Newbie question about using the Upsilon-class shuttle (and similar).

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Coordinate: To perform the coordinate action, choose another friendly ship at Range 1-2. That ship may immediately perform one free action.

Short
If Major Stridan in an Upsilon shuttle uses coordinate on Blackout in a Tie Silencer who then declares they'll barrel roll right, but upon measuring Blackout can't without overlapping; can Major Stridan instead choose to focus or target lock instead?

OR are they committed to coordinate?

AND if are they committed to coordinate. must it still be Blackout?

I *presume* the answer is the former, that if Blackout can't barrel roll right then the free action isn't used and so Major Stridan can choose another action.

Long Rationale

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If a player declares a barrel roll action for his ship and cannot complete the action in the desired direction, he may choose a different direction or a different action entirely.

If a player declares a boost action for his ship and cannot complete the action using the desired direction, he may choose a different direction or a different action entirely.

If a player declares an acquire a target lock action for his ship and the enemy ship he wants to lock is not at range, he may choose a different ship to lock or a different action entirely.

Very vaguely I understand Barrel Rolls, Boost and Aquiring Target Locks follow the following principles:
1) Don't premeasure (you can only measure before choosing in the Attack Phase); declare you're doing it, declare the direction/target
2) Check to see if it's possible: target is within range/possible to move without overlapping ships/obstacles or fleeing.
3) If it's legal, then you must then do it, even if you're not quite where you thought and it screws you over (opps, going to crash into an asteroid next turn/the target will get away)
4) If the target lock target is out of range 3 or you can't boost/barrel roll in that direction without overlapping/fleeing then you can choose another action, you’re not tied into having to target lock, boost or barrel roll.

Overall it seems to follow the idea that you'd don't premeasure, but if a chosen action AND the direction/target isn't possible then you can choose another.
OR is the choice already made to coordinate, and since Blackout is a valid target (within range) then Blackout is given a free action of their choice?

Now this rule might matter:

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"If a ship is specifically granted a free barrel roll action or a free boost action and cannot complete the action in the desired direction, it may choose a different direction. It cannot choose to perform a different action."

I don't believe coordinates counts as "specifically granted", I presume that's to stop people trying to get a free target lock via deliberately failing to barrel roll with BB-8.

They would be committed to coordinate because the action grants the chosen ship the choice to do a free action; coordinate is spent on the ship.

The chosen ship should also be committed to upon measuring a valid distance when performing Coordinate.

Stridan would be unable to change from Coordinate to TL and focus because TP Blackout is the one attempting to barrel roll, not stridan, he could however coordinate a different action onto blackout, but stridan is locked into the coordinate.

47 minutes ago, D00kies said:

They would be committed to coordinate because the action grants the chosen ship the choice to do a free action; coordinate is spent on the ship.

The chosen ship should also be committed to upon measuring a valid distance when performing Coordinate.

That makes sense. The Coordinate was valid and Blackout has been granted a free action. So Major Stridan's action is effectively finished.

Am I right in thinking that if Blackout is declared for Coordinate (and within range) by Major Stridan, and then Blackout declares they'll Barrel Roll right then they can instead use their free action for Focus/Acquire target lock/Boost if they can't Barrel Rolling right without overlapping?*

*(Within the usual rules for stress and only each action once per round)

Edit: Thanks CMDR Ytterium !

I'd expect that this would work the same way as PTL - that it would rewind right back to Stridan not having used the action.

FFG are usually forgiving about things like this.

There's also some adjacent, non-exact precedent with Airen Cracken, p9 of the FAQ:

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If Airen Cracken chooses a friendly ship to perform an action (such as target lock), but that ship cannot perform that action (because the enemy ship is out of range, for example), that ship may choose a different action or Airen Cracken may choose a new friendly ship at Range 1 to perform a free action.

I'm with @thespaceinvader : if the coordinated action is invalid, the player should be able to choose: the striker can take a different action, Stridan could coordinate a different ship in range, or Stridan could perform a different action.

Stridan's action was to give Blackout an action. His action has been satisfied, whether or not Blackout can actually use it is another question.

Blackout is the only one that can go "Oh i cant do that...ok lets do this then" assuming he has more actions to use. Coordinate says nothing about "if able" when granting a free action - it granted a free action, its done.

The amount of people ive seen completely waste coordinate because of this is amusing (coordinate into roll, cant roll the way they want, no other action available, coordinate wasted)

I have always ruled that the shuttle is locked to the coordinated action. If the ship they coordinated with is unable to perform the given action, the shuttle can then choose another ship, but unless all the ships within range cannot perform ANY actions, the shuttle cannot choose a different action.

37 minutes ago, shaunmerritt said:

I have always ruled that the shuttle is locked to the coordinated action. If the ship they coordinated with is unable to perform the given action, the shuttle can then choose another ship, but unless all the ships within range cannot perform ANY actions, the shuttle cannot choose a different action.

I've always ruled that the ship can choose a different action given Airen Cracken's FAQ entry and the Push the Limit FAQ entry as precedent. I can see a reasonable argument for either ruling though.

Given the Airen Cracken ruling I would say you back up to pre-coordinate. Airen provides a free action. Coordinate provides a free action. They do exactly the same thing. If Airen is able to back up and give someone else an action when the one they wanted is impossible then I can see no reason for coordinate to not work the same way.

Now I will agree that the idea of the coordinate being wasted is reasonable by itself, but given that we have an essentially identical precedent already set that says otherwise I think you have to let the coordinator rewind and either coordinate someone else or do a different action entirely in this situation.

Unless someone can find an official ruling to the contrary of course.

Oh my god this game. Well, I would go with the Airen Cracken FAQ then.

Airen Cracken and the FAQ *does* seem very close to the Coordinate action.

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After you perform an attack, you may choose another friendly ship at Range 1. That ship may perform 1 free action.

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FAQ - " If Airen Cracken chooses a friendly ship to perform an action (such as target lock), but that ship cannot perform that action (because the enemy ship is out of range, for example), that ship may choose a different action or Airen Cracken may choose a new friendly ship at Range 1 to perform a free action."

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If a player uses Push the Limit to attempt an action he is unable to perform (such as attempting to Target Lock a ship that is out of range), he may perform a different action or decide not to use Push the Limit at all.

*Fires a rules inquiry away to Fantasy Flight*

On 10/02/2018 at 12:49 PM, Illithidbix said:

*Fires a rules inquiry away to Fantasy Flight*

Any response?

I find it interesting that everyone keeps quoting the Airen Cracken FAQ entry and evidence whereas the Kylo Ren Crew card FAQ is a far more correct analogy, the ability grants an effect, if you cant then fully use the effect that's too bad, you have met all the requirements of the co-ordinate action either way.

You perform the co-ordinate action granting another ship an action and that's the resolution of the co-ordinate action, its final resolution is not dependent on the effect being used or not. if the recipient of the free action cant use it that doesn't make the original co-ordinate action somehow invalid.

Having said that I can totally see FFG ruling in favor of rewinding the game because they say so.

The best part is, as written, the FAQ for Airen Cracken is a case of " This. Because we say so." Strictly speaking his pilot card, as written and without FAQ clarification, only lets him choose another friendly ship at Range 1. So long as there is another friendly ship at Range 1 he can satisfy his ability, whether or not it performs a free action is irrelevant. Once chosen by Cracken that ship may (or may not) perform a free action - as written (and without FAQ clarification) I see zero reason why Cracken should give a flying fudgepop as to whether or not that ship was able to perform a free action or not. Alas , the FAQ clarification does exist and therefore - for reasons that I can't quite understand - Airen Cracken suddenly does care... a lot ...

Due to the Cracken entry of " This. Because we say so." I would argue that they need to FAQ coordinate the same way, otherwise - reading the coordinate action as written - the ship performing the coordinate action only cares if it can choose another friendly ship within range. If it cannot it may perform a new action, if it can choose another friendly ship then its involvement and interests are concluded once that ship is chosen. Whether or not that ship gets to use or benefit from the coordinate action is entirely irrelevant to the coordinate action itself, it can resolve completely regardless of the what the ship it has chosen does or does not do.

It should be noted that when you choose coordinate you "choose another friendly ship at range 1-2. That ship may perform 1 free action." This means you do get to measure to all your ships before you choose. You do not have to say "I coordinate with X." You may take your range ruler and you may measure range to all ships within range 1-2 (SEE BELOW FAQ ENTRY, relevant text emphasized), then you may choose one of them. The chosen ship may (or may not) perform 1 free action.

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M EASURING R ANGE

Players may only measure range and/or use the range ruler to determine whether a ship is inside or outside of a firing arc at the following times:

• When a ship becomes the active ship during the combat phase, the active player can measure range from the active ship to any enemy ships before declaring one as its target.

• When a player declares a ship’s ability that requires another ship (or ships) to be at a certain range, the player trying to resolve the ability can measure range from their ship to any valid ships before resolving the ability .

• After declaring the intended target of a target lock action, the active player may measure range to the intended target, and only to the intended target.

Page 6 | Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures FAQ v4.4.1 | Effective 01.22.2018

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Ultimately, I'd likely rule with the Cracken entry as it does sets a precedent...as much as I don't like it.

Like @ZealuxMyr says, Airen Cracken is one of the "because we say so" rulings, much like the Inquisitor's no-Autothrusters effect. In a sense, their rulings were made because, as written, they WOULDN'T work as intended. To that end, Coordinate currently seems to work more like how @Mace Windu describes it: Choose a ship, give them a free action, then they have to choose what they can, or lose the ability. Comparing it to the ruling for Airen Cracken isn't really fair, YET , because Airen Cracken's ruling fundamentally changes the way his ability works compared to what the card specifically says.

I'm not saying that coordinate SHOULDN'T work that way... just that, lacking an FAQ entry to adjudicate it, it doesn't appear to work the same way. Yet. Personally, I'm hoping that Coordinate gets FAQ'd to have a similar effect, to standardize (if not simplify) the entire matter: if an effect grants a different ship a free action, and it cannot perform the action it chose, the original effect may grant a different ship a free action instead.

Due to another thread:

Expert Handling was clarified (after errata) to also say you can take back your Expert Handling Action if you cannot perform the Free Barrel Roll Action that the Expert Handling Action provides.

"Now there are two of them!" ~Bug Eyes. This now gives us two locations (Expert Handling and Airen Cracken) where FFG has specifically clarified that if the free action granted by the primary trigger fails you can renege on the primary trigger. Two times that FFG has done this in the FAQ makes me feel more comfortable with saying Coordinate should be ruled the same way...not 100% comfortable because FFG can always decide on "do x because we say so and don't do x this one time...because we say so."

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Expert Handling

A ship can only perform the same action once per round. A ship equipped with Expert Handling cannot perform a barrel roll and use the Expert Handling action in the same round.

If a ship attempts to perform an Expert Handling action, but cannot perform a barrel roll, the ship may perform a different action instead.

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures FAQ v4.4.1 | page 18