I've got a rules question about plasma torpedoes vs the new Biggs / Jess / Lowhrick / rex list.

Here's the scenario. I've got a ship which has a plasma torpedo, & has a lock on Biggs Darklighter who has R4-D6 equipped. My ship spends it's lock to fire the torpedo, & I somehow roll 3 hits & 1 crit. Biggs rolls 2 blanks. Biggs at this point is "hit" by the attack. However R4-D6 kicks in & takes 1 stress to make it 2 hits & 1 crit, OK. THEN, let's say Lowhrick Draws Their Fire & takes the crit, OK we're left with the 2 hits. NOW, let's say Jess uses Selflessness to take those final 2 hits, COOL! Biggs is off without a scratch!

But where does that leave Plasma Torpedo?

Does it still hit Biggs for 1 shield? Because he was declared as the target of the attack, & as such is the defender of the attack. The attack did hit. But his squad has absorbed all the damage.
Can the Plasma burn Jess or Lowhrick?
Or is it an outright miss?

Plasma reads: If this attack hits, after dealing damage, remove 1 shield token from the defender.

R4-D6 reads: When you are hit by an attack and there are at least 3 uncancelled hit results, you may choose and cancel those results until there are 2 remaining. For each result cancelled in this way, receive 1 stress token

Selflessness reads: When a friendly ship at range 1 is hit by an attack, you may discard this card to suffer all uncancelled hit results instead of the target ship.

Draw Their Fire reads: When a friendly ship at Range 1 is hit by an attack, you may suffer 1 of the uncanceled critical results instead of the target ship.

Compare Results: For each evade result, the defender cancels one hit or critical result. All hit results must be canceled before any critical results may be canceled. If at least one hit or critical result remains uncanceled, the defender is hit by the attack; otherwise, the attack misses.

A ship is counted as being hit by an attack if, at the end of the "Compare Results" step, any Hit or Crit results were not cancelled. The ship will take damage from those uncancelled hits and crits, and some effects may trigger. If all hits and crits are cancelled, the attack has missed.

Biggs loses a shield.

12 minutes ago, jmswood said:

Biggs loses a shield.

Concur. Like how Blount pops a Stealth Device every time he fires - if something is triggered by a 'hit', then it triggers when a hit occurs whether any damage ultimately results or not.

Plasma torpedoes' trigger is the attack hitting, it doesnt matter who takes de damage.

The defender is biggs, so he loses 1 shield

Exactly so.

There were still uncancelled hits in the compare results step, so he was still hit by the attack.

When you go to resolve damage, those uncancelled hits and crits vanish (because they've been 'drawn off' by Selflessness and Draw Their Fire) but that doesn't reverse the result of "hit by the attack", so the plasma torpedo's effect (lose a shield) still triggers.

It's exactly the same as the Ion Cannon; you roll attack and defence dice, compare them to see if the attack hits, and then - before damage gets inflicted - all the hit and crit results vanish, so you don't take any 'normal' damage but just suffer the effect (1 damage plus 1 ion token).

And, as @xanderf said, it's just like Lieutenant Blount; it is possible to 'hit' even if you cause no damage. Normally this is nice but achieves nothing, but it does force stealth devices to be discarded, and triggers missile special effects with things like Ion Pulse Missiles, XX-23 S-Thread Tracers and Assault Missiles.

If Ruthlessness wasn't Imperial Only, Lieutenant Blount would be bloody brutal with it (he's probably the reason it is).

Excellent! That's what I thought, that Biggs is still hit & thus loses a shield. Thanks for all the input!

@Mas2000 : that's a beautiful and complete rules question with klar the cards and rules quoted. If this was tinder, I would super like your post!

Also, I concur with the others, Biggs looses a shield.