Question about spending dice

Ok, so I am brand new to the WOIN rule set and I was seeing how you can spend dice to add damage or to get alternate effects from Exploits. Just want to clarify that you have to spend the dice out of your final calculated pool. For example if your base pool would be greater than your Rank allows you cannot spend the dice that would normally be lost toward these extra effects, right?

I am totally being sucked into this due to the Somerset Landing adventure that is upcoming. I had the old Leading Edge Games Aliens RPG back in high school.

There’s a sidebar in the book which explains the order of operations (and it’s covered in the rules FAQ too). Short version: cap your att+skill+equip dice pool and then apply exploits and spend dice.

Glad to hear Xenomorphs is getting attention. I think that book is gorgeous! Can’t wait to get it out there!