Had this situation come up today, and wanted to get the community's thoughts:

Saber Squadron Pilot (PS4) with Veteran Instincts

"Veteran Instincts-Increase your Pilot Skill value by 2"

Saber took a critical hit

Card-After the round in which you receive this card, treat your pilot skill value as "0".

So, our question is, does that only apply to the ship card, making the 4 into a 0, and not the elite pilot talent card, thus making him a pilot skill 2? Or does it also apply to the elite pilot card, thus making him a pilot skill 0? Essentially, does this crit card also affect Veteran Instincts as well or not? We originally ruled that it does affect Veteran Instincts as well, but we honestly could be talked into going either way. Thoughts?

hothie said:

Note that the critical hit Damaged Cockpit does not actually change your Pilot Skill value, it just instructs you to treat it as "0". So it's still going to win over a Veteran Instincts-increased pilot skill: The original ship as a value of 2, increased to 4 by the upgrade, and treated as 0 due to the critical damage.

Ok, so regardless of what his pilot skill was before, it is still treated as a 0, even with Veteran Instincts. Ok, good. glad we played it right, then. Thanks.

I initially went the other way when asked, but it was in the heat of battle and subject to that distraction. After reviewing the card text I totally agree with dbmeboy. As usual.

Just to add my two cents on this. I did read somewhere that if you have two opposite effects, the negative one takes precedence (like R2 treating all 1-2 maneuvers as green ones and the critical hit card Damaged Engine that treats all turn maneuvers as red). In this sample given (I think its in the FAQ) the ruling was the red maneuvers take precedence over the mech card.

So in your case the "pilot skill of "0" " crit card would take precedence over the elite pilot skill card "add 2 to your pilot skill". Your pilot skill would be 0 like you had ruled.

Good catch Segovan.

Page 20 of the Rulebook: