BMM p46 "Transferring Criticals" states:
If a critical hit cannot be applied to a location, it might transfer to another location. This depends on the situation at the time of the hit.
If all possible slots in the damaged location had already taken critical hits in previous phases or turns, or are otherwise inapplicable slots (see above), the critical hit transfers to the next location per the Damage Transfer Diagram. Critical hits to the center torso and head never transfer.
If all possible slots in the damaged location were not hit in previous phases, any excess critical hits do not transfer and are lost.
The "see above" in the second paragraph refers to this definition of inapplicable slots:
- the slot has already taken a critical hit
- the slot is empty
- the slot cannot take critical damage (such as endo-steel, CASE, TSM, or ferro-fibrous armor slots)
Depending on the definition of "already" in the first bullet point, one could read that as "earlier in the phase," leading to the conclusion that this rule only applies to the current
attack, and that if all slots are destroyed the next attack can transfer any critical hits rolled.
That reading is at odds with the flowchart on p42 (which says in step 4 "At the start of this phase, did the location have any components that could take a critical hit?") and the example near the top of p46 ("As
all possible slots in the location were not hit before this phase..."). This reading also requires one to assume that the second paragraph is resolved before the third's "If all possible slots in the damaged location were not hit in previous phases, any excess critical hits do not transfer and are lost" is resolved. Finally, Xotl's previous answers on related critical hit transfer make a general statement about "at the beginning of the phase."
That said, the wording in the rules on p46 is vague enough that I'm seeing some players argue the reading that a slot
immediately becomes "inapplicable" upon being hit, especially since that case isn't explicitly called out anywhere (except possibly the flowchart). Could we please get an explicit ruling on this, and perhaps errata?
