"You may ... [period] Then..." ambiguity (R7-T1 oddity)

[TheDoncastrian 0]

Noted a little ambiguity on the qualifier "Then"...

 

R7-T1 - You May acquire a target lock. Then you may perform a free boost.

 

This has been clarified as both are optional. i.e. you don't have to TL to get the boost, because of placement of the "Then" and the "May"...

 

As apposed to the likes of Jan, where you receive [stress] TO [do something]

 

Accuracy Corrector:
You may cancel all of your dice results. Then you may add 2 hits.

 

The second part has been agreed around most groups to be optional. You can cancel all results, and then decide to not add the hits to trigger gunner, use Vader etc.

 

So, question: Is the first part of that optional? It says May, and has the same format as R7-T1 - but seems a bit daft simply ADDING 2 hits to the attack without cancelling the results.

 

Slightly less obvious:

Dauntless: After executing a maneuver that overlaps, you MAY perform a free action. THEN receive a stress token.

As it doesn't say "receive a stress token to perform an action" (i.e. Cost) - That suggests you have the option to take an action, but the Stress token is mandatory. i.e. Dauntless gets the stress from overlap regardless of free action.

 

And the worrying:

Experimental interface:

You MAY perform 1 free action from an equipped upgrade card...
THEN receive 1 stress token.

 

Again, this isn't a pay the cost to do so caveat, it's a MAY (period) THEN situation. This suggests that performing ANY action on a ship with Experimental Interface results in a stress token, even if you don't take the action.

 

So either there's a lot of cards a lot of people may have been playing incorrectly, or there are going to be some cards that follow a contextual flow akin to R7-T1, and others that do not. Or perhaps R7-T1 needs errata rather than clarification in the FAQ?

I guess my question is, has there been any clarification on how this structure should be followed? If it's a "If you do this THEN do that", then R7-T1 breaks that mould.

Apologies if this has been asked, it's awkward searching for "May" and "Then"

 

[dvorm 1,058]

A search for "R7-T1" might work.

 

It has been discussed and asked before. The entry in the FAQ is all we got:

 

R7-T1
If a ship equipped with R7-T1 is at Range 1–2 and inside the firing arc of an enemy ship, the following sequence occurs: the ship equipped with R7-T1 may acquire a target lock on the enemy ship. Then, the ship equipped with R7-T1 may perform a free boost action, even if it did not acquire a target lock on the enemy ship.

 

That does not address being in range bout outside arc. By implication you cannot do anything in that case. That's not explicitly spelled out, though.

[Buhallin 4,563]

The R7-T1 ruling is an intent ruling, pure and simple.  Don't try and read it for precedent, because (as you point out) doing so breaks a number of other cards.

 

The ability templating in X-wing is pretty weak, and leads to a lot of these sorts of wording conflicts/differences.

[Firespray-32 5,424]

What's sad is these cards could be made unambigious so easily just by using commas instead of separating connected effects into their own stages. That, or change the silly, arbitrary ruling that you can't relock a ship you're locked on to. Then there'd be no reason not to make the R7-T1 lock compulsory.

[TheDoncastrian 0]

Is it not worrying that the only thing stopping these things being used as precedent is literally "don't do that"?
A simple "and/or" would have been useful in this instance.