Ok, I’m digging up an old one here… hopefully it will get another look.
This is from the second edition rules, page 16:
Carriers attack only at “1”; but they defend at “3” or less. Any time a carrier is attacked, its fighter planes are considered to be defending in the air; so if a hit is scored, the carrier owner could choose to eliminate one of his or her planes as a casualty rather than losing a carrier.
However, given the context, the statement “any time a carrier is attacked” still seems ambiguous to me. Does it mean “any time an attacking or defending carrier is attacked”, or does it mean “any time a defending carrier is attacked” ??
I looked at the rule clarifications here: http://www.aamc.net/bunker/aaruleclrfd.htm
and found the following under the Carriers and Fighters section:
2. If you have a fighter on one of your own carriers and it is flying out to attack, you must launch it before your carrier moves! Otherwise, if the carrier moved first with fighter on board and then the fighter moved, the plane’s range would be extended illegally; the same rule applies during the non combat phase. A carrier cannot move after a plane has landed on it, for it would extend a plane’s range illegally.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t really help clarify this example.
The replies in this thread seem to indicate that the ability to be selected as a casualty applies to both attacking and defending fighters. I think during an attack the allied fighters would technically still be landed on the carrier, as I believe that the intent of the rules is that they can only take off on the allied player’s turn. Hence, I wonder if they really should be able to be selected as casualties, or if they just “go down with the ship”, like transport cargo.
Thoughts?