If your opponent does not declare how many activations they are going to do, you must remind them to do so as it is a non-optional effect like evade or force renewal.

Knowingly overlooking a rules mistake of your opponent is considered cheating.

neither the SWMini Manager nor the BlooMilk site indicates that you need to announce it at the start of your phase. So I was just wondering, what does the actual card say, since I don't have the fig but have seen it play and was considering using it on the online site

BlooMilk Text : "Commander Effect - You can choose to activate only 1 character in each phase. (This includes Droid and Savage characters.)"

SWMini Manager has the exact same text. I guess I'm confused where it says you have to announce at the start of your activation phase

Yeah, Grand Moff Tarkin is the first example of this being answered, but they work just like Careful Shot in a way. Generally, when an effect is optional, you MUST declare it if you want to use it. Which is why the activating 2 unless I otherwise say is better than activating 1 unless I say so.

The FAQ, under Grand Moff Tarkin. This is the precedent that if you modify the number of activations in a phase, you must choose at the start of the phase.

Pretty much, General Dodonna is affecting your phase, so you must use his CE when the phase starts.

Going back to the Careful Shot example, as it is the one that most applies. You cannot declare that you are using it once you have rolled the attack. This is similar, in that you cannot choose how many activations you want in a phase after you have taken your first turn in that phase.

Two follow up questions...

Where is the FAQ?

Going back to the Mobile Attack example, you can move three spaces, attack, then decide where if anywhere you're going to move. This allows you to see the result before making the final decision. Why is this different? Based on what you're saying, shouldn't you have to declare where you're going to end up after making the first moves and before determining the results of the attack?

"Q: Can Grand Moff Tarkin use this ability more than once per round?
A: Yes, it applies at the beginning of every one of your phases."
This is the one they've been referencing. It says you make the choice at the beginning of each phase.

The definitive FAQ can be found on the Holocron. Anything found on WotC's site is simply an outdated piece of information that happened to escape the purge.

So let me get this straight. You are actually lamenting that Dodonna isn't more powerful???? Lol.

Doesn't matter in the least. The rule is (based on a long precedent) that you must decide at the beginning of a phase if you are going to alter your activation total or not. It applies to all tempo control pieces in the game. You can read whatever you want, however you want to, and it won't change that this has been the official ruling made by Nickname, and supported by Rob the designer as his intent to how it's supposed to work.

It's specifically this way for Dodonna because it makes the player have to decide 1-2 before seeing what happens with 1. You are being overly literal in reading what you want out of his CE.

This game works in segments, and generally speaking, you can't break up a section of it without the figure specifically saying it can do so.

What I mean by this is the order of a round. Generally you roll init first, then the winner decides who will go first. Once the player going first begins to activate, you cannot then go back and change your mind on the init, because the timing for that choice has ended. The same is true here. The timing for choosing to change the normal activation rule, is at the beginning of a phase. Once you move on from that part of the round, you cannot go back to it later.

If you think that isn't clear, take the following example. Recon gives you two init rolls and the player can choose either one. Let's say you also had a figure with reserves on a roll of a 1, and your init rolls were 15,1 and your opponent's roll was 14. You can either choose reserves and lose init, or win init and forgo the reserves. Once you make that choice, you cannot go back and change your mind later in the round can you? Obviously not. Yet there is nothing in the recon ability that specifically says you must choose at the start of the round.

So according to your argument, I could actually change my roll mid round and claim my reserves correct? Of course not. But the only reason it works this way, is because the timing of the way the game is played means that init must be fully determined before you move onto the the player phases - even though nothing in the recon ability states anything like that. The same is true of Dodonna. You must decide 1-2 at the start of the phase before you begin activating, because that is the time in the round that is designated to do so, based on a long precedent from Rebel Storm. All tempo control figures work this way.

Another example are the "end of turn" events. Some figures can do a variety of things at the "end of turn". However, you must "end the turn" before you can access them - such as using override. Once you do so, you cannot go back to the attack or move parts of a turn. Again, nothing specifically says you couldn't other than the timing of the game. "End of turn" is a point in time that once begun cannot be undone. This is how the game functions. You are basically arguing that in one case (dodonna) you should be able to go back in time based on an argument of "silence". That is incorrect because in this rule set, which is an exception based rule set, the only way you can ever do something that breaks the normal rules is if the ability specifically says you can do so. Saying nothing, does not mean it is ok. Everything in this game works in the reverse of that. It must say it, in order to do it.

Case in point. Using your own example of mobile attack. The only reason movement can be broken up into two different time segments, is specifically because mobile says you can do so. Dodonna does not say that you can choose later in the phase, and it would have to specifically say that it can be done at any time in a phase to allow what you want it to say. Since it does not, the normal rule applies, which is the precedent that these choices are made at the start of a phase, before activations begin.

I wrote the FAQ since 2007ish.

No specific entry was considered necessary for Dodonna since all the Tarkin precidents were considered to apply.

Sithborg's answer is correct, as was Bill's explanation for why.

This was all covered on the WotC rules forum long ago and a Search should turn it up. Or you can ask the question there again if you'd like the answer in "official" form.

Arguing it at this late stage is kind of pointless.