Rifleman Archive

As anyone can see by using a rifle, any rifle user is severely handicapped upclose. We have that pesky x2.5 melee damage modifier while we carry a rifle.

Of course, there are things we can do as riflemen to keep our prey away from us while we hunt.

The most obvious thing is go after humanoids, especially faction humanoids, as they fight almost exclusively with ranged weapons.

The second most obvious is go out and invest in a probe droid or a nice pet. If your probe droid is taking damage 60m away, you can plug at that baddy all you want with that laser rifle and you'll hit every bloody time. By the Force, it doesn't even have to be a pet, a friendly melee-class buddy or pistoleer will gladly move in close to take that damage for you. Its what pistoleers and melees do: they get in close and take damage so you won't have to. Sure, you won't get as much XP if the guy is about the same level as you, but as I've read elsewhere, we're a support class and thus we don't solo nearly as well as the pistols...

Again, this is only a half truth. Because Sony did a wonderful thing by slipping in alot of nice moves in marksman that help manage the critters. The first is warning shot. If you land the hit, that stupid critter is going to run for the hills. What? You say you can't fire a second shot before that creature has closed in short with your T21 and Laser rifle? Perhaps, thats why the E11 was created, armor piercing, relatively low ham, decent overall accuracy, and it bases right around 4.8 for speed... Hmmm, if I got a speed power up on that, I'm sitting right at 3.3 speed. THAT is fast enough to fire a second shot and make warning shot useful. Again, every weapon has its purpose and the uber damage weapon isn't always the best to use in a situation.

Also in marksman is supression shot, which can force an enemy into a kneeling position, giving you time to evade. Why don't we use that?

Finally, if someone does get in close, why not switch weapons again (see my spraystick article) or flat out unequip the rifle and hit burst run? You aren't going to do anything with that T21 in close, so why have it equipped if its just going to kill you quicker? Unequip your weapon and hit the good ol' burst run and you'll stand a much better chance of getting out of the situation without being planted in the dirt.

(If a melee creature can drop you in one shot, you are obviously fighting a red con, which isn't smart to do anyway. You have to expect incaps and deaths if you're doing this)