Yes, I am aware of what a GP MG can do in real life, I am referring solely to game mechanics. If the PC goes first there is no 'dive for cover' option for opponents. A HBR is essentially an apocalypse stick in the game with Jury Rigged.

In personal combat yes... you don't just give the party combat encounter after combat encounter do you?

Also Vehicles... lightly armoured vehicles with lots of troops inside shooting back, or with vehicle weapons shooting back...

IMHO the Auto Cannon from the vehicle section is the broken weapon, it also has auto fire, but it does 3+success vehicle damage with every attack... THATS 30 PERSONAL DAMAGE + 10 FOR EVERY SUCCESS!!!!!!!! it can't be jury rigged as its not a personal weapon, but with that amount of damage who cares!

on the topic of vehicle weapons, any time they get pointed at people its a blood bath.

As a point of clarification, we are talking about the autofire mechanic in this game, so we are talking about combat encounters. We aren't discussing how I set up a Charm or Negotiation check to buy Bantha bon bons, nor how I personally run a session.

There are auto fire pistols and at least one carbine, so options for more low key weapons.

I also understand there are narrative restrictions that can be put in place to limit the kinds of weapons and armor a group might be able to employ in a given port etc.

There is the squad and squadron rules for a Nemesis creating an entourage to act as an ablative meat shield. That of course then becomes the default Nemesis set up though. The problem is options like this become less option and more requirement with how autofire works if a GM wants to present a credible challenge to PCs.

Clearly there are many ways to structure a combat encounter but therein lies the problem with autofire imo, and many others on this forum. For little xp or credits a PC can set up an autofire option that deals damage way above their weight class. The problem that creates is without soft shoeing every encounter or inserting an incredulous amount of GM fiat, you run the serious risk of killing your PCs constantly if you try and challenge them honestly.

As a point of clarification, we are talking about the autofire mechanic in this game, so we are talking about combat encounters. We aren't discussing how I set up a Charm or Negotiation check to buy Bantha bon bons, nor how I personally run a session.

There are auto fire pistols and at least one carbine, so options for more low key weapons.

I also understand there are narrative restrictions that can be put in place to limit the kinds of weapons and armor a group might be able to employ in a given port etc.

There is the squad and squadron rules for a Nemesis creating an entourage to act as an ablative meat shield. That of course then becomes the default Nemesis set up though. The problem is options like this become less option and more requirement with how autofire works if a GM wants to present a credible challenge to PCs.

Clearly there are many ways to structure a combat encounter but therein lies the problem with autofire imo, and many others on this forum. For little xp or credits a PC can set up an autofire option that deals damage way above their weight class. The problem that creates is without soft shoeing every encounter or inserting an incredulous amount of GM fiat, you run the serious risk of killing your PCs constantly if you try and challenge them honestly.

Fair call, I'm not intending to critique your Gming abilities, i readily admit that a jury rigged AF weapon is Death.

Im just trying to point out if a PC wants to carry around Death then they should be very concerned of the consequences, making it clear to them that they are drawing big targets on themselves should put doubt into their mind. Every time they disembark they should be finding it hard to decide if its worth bringing Death with them.

There should be encounters that give them every opportunity to unload that weapon in spectacular fashion. But as GM coming up with an extensive list of times using Death would be a very bad idea is important. after all if your Wanted Face walked into a barracks with a regiment of Storm Troopers and declares they want to try and negotiate, its not going to be easy. If your Party need to go into a bar and negotiate with a Diplomat they are trying to get information from, that Death is going to make things very difficult for the party, so they could split the party (He he he he!) or leave Death on the ship.

• A need to be quiet,
• a need to be non threatening,
• no requirement for violence,
• a restriction on rifles,
• opponent is in an armoured vehicle,
• your being boarded on your own ship (do you really want to shoot an auto-fire weapon inside your own ship?),
• your party need to travel light so they can get out with the heavy samsonite cases full of McGuffin

There is an almost never ending list of reasons a big weapon is not what you want to use, before you even introduce the things like minion meat shields.

Every session i try to include something that gives each player a chance to shine, plus something that hamstrings them, its a little work, but worth it for the story.

Okay maybe not broken, but baseline Auto-Fire is the most effective combat action in the game right now. I agree it could have been written better.

Jury-Rigged autofire, however, is broken.

Can't remember where, but someone in the forum suggested the Rambo Rule. Number of extra shots cannot exceed Brawn rating. It seems to have limited the munchkin problem in our group.

Also: no jury-rigged.

I House Ruled that Jury Rigged only applies to the first instance in reducing Advantage cost of any effect after that it's normal cost. I think it's a good balance giving the Jury Rigger a useful advantage and making it worth applying but makes it a bit less insane.

OK, so here is a question regarding Autofire.

How does Soak apply to this? Does it work like Linked where the damage is just added onto the previous shot, or does Soak apply against the damage of each shot (this based on the wording of the rules "Each of these counts as an additional hit")?

Soak applies to each hit, including with Linked.

Auto fire is more shots, not sure it needs to be more complicated than that. You can squeeze off a fair number of shots with a semi auto weapon fairly quickly. Anyone who has ever fired a GP MG knows they are bullet hoses.

Linked can only hit one target, autofire is different enough in that way it works for me.

What if the minion group is a crew served weapon team? 4 stormtroopers, 1 LRB, good times.

One of the NPCs my players fear most is a recurring Stormtrooper Sgt. who wields a LRB. He landed an auto-fire shot on the Jedi and almost obliterated her. Amazingly, his gun jammed so he dropped it, pulled out a frag grenade, and hugged the Jedi for boom.

When he shows up next time, I'm going to upgrade him to the "sidewinder" for aesthetic and also because the players are getting to the point that I need to begin scaling some of the rival/nemesis NPCs to keep them competitive.

I feared using auto fire less once squad and squadrons came out. Anytime I want to really have some of my own GM fun I give the players a bunch of 'red shirt' minions to soak up hits. I also have the entourage for any Nemesis worth their weight.