Stress

No pun intended, but this category is stressful. (Really, the questions that pop up about pilot stress are many and complicated) *Special thanks to Ozzie2602*

There are several ways to get a Stress token. The most important thing to remember is that "A ship with a stress token cannot perform Actions OR Free Actions."

Pilot Stress Check is step #4 in the Planning phase, and it is a bit of a misnomer because it really only checks 2 things - 1) Did the ship perform a Red maneuver? If so, here's a token. And 2) Did the ship perform a Green Maneuver? If so, remove a token; this step name is a misnomer because you can get stress in other phases, so it isn't only in this step that you get Stressed (but it is the only step that gets rid of it, to my knowledge).

The following is the explanation of one of the more intricate applications of Stress rules, and timing.

"Night Beast" can perform a free focus immediately after a green manuever; however he cannot if he is stressed. He performs a green maneuver (Movement is step #3 in the phase order). Immediately (before the next step occurs) he has the option for a free focus, however, since he is Stressed, he cannot take a free action. Now step #4 happens and the stress token is removed.

Kath Scarlett is probably the most common cause for Stress outside of movement.