I was going to post that Slugthrowers are convenient for cost and rarity, especially if your GM is putting you to the screws in terms of what you can get ahold of.

I'm having more fun playing this game in a Rarity-4 enforced part of space where I have to use a sub-par combat weapon because it's all I can get ahold of.

I'm toting around my autofire Assault Carbine with a Red Dot and it has TOTALLY made the game more challenging.

Slugthrowers are also convenient from a GM's point of view in that Minions can be given backup weapons that neither overshadow the PCs nor are desirable for looting.

When the PCs meet a Nemesis with a slugthrower of some kind, however, they worry about how tough he actually is, given that he's perfectly comfortable with a (supposedly) sub-par weapon...

something that i havent seen brought up in this post is its effectiveness against stormtroopers/clones of any kind.
just think. the black body-glove that they wear is for dispersing the shot so the damage isnt so focused on one particular area of body.
however, the armor and the body-glove werent designed with "toys" in mind, and the amount of noise they can potentially make, can deafen entire squads for a matter of seconds.
you guys are only focusing on the stats and the rules, but take a moment to think about the little details.

Also you cant see where a slugthrower shooter is really. There is no brightly lit thing coming from the shooter. Add the Suppressor from Savage spirits and you can't hear them really either. Making a shooter very hard to find.

As far as I'm concerned, any serious sniper (military, covert, assassin, whatever) would be using a "slugthrower". Unless there's an "ultraviolet" blaster with bolts that aren't visible to the naked eye, using a blaster defeats so much of what makes a sniper effective.

Wwwwwwwwink!

(No stats in FFG's system yet)

Edit: Holy thread-necro, Sentinel Shadow!

As far as I'm concerned, any serious sniper (military, covert, assassin, whatever) would be using a "slugthrower". Unless there's an "ultraviolet" blaster with bolts that aren't visible to the naked eye, using a blaster defeats so much of what makes a sniper effective.

Plus the shatter rifle (and the new seeker book rifle that can be put together and taken apart) is amazing.

As far as I'm concerned, any serious sniper (military, covert, assassin, whatever) would be using a "slugthrower". Unless there's an "ultraviolet" blaster with bolts that aren't visible to the naked eye, using a blaster defeats so much of what makes a sniper effective.

Plus the shatter rifle (and the new seeker book rifle that can be put together and taken apart) is amazing.

And the shatter rifle has a price tag that is equally amazing along with a distressing fragility and repair costs based off of that price. It's a hard weapon to maintain for most groups.

And the shatter rifle has a price tag that is equally amazing along with a distressing fragility and repair costs based off of that price. It's a hard weapon to maintain for most groups.

But which makes it quite useful as a weapon to give NPCs.

If the PCs try to scavenge it, I wonder what the odds will be that it will still be intact and useful? ;)

Sounds like it's called the "shatter rifle" for unfortunate reasons.

On 8/1/2016 at 9:24 PM, MaxKilljoy said:

As far as I'm concerned, any serious sniper (military, covert, assassin, whatever) would be using a "slugthrower". Unless there's an "ultraviolet" blaster with bolts that aren't visible to the naked eye, using a blaster defeats so much of what makes a sniper effective.

On 8/2/2016 at 1:43 AM, rogue_09 said:

Wwwwwwwwink!

(No stats in FFG's system yet)

Edit: Holy thread-necro, Sentinel Shadow!

Nightstinger coming in the Spy source book

i just want there to be a slug thrower pistol that isnt **** and has 2 HP, i want to be able to make a stealthy suppressed weapon for those occasional silent take down,. i know you can suppress blasters but you cant still see em pretty easily.

Slugthrowers just haven’t received much attention from the rule writers to reflect their lore advantages.

They should have rules reflecting the greater difficulty in blocking them via the force as well as some niche damage benefits, like maybe innate pierce. Which would represent armor in Star Wars being optimized for energy instead of slugs.

My worry with these weapons is how to fit them into the setting. I like the idea of the occasional slugthrower, but I don't like the idea of chemically propelled rounds in brass cartridges and all that cause it takes me out of the fantasy. I like to think of even something like a Tusken Rifle being some sort of crude gauss or caseless energy mass driver.

I feel like for most applications the blaster has to be an overall 'better' technology for it to have such widespread use. Plus the idea of a civilization that has had hyperspace travel and all that for tens of thousands of years means that the regular physical impediments of engineering are so suborned by eons and eons of societal use that I wouldn't think that some amount of instinctual technological awareness is a bad idea. That like the sucking instinct and object permanence there are some technological instincts that these characters could have. In addition there may be other ways to skin a cat that they know and we don't.

Then again guns make you dead just fine, gunpowder driven or no, so it comes down to the physiology versus the weapon. If a normal person is basically a minion with like 2 Soak and 5 wounds or so then slugthrowers seem like they would model accurately. For killing heroic or story-important characters though they are not as effective and I gotta think that is to keep the game looking like star wars more than for any technical reason.

Shooting a bullet doesn't leave a tracer pointing directly at the shooter?

44 minutes ago, Desslok said:

Shooting a bullet doesn't leave a tracer pointing directly at the shooter?

Unless you're using Tracer rounds. ?

3 hours ago, BadMotivator said:

Slugthrowers just haven’t received much attention from the rule writers to reflect their lore advantages.

They should have rules reflecting the greater difficulty in blocking them via the force as well as some niche damage benefits, like maybe innate pierce. Which would represent armor in Star Wars being optimized for energy instead of slugs.

I wouldn't expect something not really highlighted in the source material to be covered extensively by the devs. Everything you're mentioning though is highlighted in rules. The model 38 in EtU is an awesome rifle.

Also the Verpine Shatter weaponary is considered one of my favs. Dam 15 and 4 hp left for the heavy rifle

4 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Unless you're using Tracer rounds. ?

I think there was a good Slug from Lords of Nal Hutta? Maybe I'm wrong.

Slugs are awesome and really the only practical starting weapon for PC's starting on a backwater planet. I know they can take obligation for credits, I always allow it, but sometime it doesn't make sense. The PC's are born in this village and 'found' or 'inherited' a blaster rifle while their neighbors and family starve? Slugs are just a great starting curve for the game.

Edit: Plus the legality factor. Perfect for undercover missions, nearly untraceable I imagaine even unmodded.

Finish thought is Slugs are the only actual real starting weapon for PC's that don't want additional obligation and maybe some heavy clothing and toolbelt..

I have no beef with slug throwers being inferior to blasters in terms of dmg, sure why not. That dosnt mean they cant serve a purpose or be customised. I have a stealth assassin,gunslinger who usually uses two crafted blasters but in those instances where your sneaking around and want to take out a guard or sentry a blaster simply wont do. A suppressed and concealed slug thrower with idk 5/6 dmg (you cant upgrade the damage with mods as far as i know) would be fun in this case and even if the crit stays high at like 4 that just shows that they are harder to use effectively. right now there is no 2 hp slug thrower pistol so you could never combine a suppressor and shadowsheath for example. also you can make crafted blaster pistols that are super strong compared to what you can buy but the same isnt true of slug throwers.

1 hour ago, MulanNaga said:

right now there is no 2 hp slug thrower pistol so you could never combine a suppressor and shadowsheath for example.

According to FFG index, There are two pistols that are Slug throwers, and have two Hard points. The Fwg-5 Flechette pistol in Fly casual, and the Verpine Shatter pistol from Strongholds

Verpine is top end so not really suitable as a secondary in case of emergency weapon, The flechette is a bit better

This is annoying me just because you've said it so many times. The word is "niche."

In a narrative game, equipment serves the narrative. Traditional games put an emphasis on buying or acquiring bigger or better equipment because traditional games have steep power curves. The curve is pretty shallow in FFG SW. In the games I run, if a player is hankering for a particular bit of gear, I'll make sure he gets it sooner rather than later.

Those career books that offer slug throwers provide story suggestions for how they can effectively be used.

I would also point out two things I have used in my games: 1) slugthrowers are much more robust and thus easier to take care off and 2) being able to coat your bullets with nasty/interesting stuff.

Both have been relevant when the groups have been in extreme conditions (sand is rough and coarse and gets everywhere and moisture is... wet. Good luck keeping your fancy plasmathrower functional without a maintenance kit while the sluggee laughs all the way until the first encounter they realise that they are the only one with functioning ranged weapon) or the survivalist found the wonderful world of poisons and drugs ?

In narrative terms slugthrowers can be used for style. Some people find them cool and since it's mostly narrative game they can be useful.
The way i see it (and rule it) slugthrowers:

- Can't be deflected and parried by lightsaber
- Can't be traced so it's great sniper weapon
- Can't be picked by energy scanner
- Are not considered weapons in some planets
- Have loud noise which can be helpful
- Can be silenced if above point is not helping
- Can be used in places where blaster are not allowed

Damage is not everything. If it was nobody would used brawl or holdout blasters.
But of course if someone plays star wars not like narrative game but min-max dungeon crawler then yes, slugthrowers are pointless.