Good evening everyone. I have a question about HSCP when defending against TLT. As the FAQ reads:

'When a ship with Hotshot Co-pilot equipped defends , the attacker must spend a focus token after the "Declare Target" step and before the end of the "Modify Attack Dice" step.'

I've read one other thread on the subject, but it was pre-FAQ verbiage I believe. Because of the timing chart for attacks that have "perform this attack twice" verbiage not going back to the "Declare Target" step, would HSCP apply on both defenses for TLT or just overall for the attack? So if someone were to have two focuses for any reason, would one would be stripped on attack one, one would be stripped on attack two? If they only have one focus, it would then be required to be stripped on attack one? A bit of confusion for me, and with the prevalence of TLT at the moment, I want to make sure I understand the interaction. Thank you.

My first impression is that the attacker would not have to spend two focus tokens if they had two. I'm unsure whether they would have to spend one on the first attack, or if they'd have the option to wait until the second attack. I think arguments for each would have merit, and I'd check with your TO to see how they'd rule it. However, presuming they don't spend focus on the first attack, they'd have to spend focus on the second attack, since you'd have reached a "modify attack dice" step.

There's no interaction. Hotshot Copilot states 'When attacking with a primary weapon ...'

TLT is not a primary weapon.

1 hour ago, thespaceinvader said:

There's no interaction. Hotshot Copilot states 'When attacking with a primary weapon ...'

TLT is not a primary weapon.

We are talking about defending against a tlt not attacking with one.

To answer the original question: judging on the interactions ruling between tlt and harpooned I would say that the first shot is when the focus is spent.

Oh, duh, yeah.

The attacker would have to spend a focus token on the first shot. Having done so, he's satisfied HSCP and doesn't have to spend one on the second, if he has any.