Asked on the wiki: "If a defender opts for the single damage, does the attacker retain the 'charge' as well as the lock since the "Attack" itself was skipped?"

At first glance this seemed obvious, you pay the cost first. But no... Declaring the Defender happens before paying costs like charge.

Quote

1. Declare Target: During this step, the attacking player identifies and names the defender of the attack.

• Measure Range: The attacking player measures range from the attacker to any number of enemy ships and determines which enemy ships are in which of its arcs.
• Choose Weapon: The attacking player chooses one of the attacker’s primary or special weapons.
• Declare Defender: The attacking player chooses an enemy ship to be the defender. The defender must meet the requirements defined by the weapon.
• Pay Costs: The attacker must pay any costs for performing the attack.

2. Roll Dice...

And homing missile's "opt out" clause triggers after declaring defender, not after paying costs. If so, Homing Missiles have more uses than I expected.

Do I have this right?

2 minutes ago, Wazat said:

Asked on the wiki: "If a defender opts for the single damage, does the attacker retain the 'charge' as well as the lock since the "Attack" itself was skipped?"

At first glance this seemed obvious, you pay the cost first. But no... Declaring the Defender happens before paying costs like charge.

And homing missile's "opt out" clause triggers after declaring defender, not after paying costs. If so, Homing Missiles have more uses than I expected.

Do I have this right?

The attack is not skipped, all that is skipped are the Attack Dice and Defence Dice steps.

Good point, thank you!