Just to clear something up for me, am I right in my current assumption that:

roll 3 dice, score 1 damage - I can add a CF die in now is correct

and

roll 3 dice, score no damage - not able to add CF die due to not having anything to add to damage pool wise

that's correct is it not?

It's not correct. You can use CF (or any "add" effect) when you have enough dice to form a pool. So if you at least roll 1 die, no matter the result of that die, you can CF.

Think of it this way.

You don’t count damage until basically the second to last part of an attack.

Until that point, all you have is DICE in your pool.

What you roll is irrelevant unless your actual add effect requires a result... (Such as Quad Turbolaset Turrets needing a Red Acc to add a Red Acc)

Itgerwise, all you are doing is adding dice to dice.

You don't even count damage until after modifications, defense tokens and critical effect s...

Thank you

You have to play it the other way tho...