Effect Use and Timing

Each effect in the game has a timing during which it can resolve. This timing is usually specified within the effect, though some effects use the more specific timing described in this section.

An effect that modifies attack dice can only be resolved during the “Resolve Attacks Effects” step of an attack unless another timing is specified.
“Crit” effects are critical effects that can be resolved at the start of the “Resolve Damage” step of an attack.
Effects with a command icon as a header, such as “Evade,” can be resolved once while the ship is resolving the matching command.
A “when” effect occurs at the moment that the specified event occurs and cannot occur again for that instance of the event.
A “while” effect can be resolved during the specified event and cannot occur again during that instance of the event.
A “before” effect occurs immediately before the specified event and cannot occur again for that instance of the event.
An “after” effect occurs immediately after the specified event and cannot occur again for that instance of the event.
If two or more of a player’s effects have the same timing, that player can resolve those effects in any order.
If both players have effects with the same timing, the first player resolves all of their effects with that timing first.
Resolving an upgrade card effect is optional unless otherwise specified. All other card effects are mandatory unless otherwise specified.
If a dial, token, die, or other component is spent as part of a card effect’s cost, that component does not also produce its normal effect.
Ships and squadrons cannot spend command dials, command tokens, or defense tokens belonging to other ships or squadrons.
During setup, card effects can be resolved only if they are an objective card effect or an effect that specifies a timing during setup.
- During setup, ships and squadrons that have not yet been deployed are in play, and their ship, squadron, and upgrade cards are active, unless that ship or squadron has been destroyed or set aside.
When a card is discarded or flipped facedown, its effect is no longer active in the game ^[1].

#ffg Rules Reference Guide 1.5 Page 5-6 ↩︎