Duran'Adar

[wiegeabo]

Duran'Adar's ability prevent the ship from receiving aux tokens this game round.

Does that mean cards that place aux tokens can still be played for the ability that round?

For example, can Admiral Q be used?

If I reveal a red maneuver, then activate Duran'Adar, can I still use Q's action to turn around even though Duran'Adar would prevent Q's auxes from being placed?

[stawrulesteam]

Duran'Adar prevents all Auxiliary Power Tokens from being placed beside your ship.

If you perform a red maneuver, you do not get an Auxiliary Power Token.

If you use Admiral Q, you do not receive Auxiliary Power Tokens.

However, it's important to note, if an ability has a cost of placing one or more Auxiliary Power Token beside a ship and Duran'Adar's ability is currently active on that ship, you cannot pay that cost and therefore cannot activate that effect.

[crazyvulcan]

However, it's important to note, if an ability has a cost of placing one or more Auxiliary Power Token beside a ship and Duran'Adar's ability is currently active on that ship, you cannot pay that cost and therefore cannot activate that effect.

Could you elaborate on this? How is the Aux Tokens for Admiral Q not considered a cost and other cards would? Would an example like Enhanced Hull Platting having to cost an Aux Token? Or the USS Lakota Ability? This ruling makes what is considered a cost vs what is a penalty very hard to understand.

[stawrulesteam]

The two specific examples you pointed out are both parts of the effect. This means that, under the effect of Duran'adar, you could activate the ability and not get the Auxiliary Power Token for doing so.

A good rule of thumb to figure out if something is a cost or not is by asking yourself "What do I have to do/spend and what does that get me?"

Looking at the U.S.S. Lakota:

When attacking, during the Modify Attack Dice step, you may convert 1 of your [HIT] results into 1 [CRIT] result. If you do so, place an Auxiliary Power Token beside your ship.

The first half of that question "What do I have to do/spend?" in this situation is: I have to be attacking and it has to be during the Modify Attack Dice step.

The second half of the question "What does that get me?" in this situation is: I can convert 1 [HIT] into 1 [CRIT], but if I choose to do that, I also have to place an Auxiliary Power Token beside this ship.

Lets look at the Scimitar for another example:

After you attack while Cloaked, you place place an Auxiliary Power Token beside your ship to keep your Cloak Token from flipping to its red side.

"What do I have to do/spend?": I have to have just attacked, I have to be Cloaked, and I have to place an Auxiliary Power Token beside my ship.

"What does that get me?": I can keep my Cloak Token from flipping to its red side.

The Scimitar's ability has a cost that includes placing an Auxiliary Power Token beside it. Therefore, if Duran'Adar's ability was active on the Scimitar, you could not pay this cost and could not activate this ability as a result.

Ultimately, it comes down to the order of operations. If I have to put an Auxiliary Power Token beside my ship to gain some effect, it's a cost. If I perform some effect and then that effect places an Auxiliary Power Token beside my ship, it's part of the effect and not a cost.