I'm not 'official-y', so take this with the appropriate bags of salt
I believe you may do so, as the ability does not explicitly name only CDoS etc

No, you cannot.

@Sithborg,
may I inquire as to why a piece that counts as Dooku cannot be brought in via affinity which says 'contains Dooku"?
Is it because the 'Name' of the card does not contain Dooku? (I have a suspicion this is where the spurious counter-intuitive outcome arises from).
Thanks ahead of time.

@Darth Reignir,
oh well.
that intended squad does sound nasty potentially... luckily, there are houserules to abrogate things - with your opponent's consent of course.

Unique has two versions. Or actually 3, I guess.

1. Unique. No definition. You can't have two copies of this character or any other character who counts as this character. Definitions are usually not needed because there's no confusion.

2. Unique [Counts as X]. You see this version to show that a character can't be in a squad with another character that he counts as, but where there might be some confusion. For example, Mandalore the Preserver's card says "Counts as Canderous Ordo" because many people don't know they're the same person. Mandalore the Preserver does not get any benefits that specifically name Canderous Ordo, however. His name is "Mandalore the Preserver" and just can't be in a squad with any other version of Canderous Ordo.

3. Unique [Counts as a character named X]. In this version of the definition, the character counts as the named character for the purposes of Unique, and *also* gets the benefit of any ability that references the name. For example, Chewie's Unique says "Counts as a character named Chewbacca". So any bonus granted to "Chewbacca" or "a character whose name contains Chewbacca" is also granted to Chewie.

Ok, I am really not trying to be a pain. I'm just making sure I'm understanding.

So then 2x YV Firebreathers would QUALIFY for Specialization? But a YV Ossus Protector would be DISQUALIFIED because it "counts as" a YV warrior, correct?

Protector is only disqualified if you run another Protector or if you run another character who counts as a YV Warrior (either an actual YV Warrior or any of the multitude of guys who count as a YV Warrior)

Think of it like this: If you have any two characters with the same name, then Specialization doesn't work. "A Yuuzhan Vong Firebreather" has the same name as a "Yuuzhan Vong Firebreather" (an exact duplicate/itself). Therefore, your squad would have two characters with the same name, and thus Specialization wouldn't work.

If you have "Tsavong Lah, Warrior Elite" in your squad, then he counts as having the name "Tsavong Lah, Warrior Elite." As long as you don't have more than one character with that name in your squad, the condition for Specialization isn't violated, and it still works. (Since Tsavong Lah has Unique, and you can only have one of him in your squad, this shouldn't ever be an issue.)

Say you have a Yuuzhan Vong Warrior and a Yuuzhan Vong Ossus Protector, though. The Yuuzhan Vong Warrior's name is "Yuuzhan Vong Warrior." The Ossus Protector, though, has two names: "Yuuzhan Vong Ossus Protector" (because that's the name on the card), and "Yuuzhan Vong Warrior" (because of the Yuuzhan Vong Warrior SA). If you have both of those in a squad, then you would have two characters with the same name--two characters who count as "Yuuzhan Vong Warrior." Therefore, Specialization wouldn't work.


It's a bit wordy, but does that help?

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EDIT:

Oh, and for this:


Yep, that's exactly why. If the affinity specifies "name contains," then the character's name must CONTAIN the word specified (in this case, "Dooku").
If the Affinity said "character who counts as Dooku," however, that would be different.

so let me use another example to see if I understand this correctly.

Characters involved: "Darth Caedus, Sith Lord" , "Captain Shevu", "Galactice Alliance Officer"

Captain Shevu has Comraderie with "Allies whose names contain Jacen Solo", which gives them Galactic Alliance. Darth Caedus is unique, but it doesn't necessarily say he counts as "Jacen Solo". Galactic Alliance Officer's CE says "Allies whose names Contain Galactic Alliance gain Flak Shield."

So if Darth Caedus's card said "Counts as Jacen Solo" then he would gain Flak Shield. But because it doesn't say that, he won't get it. Are these correct?

And if so, that means assuming I have all the affinity for this to work, I could theoretically have both Jacen Solo, and Darth Caedus on the same squad together?

juice_man is right.

"Counts as Jacen Solo" would only mean that he counts for the purpose of the Unique Special Ability. (Caedus and Jacen can't be in a squad together.)

In order to qualify for Captain Shevu's Camaraderie it would have to say, "Counts as a character named Jacen Solo."