Weaponsmith Archive

I like the weaponsmith profession as it's one of the closest to functional in the game. But since the first day of the game, several continuity issues have bothered me greatly. This is, I would hope, supposed to be a Star Wars based game and not simply a fantasy game with Star Wars skins and mages renamed as marksmen. Putting together a project of the size of SWG must be horrendous, so I spent the last week combing through the books and RPG materials I have as well as rewatching the movies to try to put together some of the main continuity issues related to weaponsmithing. I have tried to incorporate possible fixes for some other weaponsmith problems in my suggestions. These are from the perspective of making the game more into Star Wars and not at all about turning everything into a supergun.

Companies - In the Star Wars universe, there are standard production companies. BlasTech and Merr-Sonn are the primary two. The absence of these companies (as well as Tenloss, manufacturer of the DX series disruptor weapons) is a significant departure from the established continuity. The addition of these companies offers a partial solution to the "all I can do is grind,because my weapons suck" problem so often voiced by non-masters.

Implementation: I don't want to force people into joining one of these companies. But they should exist peripherally in the form of missions from NPCs at company locations or vendors at these locations.

Lowest stage mission: BlasTech subcontracts forcompleted DL-18 pistols.

Description: There's always a battle going on somewhere in the back of beyond, and in many of those cases, the combatants will take whatever they can get. In cases where BlasTech finds no benefit in suporting one side over the other and sees little chance of repeat sales, subcontracting is a common practice. Requirements: Construct 10DL-18sand bringto BlasTech representative for payment 1.8 credits per resource (including those used to build subcomponents.) Crates not accepted by representative since the factory datastamp would cause legal issues for BlasTech upon repackaging the materials.

This type of mission is not terribly out of synch with crafting missions seeing as how the crafter has to provide his or her own components for these items, whereas crafting missions provide the comonents for the crafter. Another alternative would be to create vendors for these companies with set prices for the blasters and a much reduced listing cost. For example, the RPG lists the DL-18 as selling for 500 credits. You place the item for free, and if it sells within a week, you get 450 credits, otherwise this vendor eats it and you get 1.5 credits per resource used for that weapon.DL-18s (D18s in SWG,theL is missing)sold to the BlasTech vendor should be renamed: BlasTech DL-18 and stats should be set to the same as a loot drop at full condition. This way, the company exists without removing the crafter, since higher quality "modified" weapons will be sold elsewhere and the company stock relies on subcontracting to crafters.

Ammunition/Power - There were two reasons that blasters were supposed to be more common than slugthrowers in the SW universe. First was that they had more firing capacity though their shots were slower, and second was that they had a much greater stun effect even when not set to stun, which tended to reduce combatants' abilities even before killing them. SWG has no stun setting at all. Not all blasters have stun settings, but none do here. Implenetation of a workable stun setting is problematic, so I can understand this. But the ammunition element really should be involved. What this results in is limited shots for slugthrower weapons at higher shot speeds and minor AP: Tusken Rifle, Striker Pistol, FWG. Droid batteries need to be renamed "Power Cells" and then they can be used for both blaster recharge and droid recharge. A second item "Ammunition Clip" should be created for the slugthrower weapons. A singlepower cellcharge should recharge 50 combat rounds. A single ammunition clip should recharge 10 combat rounds.

Striker Pistol - Currently nobody uses this at all, because it doesn't reflect the strengths it's supposed to have. The striker pistol should have a limited shot capacity before reload. The RPG lists it as 8 shots, but the way this game works,16 shots or so would be better.It should be the fastest ranged weapon out there, allowing a good smith to take it down below 1.0 second attack speed.. The damageshould be all right, but it should carryAR1 kinetic damage to compensate for the low shot capacity. When it runs out of ammunition, drag an ammo clip onto the gun to reload. All slughthrowers should have a much lower movement penalty than blasters. Lasers should have almost no movement penalty, thrown weapons should have the highest movement penalties. This relates to the speed at which the shots themselves move, not the firing rate which is what attack speed relates to. Manufactured by Oriolanis Defense Systems. The RPG lists the range as 100m, but since the game will not handle acceptable blaster ranges, I've decided to cut all suggested ranges in half. So 50m for the Striker. This weapon is perfectly legal, everywhere.

FWG5 - Full name: Firepower Incorporated FWG-5 Flechette Smart Pistol. For those who don't know what a flechette is, it's a wad of cloth with some polymer to give it mass and make it stick. The cloth is treated with phosphorous compounds or explosives to cause it to catch fire or explode after sticking to the targt. It is not capable of being armor piercing, but it does set things on fire and do some concussive damage, and since the projectile being moved is extremely light, it doesn't take a huge powder charge to get it moving, and it doesn't take long to lose its momentum. These should be very accurate up close, shoot almost as rapidly as the Striker pistol. Like the Striker, this should have 16 charges before reloading. The point of flechettes is to cause lots and lots of pain. This gun should have a high chance of stunning the target and an incredibly small chance of setting them on fire for a couple of rounds for a couple hundred damage points. I'm talking 1 in 100 chance for the flame DOT, at which point it does 200 to 400 damage. A cleaner way to deal with the weapon mightbe to have it split its damage as 75% heat, 25% blast instead of attaching a DOT to the weapon. But the most fitting with the SW universe is to have the damage split along WITH the DOT. This weapon is illegal in Empire controlled space. Carrying it openly should have every stormtrooper in the area trying to kill you, whether you think you're neutral or not. If you're Imperial and don't have a permit for it (which should be an Imperial faction perk) you should lose the weapon and lose as many FP as would be required to purchase the permit (without actually getting it; this is punishment for failing to register...you might have been trying to pass the weapon to undesirables.) If you are wielding it and are rebel or neutral, they should be all over you trying to kill you.

Tusken Rifle - As pointed out by others, this should be kinetic damage, not energy. The AR1 on it is also correct. The rifle should be able to fire 24 rounds before reloading and carry only minor movement penalties. This is what they used to shoot at podracers travelling at 600 kph and hit a few. Point blank should carry some penalties, as it's long and unwieldy, but from 6m out to 60m there should be significant hit bonuses. From 80m to 100m it should drop off significantly to wind up around -70 for the penalty at the end of the range. RPG lists the range as 200m, movies had the shot at much larger distances than that. But SWG can handle 100m as a max range, and a little more for some rifles.

D18 - This is the only blaster I'll cover in this segment. First off, it's a BlasTech DL-18, not a D18. That needs to be corrected. Beyond that, the DL-18 is the generic blaster pistol. I can't find a reference to a CDEF anywhere (although I expect it's a developer joke: C DEFinition - Blaster Pistol.) The reason the DL-18 is so popular is that it's 1) cheap, 2) really durable, and 3) high powered for its size while being energy efficient. Changing the damage range might throw off the balance, though it could be increased just slightly. The damage on the DL-18 is listed as equivalent with the DL44, but to make it more unique the DL-18 should have enough charge for 400 rounds before reloading rather than the normal 200 for blasters and each power cell should recharge 100 rounds rather than the normal 50. Range for the DL-18 is listed as 120m, so in SWG that would be 60m. This blaster should have the best long range modifiers of any blaster pistol. The speed and point-blank/mid-range modifiers are good. Minimum damage on this blaster should be put equal to the minimum for a DL44, but the top end should remain lower.

Melee weapons - Obviously, by adding ammunition and power to the game, melee weapons gain their primary benefit of endurance. Most melee weapons require no power at all. Those that do have vibro units, and should run for 1000 combat rounds between recharges. A single power cell charge should recharge it fully. If a melee weapon runs out of power, it should just do slightly less damage, whereas a ranged weapon stops working at all until recharged. The element of balance can't be attained without using some sort of ammunition system.

I'll cover more items in the next section. This one is getting too long.

Hedron Baht - Master Artisan/Master Weaponsmith/Master Shuttle Passenger

A major element of distinction between weapons in the SW universe is one that I touched on with the FWG-5: Legality. As there is currently no system for legality in SWG, there's an innate imbalance since all weapons are craftable and equally legal, sliced or not. Most Imperial restrictions fall upon ranged weapons. There are certain exceptions to that rule of thumb, but the Empire is far more worried about getting gunned down most often than it is of getting into a melee brawl. Variations in legality are part of the reason some blasters are used over others. The ones that come to mind immediately are the scout blaster and FWG-5, both of which should make life really hellish for the careless. This ties into Smugglers and their lack of smuggling ability, since you need a law to get around with some cargo before you're really smuggling. As the AI is now undergoing an examination, I would like to make a plea for Stormtroopers and Imperial officers to do random "scans" of players in the vicinity. If the player is wielding a weapon which is illegal, they should deal with the consequences, which include losing the weapon if they don't get away. This can be done by having the player's FP masked as -5k when wielding an illegal weapon if they are neutral or rebel. Though it may run into a problem with the untouchable faction NPCs. Once the player is attacked by the Stormtroopers or officers, they should get a TEF which can only be cleared by surviving for an hour without the AI spotting you again, or by getting killed. This would force the outlaw players away from Imperial towns and into rebel friendly ones or the wilderness...the way it's supposed to be.

Error from section 1: The DL-18 is listed as 100m max range, not 120m, so the SWG range should be 50m, not 60m.

I'll now continue with pistol specific continuity problems:

BlasTech DH-17 Pistol - This weapon is one of the farthest out of line from the SW universe. It's an old blaster, listed as less powerful than the DL44 and DL-18 models, but durable as all getout and longer ranged than most blasters. The graphics on the DH-17 pistol in SWG use the same exact graphic ad animation keyframes as the DH-17 carbine, but the pistol should be smaller. It's hefty looking for a blaster, but still fires one-handed, so the graphic should be reduced by 30% or so and the keyframe should be the regular pistol keyframe. The DH-17 has a max range of 120m, so in SWG that would be 60m, or just leave it at the current 64m. Minimum damage should be about 25% lower than what it is now. Max damage should be about 10% lower. The DH-17 was one of the weakest mid-sized blaster pistols in the SW universe. Condition should be 25% higher than what it is currently even without using experimentation points on it. The DH-17 should hold a charge of 200 combat rounds before reloading. A single power cell should recharge 50 combat rounds worth. (This is using a droid battery as the power cell, simply renaming it. Thus a power cell with 4 charges is a standard "blaster power pack" or full recharge.)

DL44 and DL44 Metal - These are both BlasTech models as well, theough Merr-Sonn made the Flash4 to compete and that eventually was modified into the Power5. Both the DL44 and the DL44 metal should have a steel requirement. The distinctive aspect of the Power5 in addition to carrying additional blaster power was that it was lighter than the DL44. The DL44 weighs in at 1.3kg, the Power5 at 1.1kg. It therefore makes zero sense that our SWG schematic sticks plumbum iron in there on the lighter blaster and just plain copper for the heavier one. Both DL44s need asteel requirement. The DL44 metal should have a higher steel requirement, but have a higher damage potential. The DL44 metal should have a slightly higher health cost due to the higherdamage and slightly higher action cost due to the weight. These should have the standard 200 round charge and each power cell charge recharges 50 combat rounds worth. The DL44s are heavy blasters with a range of 80m, so cutting it in half like all the others would put it at 40m.

Power5 - Now that I prefaced this by saying the DL44 needs to have heavier requirements, the Power5 needs to have lighter requirements. Other than having two power handlers, it should look an awful lot like the scout blaster requirements. The upper end damage should be approximately the same as a DL44 currently, as that's what the Power5 was designed to outperform. Upper end damage should be perhaps 5% above the DL44. The minimum damage should be much higher however, in line with the current minimums on the scout blaster. Range on the Power5 is 80m, and since SWGs range is cramped, I guess that would make it 40m. The Power5 carries enough power for 400 combat rounds. Each power cell charge replenishes 50 combat rounds worth. (This is its benefit for having two power handlers.) The Health cost should be 5% higher than that of the DL44 if the damage is 5% higher. Action cost should be 10% lower, since it's lighter and has a slower firing rate.

Scout Blaster - This is a heavy blaster crammed into the body of a sporting blaster. It should have 25% less starting condition than standard blasters due to the power outstripping the frame. The small size also limits space for the power pack, so it carries only enough charge for 100 combat rounds. A single power cell charge replenishes 50 combat rounds worth. The stubby design was supposedly due to space considerations as well as a flaring crystal attached to make the blaster bolts wider. This caused them to do less penetrating damage but much more stun damage as well as making it easier to hit things with the wider bolts. The scout blaster should have slightly less of a movement penalty than other blasters and high pluses at point blank range. Mid-range (currently misnamed as ideal range) should have a +0, and beyond that it should drop of staggeringly to a -80 at max range. Being in the heavy blaster family, the scout would have an 80m max range, which in SWG terms is 40m.

Tangle Pistol - This can't work properly without crossing a few class lines in this supposedly classless game. The tangle pistol merges two groups into an epoxy inside a blaster barrel. The interior of the barrel is lined with gemstone to keep the epoxy from sticking to the barrel, so the schematic should require an additional gemstone resource requirement of 5 to 10 gemstones to represent this. After it's merged in the barrel, the projectile mechanism ignites a powder charge and lobs it at the target. It should carry8 charges before reload and use "ammo clip" items to reload. Hitting something with this should have the same effect as a knockdown plus the scout trap that slows movement. This weapon should also have a higher chance of damaging the action pool, because nothing else makes sense. That would be its distinction. A low damage pistol that affects action and slows the target. If the player wants to do high damage to action and slow the target, they can be a carbineer.

SR5 Combat - Actual name: SoroSuub Security S-5. This one is almost correct the way it is. The 48m range is good (listed as 80m, on the secuirty model which would be 40m in SWG. An extra 8m for a combat model isn't so much.) The damage is good. The AR1 is good. The range modifiers are horrible. The schematic needs to haveTWO optional scope components. Thefirst scope applies its range modifiers to the mid-range category. The second scope applies its ideal range bonuses to the long range category. TheSoroSuub model used by Luke in the movie had three scope mounts and a grappling hook launcher. Not much call for swinging across chasms in the Death Star here, but giving a +5 terrain negotiation as if it were a skill enhancement while wielding this weapon to reflect the grappling hook would at least be a unique feature.

DX2 - Actual name: Tenloss DX-2 Disruptor. That's right, disruptor, not acid pistol. This thing has a ridiculous range, listed at 6m. Since even the hand-to-hand combatants have a bigger range than that, the range/2 = SWG range doesn't seem to work here. You'd have to leave it at 6m. But to be a disruptor at that range, it should act like a disruptor. Disruptors ignore all armor and turn whatever they hit into ash piles. This is what Vader meant when he told Fett, "No disintegrations." The DXR-6 carbine version has a range of 20m, making it less suicidal to use. As you'd expect from a weapon that ignores all armor except PSGs and starship shields, this thing is illegal as well as horrific. Having one of these things out in the open should result not only in the legality issues I spoke of with the Empire, but should have random citizens running from you if they're melee or non-combat or trying to kill you if they're ranged fighters with more range than your DX. The DX2 when fully loaded has 5 charges. If made to work like a real disruptor, this should probably be made 4 charges for SWG and each power cell replenishes 1 combat round. Yes, that's 1 charge per power handler. And then the Pistoleers will need a special pistol which isn't a melee weapon with flashy effects. I'll make a suggestion later. Right now I'm just covering where SWG departs from SW and how it would need to change to get closer again. As a side note, killing something with this should leave no corpse, so you wouldn't want to try to use it for scouting xp.

All right, that's enough for today. Tomorrow I'll continue with carbines. The above ranges are all halved and the charges are all doubled, except for the DX2, which is not altered on either count. I'd much rather SWG have a range system that allowed for 100m ranges on blasters, 80m on heavy blasters, 200m on carbines, and 300m on rifles, but I don't see that happening, so I'll continue using the halves, since from what I've seen in-game, 150m max range on rifles should be completely workable, and everything else needs to correlate with respect to rifles being the long-range weapons.

Hedron Baht - Master Artisan/Master Weaponsmith/Master Shuttle Passenger

Although I gotta mention that it's virtually impossible to be so clean cut in transcribing paper and pencil rules into a video game world (the one major flaw is the lack of Storyteller, Dungeon Master, etc), I really did enjoy reading this post and seeing where all of our weapons actually come from.

Which books precisely is all this info in? I play lots of DnD and Vampire, but have dismissed the Star Wars game since I tend to detest all movie-licensed crap in the world of video games and RPGs (frankly, I play this game because I'm an MMORPG fan, and this one offered/offers all of the best options). I wouldn't mind shelling out a few coconuts to pick up the Star Wars RPG books if they've got some nice canon information like the above.

First - I do use a Striker. It's the only thing with kinetic damage, and there are a few high level mobs on Endor or Lok that "respond" best to that attack type.

Second - This player at least could care less about continuity. Make the game balanced and fun and screw trying to match detailes from a bunch of books and movies.

Thanks for reading, DTox. The RPG books which had relevant info were mostly the Imperial Sourcebook (which I think is out of print) and the Arms and Equipement Guide (still available.) A couple of others appear in the out of print Pirates and Privateers sourcebook but most of that was reprinted in the Arms and Equipment Guide as well except for the ship info. Most of the movie references are just single lines which were later explained in more detail in a book.

I realize you can't trascribe the paper and pen rulesline forlineinto a video game and have it work, but I do want to get more a of a discussion going about having it match up more closely with the established system and trends within the movies. If I'd been making the call I wouldn't have included the DX series at all, since they don't appear in the movies except as a warning not to use them, and same with BH weapons and Commando weapons except for the grenades. The other suggestions should be workable to give each weapon a distinctive use and feel. There is still too much of a feeling that this is a fantasy game with some SW. I have altered things to fit within the scope of what the SWG game appears to be able to handle.

Some things won't work out quite right because there's no single GM in charge of story progression, but I do like Pex and think he's doing what he can in giving it some direction. He's read the books, he's seen the movies, he tries to make the story fit within that frame, and that's mostly what I'm looking for.

Hedron Baht - Master Artisan/Master Weaponsmith/Master Shuttle Passenger

now thats some dedication to star wars

Hedron, neat post. I hope a developer or two takes a look at it.

... I don't think any of is has a chance in hell of being implemented, though. And that may not be a bad thing, since I think a global attempt to make weapons correspond more tightly to the SW universe would probably break everything.

It would be interesting if more companies were factions in the game besides just CorSec.

Wow Hedron, i really want to play your game

This is one of the best posts I have seen in a while. Thank you

I'm of two minds on this one. While I like his analysis, and I really likehis thoughts on the legality of certain weapons,I don't really want to deal with the hassle of ammo or the recharging of guns. This game has enough "downtime" without adding to having to run back to town every time the ammo runs out.

Very good thoughts though.

Thodius

Before beginning today, thank you to those who have read this far. And yes, EasyMcRhinoPants, I won't be holding my breath on anything specific from this post to be implemented. But from time to time, I can dream.

Range - This has been brought up time and time again by carbineers and riflemen, and I do believe it should be seriously examined. I know that it has been mentioned that the creature warping element of the game is being examined but even if it is fixed, making 64m the max range for all ranged weapons removes a good deal of distinction from the weapons. As I walk around SWG, I find things appear on the screen at a distance of 128m. I'd prefer having a clipping plane at 150m instead of 128m, but perhaps that caused too much of a performance hit somewhere. From section 2, most blasters wind up in the 40m-50m range with a few getting up to 60m-64m. If a 150m clipping plane were used for encounters, 100m for carbines and 150m for rifles would be wonderful. If that isn't possible, 96m for carbines and 128m for rifles would be good maximum ranges. Also, change the appearances of the word "Ideal" with respect to range to "Mid". Calling it ideal is incorrect and seems to confuse a lot of people.

Legality, Part II - All carbines and most rifles in SW are military production models. After the Trade Federations mass-produced droids, the mass production of equipment for the clone armies, and the subsequent mass production of Stormtrooper equipment, they're hardly difficult to find, but carrying them out in the open in an Imperial town while not being Imperial and licensed should get you gunned down, and wielding it in the open in a rebellion town when you're not a rebel should still call a lot of attention to you, possibly resulting in incapacitation and removal of the weapon. The rebellion side can probably be handled closely enough in SWG through player cities, but the Imperial reaction should be tied into an NPC reaction.

Carbines suffer from a bit of confusion even within the SW universe, so it's not a surprise that it got carried over into SWG. For example, Boba Fett's primary weapon is listed in some places as the N'Gant-Zarvel 9118 Heavy Carbine and in others as simply a sawed-off blaster rifle. The idea behind a carbine is that longer barrels provide more accuracy but that too long a barrel makes it hard to fight effectively while mounted or in close quarters. So the carbine results as something of a hybrid between the pistol and the rifle. If function paralleled form for components, the lighter weight of carbines would mean they had less of an action cost than rifles, but higher than pistols; their intermediate damage (kick) would translate into lower health cost than rifles, but higher than pistols, and mind cost would be in between the two as well.

BlasTech DH-17 Carbine - A larger framed version of the DH-17 pistol. The big silver cone on the end is a heat dissipation coil. Like its pistol counterpart, it is not built for power but for durability and range. Since this carbine already has a lower-end damage scale, altering the range is really the primary consideration. Range appears in the RPG as 200m for most carbines, so 100m in SWG would be great if it's workable. 96m to place it on the upper end of carbine ranges otherwise. As the pistol, the carbine version carries 200 rounds worth of capacity, a single power cell recharges 50 combat rounds.

BlasTech DH-17 Snubnose - I couldn't find a reference to this one anywhere. But I did find a neat alternative: The BAW E-5 Droid Blaster. This is essentially what the snubnose is designed to be in-game. It appears in Episode I as the blaster used by the battle droids. Baktoid Armor Workshop was the manufacturing plant of the Trade Federation used to build these. The BAW E-5 was reverse engineered from a shortened BlasTech design which, due to the shorter barrel caused too much heat to be generated for comfortable use by humans. This should have better poin-glank modifiers than other carbines, but should not penalize the mid-range. Long range should drop off quickly. The HAM costs on this weapon need an examination even if it remains as the DH-17 snubnose. But I'd rather see it moved over the the E-5, just for visual variation. The E-5 has a faster firing rate than the DH-17 as well as being poorly heat shielded, so both the health and action costs would be higher, but with a scope attached this should be a very accurate close and mid-range weapon with perceptibly higher damage than the DH-17.

BlasTech E11 Carbine - The E-11 series by BlasTech are the most prevalent weapons in all of Star Wars, because the rifle version is also known as "Stormtrooper One." I didn't find a specific reference to the E-11 carbine either, but rather I found notes about ST carbineers being outfitted with different flaring crystals and targeting computers. Supposedly the E-11s were used as the primary Stormtrooper weapons because they were easiest to produce, though quality variations did exist, the best being those built on the Cuthbern factory moon. Easy to produce is not really the case with these, so I would like to see the plumbum requirement changed to simply iron. The Empire was never worried about durability. Throw enough equipment at any situation and it'll eventually give in. So lowering the condition to make up for the ease of production would be in line with the SW universe. Recently targeting computers and optional components have been being removed as requirements for crafting weapons. If these components aren't going to do anything, that's fine, remove them. But I would have preferred seeing them actually work, and this one should have an optional targeting computer to distinguish it from the E-11 rifle a little more. The E-11 carries 200combat rounds of energy, a single power cell charge replenishes 50 combat rounds worth.

Targeting Computers - These have been disappearing from schematics because they either weren't working, or didn't do anything in the first place. It seems that artisan component enhancements should be fairly easy to implement, so perhaps the issue is with balance. I'd suggest having the Targeting Computer slot be an optional enhancement allowing one of the following items to be used: Micro Sensor Suite- Acquires targets andfocuses condensation crystal on targetrange automatically (Sensor Effectiveness/20)% improvement in all range categories; Power Conditioner - Modulates blaster bolt acceleration to reduce kick - (PC Effectiveness/20) point reduction in Health cost; Energy Distributor - Balances out weapon torque during firing, reducing strain of keeping the weapon steady (ED effectiveness/20) point reduction in Action cost. Control Unit - Calculates atmospheric interference and motion from microtremors in the the firer's musculature, then compensates (CU Effectiveness/20) point reduction in Mind cost. This is my suggestion in case they're put back in. With a maximum of a 5 point reduction in a single HAM from each component, you won't be winding up with 0 or negative HAM costs.

Laser Carbine - Another one for which I couldn't find written references. Some of the Stormtroopers in Mos Eisley were carrying these in the movies. Conceptually, a laser is the fastest projectile you can have (at least until someone in the SW line makes a personal weapon out of a hyperdrive. Interdiction class Star Destroyers are just too hard to fit in your back pocket) and should have the lowest movement penalty of any type of ranged weapon. The closest thing I found reference to that was similar to this was the Merr-Sonn G8, used by the Republic due to its extreme range (400m in the RPG, it would be the maximum range, whatever that eventually becomes in SWG, hopefully 150m.) These are older technology, used primarily in Hutt space and restricted to Imperial use in Imperial space. They require specific comonents, making them expensive to produce, which is why they were superceded by the E-11 series. The Laser Carbine, or G8 should have AR2, maximum range with penalties dropping down to no more than -5 at extreme range. It's a flat trajectory and effectively instantaneous travel from barrel to target. The limitation on this should be a large number of named resources and mid-line damage. The G8 holds energy for 200 combat rounds, a single power cell charge replenishes 50 combat rounds worth.

EE3 - I couldn't find a reference to an EE3, but the graphical model used is of the N'Gant-Zarvel 9118 Heavy Carbine. This is the one Boba Fett uses and is holding up in the image on the main SWG site header graphic. Restricted as most carbines are by Imperial law, exceptions are made for those mercenaries who show loyalty to the Empire even if they don't join the ranks. Fett didn't get much chance to use it in the movies, but written descriptions of it sound like something of a hand-held mortar, which fits with the blast radius it's supposed to have in SWG. Hopefully that will be fixed. Max range in SWG terms should be 96-100m This one seems pretty good as it is once the combat effects are fixed for it. The 9118 carries enough power for 100 combat rounds, a single power cell replenishes 50 rounds worth.

Elite Carbine - *blank stare* Oh, okay. Yet another carbine I can't find mention of, and it looks amazingly like yet another BlasTech clone. This one needs a lot of work. My suggestion for this is to replace the graphic with that of the Merr-Sonn Underslung Rotary Carbine. Increase the current damage a bit to reflect the amount of blaster bolts being fired, add three more blaster rifle barrels to the schematic (the barrels rotate)and improve the atttack speed slightly. The URC was supposedly top notch, though it was difficult to produce, and was eventually edged out by the T-21. It is supposedly harder to produce than a T-21, effectively equivalent damage, but lower range and the bolts are not as penetrating. So AR2, 100m range, named resources. Point-blank on this should be +20 or so but there should be no option for a scope component. The philosophy of the URC is that aiming becomes unimportant if you cover the whole region with blaster fire. The URC holds enough power for 100 combat rounds, each power cell charge replenishes the weapon enough for10 combat rounds (high damage, high output, but highly inefficient.)

Most of the carbines in SW tended to be rifles modified to be less cumbersome. I suppose that's a result of Lucas's enjoyment of westerns, and it is more in line with the way carbines are actually used than the class system that separates rifles and carbines. If you can use one you can use the other, but you'll always be more proficient with the one you use more often. That will have to wait for SWG2, I'm afraid, but I do hope the developers consider similarities of action for future classes to avoid odd separations like that.

As with Pistoleers, I think Carbineers need a different "top of the class" weapon. The Elite or URC should be a truly incredible weapon and for that reason almost impossible to produce a good one. I'll see what I can find for my section on suggestions for new weapons. The current selection leaves Carbineers in a lurch between the DX2 which is underpowered, hyper-ranged, and not nearly illegal enough, and the T-21 which is properly powered, underranged, overabundant, and not nearly illegal enough. (Compared to their SW counterparts, that is. I'm not saying the DX2 is underpowered in-game. When I get to suggestions on new weapons I'll go for replacing the DX2 and DXR-6 with other models. I'll try to match their in-game balance but make them something other than disruptors.) Then again, simply fixing the range distinctions so that there really are pistol, carbine, and rifle range categories might go a long way in making these more appealing.

Tomorrow: Rifles.

Hedron Baht - Master Artisan/Master Weaponsmith/Master Shuttle Passenger

That's a very good point on charges causing whatmay beconsidered "downtime", and I expect that there was at some point a discussion on whether or not charges/ammo would be used. Power cells (droid batteries) however,can be obtained in crates of 25. For a high quality power cell, this results in 5000 combat rounds worth of ammunition in a single inventory slot when using standard blasters; two if you include the slot into which the power cell is removed from the crate into inventory. Ammunition wouldn't allow you to carry quite so much at one time, with a crate resulting in250 rounds in the single inventory slot. Being a basic item without experimental effects, the ammo clip would then have a schematic granted at Novice Artisan. This should result in an effect closer to having occasional two round pauses in combat while people reload than in a lot more downtime.

As with carbines, rifles seem to suffer the penalties of being a slow-firing weapon without really having the benefit of additional range. I continue to hope for a 150m maximum range on rifles, or at least 128m if 150m is truly unworkable (as, I expect, do the riflemen.) A note about CDEFs however, is that if the ranges are increased, CDEFs should remain low. CDEF carbines shouldn't be better than half of the weaponsmith carbines, and CDEF rifles shouldn't be bumping up against the DLT20a for performance.

Optional Components and HAM - With both carbines and rifles, the optional stock components strike me as odd. Adding one can significantly increase the weapon's damage range as well as increasing the HAM costs. This is odd because a stock cushions the firer from the weapon's kick (which one would think equates to reducing health cost) and more evenly transfers force from the kick to the mass of the firer, which means fewer muscle contractions to keep the weapon steady (which one would think would result in lower action and mind costs.) Simply for logical consequences, I would think that damage would be an experimental option for the barrel, power handler/feed mechanism, and frame with the higher damage range and higher HAM costs being the norm rather than the version with the stock. The stock could then be applied to reduce HAM while slowing the gun down slightly. Similar to the scope, which can still provide a small benefit even if HAM cost is reduced to 0 through experimentation, the stock would still lower HAM a few points if speed increase were reduced to 0.0 through experimentation. Allow Speed, Health Cost, Action Cost, and Mind Cost as the experimental options for the stock. Between this change and the optional artisan component suggestion I made in Section 3, a much wider range of specialization should be possible while correlating the effect of each component with what it's supposed to be accomplishing in an actual weapon design. This might unfortunately require a whole new round of tweaks and balances depending on how relevant previous data on maximized weapons remained.

Specific rifle comments:

DLT20/DLT20a - These are the same weapon, the DLT20a is just the DLT20 with a stock and scope attached. I don't know if production of a DLT20 as opposed to a DLT20a is functioning properly in this manner since I tend to include a scope and the result with just the scope is a DLT20a. If it is working properly, a blurb in the schematic window indicating that would be a useful addition. Description: "A DLT20 rifle. Including any optional components will result in an advanced (DLT20a) model being produced." Having the distinction known so that the DLT20 is craftable would make that low level marksman certification for it more meaningful. The BlasTech DLT20 should have a range of 150m, and is not as durable as the E-11. It has the standard blaster 200 combat round reservoir/50 round replenish per power cell charge. Being a long blaster, this was supposed to have been more accurate at long range than the E-11. The DLT20a should wear out faster than other blasters, but until weapon repair is corrected so that a 95% functionality rating repair tool has a better chance of repairing the weapon when used by a master WS than I have of winning on the Lugjack machine, I don't want to see that incorporated.

BlasTech E-11 "Stormtrooper One" - As per the comments in the carbine section, this was supposed to be a durable, easy to produce rifle. The shortened barrel uses cooling fins to keep it from overheating, making it more maneuverable and better at point-blank and mid-range than the DLT20a, but not as accurate at long range. At one point, BlasTech subcontracted with SoroSuub, who decided the Rebels needed their blasters more than the Stormtroopers did and the weapon and design were distributed extensively. To fit with this being the most prevalent blaster rifle, the plumbum specific likely should be changed to a generic iron requirement. The E-11 should have a range of 150m and carries the standard 200 combat round charge and recharge rates.

SG-82 - I couldn't find a reference to this one. From the odd look of it and the SG, I'd guess it's based on a stun gun model from somewhere, but since I can't find anything specific to this, I'll pass.

Tusken Rifle - Covered in the opening section.

Laser Rifle - As with the laser carbine, I didn't find specific references to this, but most of the sporting blaster rifles fit the bill for the type of weapon.Maximum in-gamerange(or 200m, whichever comes first), high accuracy across all ranges, and lower penalties when firing at moving targets than other blasters. The longer range is a tradeoff with damage, though, and the laser weapon should do less damage than the E-11, but have a higher AR and more accuracy. I think the graphics model used for the Laser Rifle is the Drearian Defense Conglomerates Light Sport, or a basic sporting rifle.

Jawa Ion Rifle - What an odd little item. This one requires a change to the damage system in order to work properly more than it requires a change to the gun itself. Ion damage isn't a type currently, but it needs to be. Everything but droids, vehicles, and starships should have 100% resistance to ion damage. Droids should always be vulnerable to this; vehicles should never have more than 25% resistance, and starships should never have more than 50% resistance. Once that damage type and appropriate vulnerabilities/resistances are in, ion weapons should have light AR at a minimum, and larger weapons could go up to heavy AR. With the heavy AR weapons, just the amount of energy hitting a living target will cause some damage, but for the light AR (Jawa ion rifle) this should be no more than a warm breeze. Droids on the other hand will get hurt much more significantly, and vehicles have a reduced defense against it. This type of damage should be incorporated into the vehicle addition. This has a range of 50m in SWG terms and is considered a pistol by most species other than Jawas. It should probably be moved to the pistol skill tree and a new actual ion rifle included in the rifle branch. Jawa Ion Rifle carries the standard 200 combat rounds of energy, power cell charge replenishes 50 combat rounds.

BlasTech T-21 Light Repeating Blaster - This is usually mounted on a tripod to keep the kick from wearing out the firer. These are supposedly extremely rare, and with the specific resources needed to craft them, it's possible they will be. Other than that, they are every bit as fearsome as you'd expect. The weapon fires in auto-fire and burst modes only and can't fire a single round. Squeezing the trigger results in 3 shots being fired when not in full-auto mode. When in auto-mode, the T-21 has a 45 degree arc of fire, automatically loads new power so long as it's in inventory, and rapdily overheats. If it overheats, it can't be used again for 8 to 48 seconds. Autofire uses power at three times the normal rate, and the T-21 carries 60 combat rounds worth of energy and each power cell charge replenishes 15 combat rounds worth. Of course, adding in the auto-fire mode is probably more troublesome than it's worth since they are not currently rare enough to warrant that type of a power increase (even with overheating guaranteed after 20 rounds on full-auto, that's a lot of damage over a lot of area.) Moving whilewielding this should be difficult (slow) and result in missing most of the time if fired while moving. The T-21 has a range of 300m or what would be 150m in SWG. The only changes from this paragraph I would seriously propose in any way would be the ammunition. That and a legality system should be enough.

I'm going to examine melee weapons a bit more before proceeding.

Hedron Baht - Master Artisan/Master Weaponsmith/Master Shuttle Passenger...now attempting to master the Jubilee Wheel.

The Pacnorval Defense Systems Ltd. SG82 is mentioned in The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology; it's a Sonic Rifle designed for riot control. Max range 35 meters, can fire a narrow beam or a cone up to 10 meters wide at max range, has both stun and kill settings. Special sound-dampening layers can be put in armor to protect against it, but these are rarely used. The other end of the gun can be used as a Stun Baton. The same company also makes the SD77 Sonic Pistol.

The in-game SG82 doesn't really look like the picture in the book, except for the business end.

Incidentally, the Laser Rifle has a strong resemblance to the SPAS12 pump-action/semiautomatic shotgun.