Myself and my friends have always played her as an optional effect. Unless there is a FAQ officially stating otherwise I don't see us changing the way we play that, if you look at the card it seems like the intent is you get to choose which bomb she applies too, Sabine is all about the explosives and her card is there to represent that she makes custom bombs and explosives she customises have a bit more punch to them.

Optional, because you can choose which bomb effect it is applied to.

It's a poorly written card and all aspects of it need clarification in the FAQ.
Some people will argue that the lack of a "must" means it's optional. Others that the lack of a "may" means it isn't.

The first line doesn't say "additional bomb icon/if you don't already have one" either, so if my ship already has a bomb slot do I add one or not?

Also, if you look at the very similar "Cad Bane" card, unlike sabine he does specifically say you "may" choose some dice to make them reroll.

Honestly can't believe this went un-faqed for so long, or that I didn't notice, yet.

"Your Upgrade bars gains the <bomb> icon. Once per round, before a friendly bomb token o removed from play, choose one enemy ship at Range 1 of the token. That ship suffers One damage."

That's how I remember it reading. Which would make it non-optional but also a non-issue; if there aren't any enemy ships, you can't trigger it anyway. I guess if you wanted to not kill someone...maybe Tel has some nasty crits on him or whatever...

Now let's see I I was right ....

22 hours ago, Stevey86 said:

It's a poorly written card and all aspects of it need clarification in the FAQ.
Some people will argue that the lack of a "must" means it's optional. Others that the lack of a "may" means it isn't.

Nah, it's really quite simple. The rules reference says on page 8:

"Unless a card ability uses the word “may” or has the “Action:” or “Attack:” headers, the ability is mandatory and must be resolved."

6 minutes ago, haslo said:

Nah, it's really quite simple. The rules reference says on page 8:

"Unless a card ability uses the word “may” or has the “Action:” or “Attack:” headers, the ability is mandatory and must be resolved."

The case appears to be quite clear (has to be on the first instance where possible). As this is not the way the card is played, though, it definitly warrants an FAQ entry.