Rifleman Archive

Is it just me, or is there something lacking in the significance of defense in this game? Sure we get armor and modifiers to ranged defense, knockdown, posture change, etc. but the sole determining factor of combat is pure offensive power. Therefore, the most offensive professions of the game will always be the kings of PvP (Bounty Hunters and master Riflemen, for instance). I propose a way to make ranged defense play a much bigger role in SWG.

Ranged Toughness.

Yes, ranged toughness. Melee characters have a toughness skill modifier that decreases the overall amount of melee damage they take per shot, so wouldn’t it make sense that an elite marksman profession should gain some modifier against ranged attacks? This would also help define the roles of certain marksman professions a bit more, with some of the close ranged gunners (Pistoleers or Carbineers) receiving more defense then, say, a sniper or Bounty Hunter.

The main reason I would like to see something like this implemented is to give Carbineers and Pistoleers a distinct use in large-scale battles. Decreasing the amount of damage you take in a 1 on 1 encounter would probably have minimal effect on the outcome, but when under heavy fire and with a well-organized group (Doctor buffs, Squad Leader bonuses, spices, damage being done to all pools, etc.) it would help enormously. Bounty Hunters, in their current state, receive few (if any) defensive modifiers. The modifiers that Pistoleers and Carbineers receive do very little to turn the tide in any battle situation. By giving the game’s front-line fighters some advantage in large-scale battle situations (being able to last longer under heavy fire then Bounty Hunters or Medics) we would actually have a reason to trek up the pistol and carbine path instead of being forced to become a Bounty Hunter to have a use in PvP.

An obvious problem to this would be when Bounty Hunters dabble in pistol or carbine to gain ranged toughness and become all-powerful, right? To counter this potential problem, scatter the bonuses to ranged toughness throughout all the 3rd and 4th tier branches of each elite profession as well as significant bonuses at master level. This would force dabblers to only achieve 1 or 2 bonuses (most of their skill points would be used up from Bounty Hunting) before completely using up their skill points. Pistoleers and Carbineers would still be able to gain 4-8 bonuses and still have room left over to use stim packs and thus last much longer in battle.

So, thoughts, suggestions, ideas? Keep it civil folks, mature discussion only please.

I am a master rifleman. The damage isn't half bad (if you don't count heavy weapons) but there are 2 main problems... Our weapons are crap and the 2.5x damage modifier. Main reason I even mentioned the heavy weapons before is that supposedly 2.5x damage modifier was put on riflemen because they could kill people in one shot in pvp. That not really the case anymore, it's the heavy weapons that are capable now. Even with the 75% reduction they can kill you two times over in one shot. Only once over if you have your stats buffed above 2k.

The 2.5x damage is total BS and should be done away with for 2 reasons.

First reason: Heavy weapons don't suffer this penalty but can do about2-4 times the damage of a master rifleman on average without even using specials and therefor can be firing at things at any range up to max. The specials are only close range, but the standard attacks tend to do 1k+ damage per shot. I do not care if they miss half the time, rifle miss a good deal as well due to our range modifiers be crap other than right around ideal range. Heavy weapon modifiers are near 0 an any range (way better than suck at max and min with good at one point near max).

Second reason: Rifles are great melee weapons. Period.

Yes, heavy weapons are screwed up. Try to keep this thread on topic though.

The fact that riflemen have negative melee defense is completely on topic. And heavy weapons not suffering this penalty is proof that something is messed up the defense area. The whole concept of defense in this game needs to be redone so that it makes sense and is actually useful to have.

Not a bad idea overall. But very poorly placed. Pistol and carbineer need NOTHING compared to rifleman. If you can't see this go back to school and learn a little basic math. As a rifleman you gain the most effective skill in the game to accomplish your own death. That would be... holding a rifle. The damage output of a rifle is soooooo far behind heavy weapons right now that there is absolutely no justification on rifle users taking more damage in any way. Pistols do as much, if not more, damage as rifles and carbines do just fine for themselves despite the unjustifiable extra damage from melee hits.

You are very correct about defense being meaningless, though. You do gain a little defense here and there, but it does nothing when the next level of NPC enemygains 3k HAM and 400 extra damage even at range.

This is why I specifically said master riflemen. It is indeed true that Novice riflemen poorly lack in overall damage, but masters are killing machines o' death. They can easily out damage a Pistoleer or Carbineer of similar skill.

Yes, it's true that pistols and carbines don't need a smuch attention as rifles (actually I'm not too sure on carbines, I haven't seen a Carbineer in a loooong time though) but overall this would help balance out and define the roles of the different marksmen. Also, rifles aren't supposed to do as much damage as heavy weapons. Besides, heavy weapons are so over-powered right now that it's sickening ...

Rifleman having negative melee defense is indeed a topic of debate for Riflemen, but this thread is mainly aimed at introducing a new way to give more definition to the elite professions through the use of bolstering defensive usefulness for specific professions (as opposed to slapping on some armor and being able to take a beating regardless of being a Pistoleer, Carbineer, Bounty Hunter, or Dancer).

Heavy weapons not suffering a penalty is, in my eyes, perfectly fine. I can understand alot of frustration that stems from it though. Again, this isn't something I intend to discuss on this thread.

Heavy weapons doing 2.5x damage to us (melee damage at 64 meters? **edit**?) is most likely a bug. Again, lets try to keep this focused on a new way to improve the overall effectiveness of ranged defense in the game (as opposed to fixing existing and well-known imbalances).

Funny ... I never knew w-t-fwas a bad word ...