This question does concern Dutch Vander and Target Locks. I have skimmed through the long discussion of his ability but just wanted to get an answer to the following question:

"Can a ship have more than one Target Lock token".

The Weapon Specialist crew card allows 2 target locks on 2 different targets. But this is only for ships with crew and TL icons only.

Dutch Vander's ability allows a ship to receive a TL immediately. If they have a lower PS value then when they are activated can they choose to do a TL action themselves? Although it says in the rules you cannot maintain more than one TL, this could be interpreted to just mean once you have a TL (that can last several turns) you cannot use another TL action until you spend the original TL token. What happens to the "free TL" given by Dutch?

I am trying to see if the TL given by Dutch can be considered like a focus token that can be given to another ship (as a special ability like Garven Dreis) and then that ship is allowed to perform a focus action themselves and thus have 2 focus tokens. As it is not stated that it is a "free TL action" that is why I am getting confused.

If this is true then can the ship potentially have 2 TL tokens and have them locked on the same target? This would seem to be vaguely possible yet I have never heard of this being done. They could then spend a TL token to fire a missile/torpedo and then use the second TL to reroll the attack dice.

It all comes down to interpretation of his ability. If he also has R5-K6 then this adds more TLs to the equation.

I am 95% sure everyone is going to say "one TL only" but I had to ask…

Rulebook p9 states "Each ship capable of performing this action can maintain only one target lock (i.e., each ship can have only one blue target lock token assigned to it)." And since it's stated elsewhere that Dutch only can give TLs to ships that have TL available as an action, this should solve the issue.

Page 9: Target lock tokens are only removed if the locking ship either acquires a target lock on a different ship or spends the target lock during the Combat phase.

Dutch doesn't grant an action, he just lets another ship acquire a target lock. So if (for example) a Rookie Pilot moves and does a target lock action, Dutch can still use his ability to let that ship acquire another lock. But per the above, when you acquire a target lock you lose the current lock. So no stacking the way focus tokens do.

Ninja'd by Buhallin, but publishing anyway!

Tinnitus and Buhallin are right, and quote the relevant page in the rulebook.

The FAQ reinforces the requirement that the new TL must be on a different ship:

Q: If a ship already has a lock on an enemy ship, can the locking ship acquire a target lock again on the same enemy ship in order to trigger an effect (such as “Dutch” Vander)?
A: No.

You're right, it's been clarified that Dutch's ability is not defined as a "free target lock action", so it can be used on a ship that has performed a target lock action already this turn. In this case, because of the rule tinnitus quotes, you cannot acquire a second target lock. You could, however, use Dutch's ability to switch the TL to a different ship, perhaps one that has moved into a more advantageous position since the original TL was acquired, like Buhallin's example.

Weapons Engineer does allow you to acquire and maintain two target locks, but they cannot be on the same ship. If Dutch's ability is used on a ship that is crewed by Weapons Engineer, that ship could indeed acquire two locks, provided they are on on different ships.

There is an upgrade coming in wave 3 (can't remember the name right now) that apparently allows you to acquire and maintain any number of target locks. There is also Colonel Jendon, who can pass one of his blue TL tokens to a friendly ship in range 1, but only if it does not already have a TL. Another difference is that the ability is defined as passing a token (like Garven Dries' ability) and therefore a TL token can be granted to a ship that cannot normally perform the Target Lock action (i.e TIE Interceptor).

EDIT: I am not sure about my statement that there's a card that allows "any number of target locks", I'm probably mistaken on that one.

Thanks for the explanation, the ability to switch TL with Vander's ability is good to know.