Question,

As you play and damage cards are issued (face up or down)... When a ship is destroyed, do the damage cards on it go back to the bottom of the deck or do they remain on the destroyed ship until the game ends?

Practical example of why this might matter: theoretically Kylo Ren (crew) could issue all 8 pilot cards to something beefy like a B/SF-17 or the Ghost without destroying it. While in play all those cards are on the ship and Kylo's condition card is unusable. However once that ship is destroyed do things change? Do those damage cards go back to the deck allow Kylo's condition card to be used again?

They are placed into a discard pile, and if the deck should ever be empty, that discard pile is reshuffled to make a new deck.

Kylo's ability would not cause it to be reshuffled.

Technically they stay on the ship that was destroyed until the desk needs to be reshuffled. I have been playing for years and have yet to see that needing to be done, but has been done.

If you use Kylo and there are no PILOT cards left... no Kylo. Per the FAQ...

"When this card is assigned, if there are no Pilot trait damage cards remaining in the Damage deck, no Damage card is assigned to I'll Show You the Dark Side. Additionally if this card was assigned from Kylo Ren, since the action still resolved, another action is not chosen."

Neither is the correct answer.

When a ship is destroyed they are placed, FACE UP, in a discard pile. This means that what has come out of the DD on destroyed ships is public knowledge. If you empty the DD then you will shuffle the discarded damage cards to create a new DD.

As for Kylo he when he gets to put ISYTDS into play he gets to look through the damage deck so that's that. He MAY find a Pilot card, or he may not for whatever reason, and place it on the condition; if the condition doesn't have a card on it then it leaves play. You'll note that Kylo will let you know what Damage Cards are in play but currently unknown as to where they are. There could be 8 face down cards in play and all could be Pilot cards leaving Kylo nothing to find but person whose deck was searched doesn't know what the face-down damage cards are either.

18 hours ago, StevenO said:

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When a ship is destroyed they are placed, FACE UP, in a discard pile. This means that what has come out of the DD on destroyed ships is public knowledge. If you empty the DD then you will shuffle the discarded damage cards to create a new DD.

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Don't forget to cite your sources!

Refer to page 9 of the Blue Core Rules Reference book.