When can free actions NOT be performed? I'm curious about the following situations:

- Ship lands on or passes through an asteroid

- Ship overlaps another ship

- Ship has stress (from red maneuver or otherwise)

- Any other situations that are important?

Thanks!

Only when a ship has stress (unless you're tycho)

Edit: spelling mistake

Chances are I'm horribly wrong, but I've always understood it to be that any situation that would prevent a normal action also prevents a free action.

Chances are I'm horribly wrong, but I've always understood it to be that any situation that would prevent a normal action also prevents a free action.

Only stress, bumping/overlapping a rock just make you skip your perform action step, you can still do free actions

Chances are I'm horribly wrong, but I've always understood it to be that any situation that would prevent a normal action also prevents a free action.

Which is only stress.

Asteroids and bumping make you skip your perform action step, but don't otherwise prevent you performing actions you get some other way.

The only things that limit free actions are:

Stress

Crits

Whatever card gave you the action in the first place (e.g. Push the Limit only allows actions from your bar, Experimental Interface only from upgrade cards)

Just because people sometime mix thing up:

Free actions can ONLY be performed when directed to by the thing giving the free action; anything that prevents a given action (such as Stress but also having previously performing that action this game round) will also stop the free action.

You ask when free actions may NOT be performed and that is pretty much any time except for the specific timing window for that free action. I've seen too many who think a "free action" can be taken anytime they like just because it says it is a "free" action.

Isn't it also a case where you cannot perform a free action when you've already performed that same action? So if you barrel roll as your action, you can't then do another barrel roll in the same round.

Correct. Free actions are still governed by the same restrictions as normal. You can't perform them while you're stressed and you can't do the same one twice in a round.

Isn't it also a case where you cannot perform a free action when you've already performed that same action? So if you barrel roll as your action, you can't then do another barrel roll in the same round.

See my comment on things that could prevent the give action even if it is free. I mention Stress and also mention previously performing that action this round.

This "not performing the same action more than once per round" is part of the reason you see many upgrades tell you to perform a free X action when they are triggered. If Expert Handling just had a barrel roll like effect then some would think you could perform it in addition to a normal barrel roll (assuming you could take two actions to do so) but because EH tells you to perform a free BR you can't perform it a second time.

Isn't it also a case where you cannot perform a free action when you've already performed that same action? So if you barrel roll as your action, you can't then do another barrel roll in the same round.

See my comment on things that could prevent the give action even if it is free. I mention Stress and also mention previously performing that action this round.

This "not performing the same action more than once per round" is part of the reason you see many upgrades tell you to perform a free X action when they are triggered. If Expert Handling just had a barrel roll like effect then some would think you could perform it in addition to a normal barrel roll (assuming you could take two actions to do so) but because EH tells you to perform a free BR action you can't perform it a second time.

FTFY.