instance, you spend the focus to modify all the eyeballs currently visible, then gain a lock which you can immediately spend to reroll dice - but you can't modify your focuses again afterwards using a focus token for its generic effect.

You can spend a focus token to change ALL of the focus results that are currently showing into hit results or evade results (depending on the dice you just rolled). Once you've spent the token and changed the results, you no longer have it available for anything else. If you have a target lock and wish to spend that to reroll your results, any focus results that come up can't be changed because you've already spent the focus token earlier. It has no ongoing effect.

This is why everyone is suggesting that you use the target lock first. Because the focus token will change ALL focus results, but only once.

You can spend a focus token to change ALL of the focus results that are currently showing into hit results or evade results (depending on the dice you just rolled). Once you've spent the token and changed the results, you no longer have it available for anything else. If you have a target lock and wish to spend that to reroll your results, any focus results that come up can't be changed because you've already spent the focus token earlier. It has no ongoing effect.

This is why everyone is suggesting that you use the target lock first. Because the focus token will change ALL focus results, but only once.

I'm not arguing with you that you're wrong, I'm just looking for clairity but where does it say currently or something to that effect? All I've seen is that it modifies all focus for that attack roll, if I reroll any dice, aren't they still a part of that same attack roll?

Yes and no.

Effects in this game are generally instantaneous and sequential. If you spend a focus token, you have to fully resolve it by changing all your available eyeballs, then you're done. Then you can move on and spend a TL, etc.

For an effect that does work the way you're looking for, look to the Illicit upgrade, Glitterstim. That's how focus tokens would be worded, to work for every eyeball on any rerolls during the attack.

But you're missing the point, anyway.

Why do you want to spend your focus token before your TL when you can spend it afterwards, better?

You can spend a focus token to change ALL of the focus results that are currently showing into hit results or evade results (depending on the dice you just rolled). Once you've spent the token and changed the results, you no longer have it available for anything else. If you have a target lock and wish to spend that to reroll your results, any focus results that come up can't be changed because you've already spent the focus token earlier. It has no ongoing effect.

This is why everyone is suggesting that you use the target lock first. Because the focus token will change ALL focus results, but only once.

I'm not arguing with you that you're wrong, I'm just looking for clairity but where does it say currently or something to that effect? All I've seen is that it modifies all focus for that attack roll, if I reroll any dice, aren't they still a part of that same attack roll?

Yes and no.

Effects in this game are generally instantaneous and sequential. If you spend a focus token, you have to fully resolve it by changing all your available eyeballs, then you're done. Then you can move on and spend a TL, etc.

For an effect that does work the way you're looking for, look to the Illicit upgrade, Glitterstim. That's how focus tokens would be worded, to work for every eyeball on any rerolls during the attack.

But you're missing the point, anyway.

Why do you want to spend your focus token before your TL when you can spend it afterwards, better?

Yeah, the wording in the rulebook is unfortunate as far as it goes. It does say, however, to change all (focus) results on the attack dice, not all (focus) results during that attack- otherwise I could just spend a focus token at the beginning of the first attack and make the argument that I'm still rolling the same dice! Absurd, as I'm sure you'll agree

More generally, any ability, token, card or other game effect that doesn't specify a long-term, continuous, or repeated effect ("When attacking" or "Until the end of the round" as a couple of examples) happens once.

We're not going to be able to point to a specific passage in the Rules Reference or FAQ that says "Things that happen just happen once and are over; they don't hang around," because it appears that's not a question the rules authors anticipated.

However: if you examine page 6 of the 4.2.3 FAQ, under the "Spending Tokens" heading, you'll see this paragraph:

Focus, evade, and target lock tokens cannot be spent for their normal effect more than once during the "Modify Attack Dice" and "Modify Defense Dice" steps. For example, a ship cannot spend 2 evade tokens to add 2 evade results. However, a ship can spend more than 1 of each token on different effects, such as spending 1 focus token as the cost for Calculation and another focus token focus token for its inherent effect.

*: Of course, this is the Rules forum, so I can think of like five situations where you might want to spend more than one Focus token in the same attack even if one of them did nothing off the top of my head, easy, but they're not that common.

With respect, NeverTellMeTheOdds, I'm going to suggest that it's possible the only reason you found the rulebook ambiguous on this question is the fact that when you went looking for the answer, one option would have been clearly better for you. I'm not accusing you of anything other than being human, here; we all carry biases around that influence how we interpret input. But this is a question that I haven't seen come up here before**, which is getting increasingly rare (with the obvious exception of questions about new cards/rules).

**: I've been playing for something like a year and a half, so take my statements about the history of this board with an appropriate dash of salt.

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

The part in red is absolutely, 100%, utterly false.

And I'm surprised you'd say something so obviously false Stoneface... It's not like you're new to the game.

The steps are as follows, straight from the FAQ Timing Chart:

A Target Lock and a Focus token are both abilities the attacker can resolve in step 3.ii.

To answer the original question: all modifications are resolved sequentially, there are no "enduring effects", unless explicitly stated.

If you decide to spend your Focus token before your Target Lock, and are left with some Focus Results after re-rolling dice, well tough luck - you should've re-rolled before spending your focus.

One scenario where you will likely spend a focus before a TL is if you're equipped with R4 Agromech:

"When attacking, after you spend a focus token, you may acquire a target lock on the defender."

With that upgrade, you don't actually have the TL to spend until you've spent the focus token, so you don't really have a choice to spend the focus before the TL!

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

The part in red is absolutely, 100%, utterly false.

And I'm surprised you'd say something so obviously false Stoneface... It's not like you're new to the game.

The steps are as follows, straight from the FAQ Timing Chart:

A Target Lock and a Focus token are both abilities the attacker can resolve in step 3.ii.

To answer the original question: all modifications are resolved sequentially, there are no "enduring effects".

If you decide to spend your Focus token before your Target Lock, and are left with some Focus Results after re-rolling dice, well tough luck - you should've re-rolled before spending your focus.

One scenario where you will likely spend a focus before a TL is if you're equipped with R4 Agromech:

"When attacking, after you spend a focus token, you may acquire a target lock on the defender."

With that upgrade, you don't actually have the TL to spend until you've spent the focus token, so you don't really have a choice to spend the focus before the TL!

Klutz, you're absolutely RIGHT I blew that call. Back to the rule book for some remedial work.

...

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

For the defender it's the same except he rolls and rerolls, attacker modifies, defender modifies.

...

Spending the Target Lock to reroll attack dice is an attack modification and would happen AFTER the defender makes hit modifications.

1. You attack someone and roll the dice.

2. THEY get their chance to modify the dice you roll including the possibility of forcing rerolls now or locking dice from further modifications.

3. You get your chance to modify the attack dice. TL could reroll any dice that weren't previously rerolled or otherwise locked down. Spending a Focus would change all the dice currently showing eyes into booms but isn't ongoing.

PS. The closest thing to an "enduring Focus" may be Marksmanship. You activate it with an action but each time you make an attack you are allowed to make the modification ONCE for that attack; if you get another attack it is still in effect and you can modify the dice in that attack one time using Marksmanship again.

...

I don't have the rules in front of me but it's in the section on rolling dice.

1) Attacker rolls dice. He can spend a Target Lock to reroll some or all of the results.

2) Defender modifies attacker's dice.

3) Attacker modifies attack dice. This is where the attacker could spend a focus to convert 'eyeballs' into hits.

For the defender it's the same except he rolls and rerolls, attacker modifies, defender modifies.

...

Spending the Target Lock to reroll attack dice is an attack modification and would happen AFTER the defender makes hit modifications.

1. You attack someone and roll the dice.

2. THEY get their chance to modify the dice you roll including the possibility of forcing rerolls now or locking dice from further modifications.

3. You get your chance to modify the attack dice. TL could reroll any dice that weren't previously rerolled or otherwise locked down. Spending a Focus would change all the dice currently showing eyes into booms but isn't ongoing.

PS. The closest thing to an "enduring Focus" may be Marksmanship. You activate it with an action but each time you make an attack you are allowed to make the modification ONCE for that attack; if you get another attack it is still in effect and you can modify the dice in that attack one time using Marksmanship again.