Ships with a Special Battery Armament and some upgrade cards feature the ignition [range] keyword.
At the end of a ship’s activation, if it has the ignition [range] keyword, that ship may place its targeting token within its special firing arc and within the range specified by its ignition keyword.
- If a ship has multiple ignition [range] keywords, (such as those granted by upgrade cards) its targeting token can be placed within any of the specified ranges.
- At the beginning of a ship’s Attack step, if its targeting token is in play, that ship must perform an ignition attack against a ship in the special firing arc that its targeting token is within as its first attack during this activation, if able. At the end of a ship’s Attack step, or after it performs an ignition attack, remove its targeting token.
- While performing an ignition attack, firing arc, range, and line of sight are measured from the attacker’s ship token as normal, with the following exceptions:
◊ Ignition attacks can be declared against ships beyond the length of the range ruler, which is considered extreme range.
◊ Firing arc is measured using the attacker’s special firing arc that the targeting token is within, instead of using that hull zone’s standard firing arc.
◊ Attack dice are gathered from the attacker’s special battery armament based on the range measured from the attacker’s targeting token to any part of the defender’s ship token (even another hull zone), instead of the attack range.
- Some critical effects contain the ignition keyword as part of their header (e.g. Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannons). These critical effects can only be resolved during ignition attacks.
Source: RRG 1.5.0 p.9