Can I retire my fleet any time during the refit and expand fleets step or does it have to be specifically after add or remove forces? I’m asking because the sidebar just says “during” and the inline paragraph doesn't explicitly say “after” like the add or remove forces section does. The timing is very important to me because if retiring has to be after, you also lose a round of upgrading in addition to reducing your fleet back to 200, losing xp, and losing commander upgrades. I’m new to the game and I made a downright awful fleet, please be nice. I already know I made a terrible decision leading to a retire.

My interpretation is that you will spend the entire "Refit and Expand Fleet" phase building your new fleet. Once you build your new 200 point fleet, there really isn't much you can gain during the add / remove forces step.

If you split up this phase, here would be the "sub-steps":
1. Spend Resources to remove conditions
2. Remove Scar tokens (Optional: Spend Repair Yards tokens)
3. Add or Remove forces (Optional: Spend Repair Yards tokens)
4. Equip Upgrades (Check Fleet Size)

I would believe that the "Retire Fleet" step occurs before "equip upgrades" and likely after (or in place of) "Add or Remove forces." To answer your question: The commander you are retiring will gain their experience points as this happens during the Battle Phase. Don't spend any experience points on new skills for this commander during the Management Phase as they will be lost.

I did have to replace a fleet between the Act I pivotal and the first round of Act II. If you need to retire and replace a fleet, it is best to do so as soon as possible. My suggestion would be to consider a fleet that is either a) strong against a specific opposing fleet or b) contains a good number of rogue squadrons.

Oh right! I keep thinking that I can still get upgrades from the battle my retired fleet participated in but (face slap), that was earlier in the management phase. So when I said add or remove forces, what I really meant was gain rewards. But I definitely know the timing of that isn’t doable.

13 minutes ago, Ryno80 said:

Oh right! I keep thinking that I can still get upgrades from the battle my retired fleet participated in but (face slap), that was earlier in the management phase. So when I said add or remove forces, what I really meant was gain rewards. But I definitely know the timing of that isn’t doable.

Timing is the key in this game. For example: I keep forgetting to use Intel Officer before dice rerolls and manipulation. One day...