"X-Wing, Target Lock question." Topic

If you perform "Acquire Target Lock" action in one round. Can you perform other actions in subsequent rounds till you spend the "target lock"? Or does maintaining the lock considered an action?

Thanks, Xin

You can take any action you like in subsequent rounds without losing your lock. Lock is the only action that "carries over" from round to round. If you take another Target Lock action, the old one goes away and you establish a new one.

So let me get this right….
I can 'target lock' one round, and "focus' the next?
Then I get to roll dice and the 'eye's hit and I get to reroll misses due to the 'lock'?

That seems a bit unbalanced to me…

It is two turns of actions, but yes that it is my reading of the rules.

Another curious thing is you can get a target lock on "A", and maintain it while firing normally at target "B". The lock stays maintained until you use it to re-roll dice, so even if you roll well against your TL'd target, there's no need to spend your Target Lock simply because you shot him. You also lose your Target Lock if you acquire a lock on some other target.

And Darth, with his two actions, can "Target Lock" and then "Focus" in one turn. I'm glad he's in a ship that only throws two dice.

He's the dark lord of the Sith – what do you expect???? :)

So let me get this right….
I can 'target lock' one round, and "focus' the next?
Then I get to roll dice and the 'eye's hit and I get to reroll misses due to the 'lock'?

Yes.

That seems a bit unbalanced to me…

It isn't. Two turns worth of actions is a long time, and your locked target will probably be maneuvering to avoid your front arc, so it might take even longer to get your dream shot off.

What if…

The X-wing get a target lock on a TIE fighter:
The TL will stay with that ship all the time until used only if:
1) it stays in his firing range?
2) even if the TIE fighter flies out of the X-Wing's firing range?

I presume it may have to be as long as the target is in range, and possibly even, if it remains in the firing arc too.

Granted, the firing arc is rather large, but against a sharp turning, or barrel rolling foe, it may be harder than it first appears.

Of course, if you are piloting a Y-Wing, with a 360 degree Ion Cannon, then "you're in like Flint".

The target lock only goes away when you use it, or when you establish a target lock on a different target. Range only matters when establishing a lock in the first place, and firing arc never matters.

This is not the game-breaking big deal you seem to think it is. Most of the time locks serve as enabler for ordnance launches, or as a "nothing better to do with my action" consolation prize that might pay off in a future turn. If you have a target you can actually fire on with guns the same turn you first lock it up, you'd generally have been better off using focus instead.

Can you use a target lock in the same turn that you established the lock?

Yes you can use your TL straight away, your action is the TL and then when it is your turn to fire you can spend the TL. This is especially important when using weapon systems that require a TL in the first place like proton torpedoes. With these the TL is spent just to launch the torpedo and does not therefore give the benefit of rerolls to hit for the torpedo. You can only use the TL ability with your primary weapon to get rerolls to hit AFAIK.

Yes that is how we play it out in the great plains states!

VR
James Mattes

Chief Lackey Rich, is this info somewhere on the FFG boards or rule clarifications?

Or is that a house rule?

> is this info somewhere on the FFG boards or rule clarifications?

It's just written this way in the rulebook.

Yep, no further clarification needed – that's simply what's in the rules; lock is acquired when you take the action against a target in range, and lost when "used" or a new target lock's acquired. There's nothing in there about losing a lock when the target passes out of range or arc, so you don't.

Wow. I didn't read it that way.
My interpretation was that a lock was only good for the turn you applied it.

Nope. It stays on the ship until you use it or use the Action to lock on another target. That's why the tokens are all matched letters-- so you can keep track from turn to turn of who locked on to whom.

Richard – check the "end phase" rules on page 13; you remove all evade and focus tokens; target locks and stress tokens stay in play.

I don't think it's over powered. After having played a bunch of times Target Lock and Focus aren't that powerful, even when combined. It means two rounds of actions to get there and probably means one extra hit most of the time. That just isn't very over powered in my book.

Agreed!

I would second that target lock does not make play uneven as long as the point totals are about the same. I play 10 points or so under with my two sons, but they are getting much better, so they might have to give me an extra 10 points.
VR
James Mattes

Thanks ya'll.
Somehow I missed that.