Revenant · Board game rules
do frigate cards abilities trigger only when you board frogate, or anytime when applicable trigger is activated?
Quick answer
It depends on the ability type: Frigate-modifying effects on Equipment cards only apply when you place your Crew figure on your Frigate for the Main action; Activate-icon abilities can be triggered anytime as a Bonus action, regardless of crew placement.
Details
Equipment cards are attached to your Frigate board and can modify your Frigate's actions [p.5 — Improvement cards]. The rulebook specifies that "Your Frigate's actions can be modified by your proved Equipment cards... (if you place that figure on your Frigate)" [p.4 — Frigate (player ship)], meaning these modifications only take effect when you actually resolve a Frigate Main action (i.e., you placed a Crew figure on your own Frigate that turn).
However, some Equipment and Training cards grant abilities marked with the Activate icon. These are resolved independently through the "Activate ability" Bonus action: "Resolve all abilities with the Activate icon. You start with one on your Crew board, but you can get more by playing Equipment and Training cards. You choose in which order to activate your different abilities with the Activate icon" [p.5 — Bonus action]. This Bonus action can be chosen on any turn, regardless of which ship your Crew figure was placed on for the Main action.
Watch out: Don't confuse the two — a Frigate-action modifier (e.g., "when you Deal Damage with your Frigate, also...") only fires if you actually took the Frigate's Main action that turn, while an Activate-icon ability fires whenever you choose the "Activate ability" Bonus action, even if your Crew figure was placed elsewhere (like a Fighter or an Arkship) [p.4-5 — Main action / Bonus action].