In my campaign, I have ranged weapons being hard to come around, thus having most people be melee or brawl based combat people with a few ranged light here and there. I have a group of 6 players. While most are well rounded characters, two of them have sole focus on combat. One is a gank Marauder who has a brawn of 6 and can kill even some of the nemeses in as short as 2 rounds of combat. The other is a droid assassin who uses a molecular stiletto with mono molecular edge, getting crits on one advantage. Both have several ranks in frenzied attack and are rolling up to 8 positive dice in some instances. The issue is that combat is over before it ever really begins with these two. What can I do to make combat more competitive without destroying the more well rounded characters in the crossfire?

Is there a reason that ranged weapons are rare, but high tech "ultra killy" melee weapons are not?

Melee is really hard hitting. The usual counter is ranged weaponry.

You artificially limit the access to ranged weapons and you get an extremely deadly melee game.

BTW Stun Grenades tend to work really well against high Brawn beatsticks.

While most are well rounded characters, two of them have sole focus on combat. One is a gank Marauder who has a brawn of 6 and can kill even some of the nemeses in as short as 2 rounds of combat. The other is a droid assassin who uses a molecular stiletto with mono molecular edge, getting crits on one advantage. Both have several ranks in frenzied attack and are rolling up to 8 positive dice in some instances. The issue is that combat is over before it ever really begins with these two.

I encountered a similar issue with my group but with ranged combat. I also had two combat-oriented PC's in our group; a human bounty hunter with auto-fire weapons and an assassin droid specialized for ranged combat. It was disruptive. However, because of their appearence (being an assassin droid and both PC's armed with heavy weapons) and their reputations (both earned notoriety for their combat prowess), clever NPC's often targeted these two first (sniping, ambushing if possible, etc.). Plus, they couldn't take their heavy weapons with them everywhere, and the assassin droid couldn't exactly walk around nonchalantly.

One is a gank Marauder who has a brawn of 6 and can kill even some of the nemeses in as short as 2 rounds of combat. The other is a droid assassin who uses a molecular stiletto with mono molecular edge, getting crits on one advantage. Both have several ranks in frenzied attack and are rolling up to 8 positive dice in some instances.

That's brutal. I imagine someone with a Brawn of 6 looks big and menacing. It would be reasonable to me to have multiple enemies attack him at once. If the Gank and assassin droid are tearing through enemies, you could always have more enemies attack those two versus attacking the PC's in your group that don't appear as menacing. Also, how about introducing scenarios where the two of them split up?

In my campaign, I have ranged weapons being hard to come around, thus having most people be melee or brawl based combat people with a few ranged light here and there.

Honestly, the easiest solution is to ease up on this detail. I wouldn't want to get into a knife fight with someone who looks like they have a Brawn of 6 or an assassin droid. No thanks. I'd bring a big gun to that knife fight, and shoot both of them from as far away as possible. If you find they are taking little damage because of their high soak values, shoot them with weapons that have auto-fire or vehicle-scale weapons.

In closing, your players know your campaign and built their characters to wreck it... either intentionally or unintentionally. As a GM, I wouldn't recommend limiting yourself. Introduce a healthy dose of ranged combat. Now, all your PC's may be more similar when it comes to combat prowess.

If you're not doing it already, you could also rotate your combat scenarios more. One session there could be melee combat, the next session ranged combat, the next session starship combat, rinse and repeat, etc.

Lastly, an idea that comes to mind is some Hutt taking interest in these melee experts. Gladiator matches do exist in the galaxy, and these two PC's sound like they could be two nice gladiators for some Hutt to sponsor (own, enslave, etc.). The Wheel has/had gladiator matches, for example, for patrons to gamble. As these two PC's fight in the gladiatorial pit, the other PC's could be sneaking and/or relying on their non-combat skills to accomplish something behind the scenes. This would also be an easy way to explain how these two melee expert PC's consistently have other melee expert NPC's to fight on a consistent basis.

Semper Fi

Jet Packs.

Long range engagements, explosives, pit traps, ray shielding, walls. Anything that restricts mobility of the party to close with the aggressor.

Or, you know, armored vehicles...

You can also put them up against more heavily armored opponents, or opponents with more ranks of Adversary, etc….

Or put the combat monsters in situations where combat is the last thing that anyone should want — like where they have to play bodyguard for someone against their too-loving fans, and so they have to protect without hurting anyone.

Or social situations.

Or bring in vehicle weaponry against them. How well do they do when fighting against AT-ATs or AT-STs?

Or let them mow down the thousand-strong legion of stormtrooper minions in six-person teams in the frontal assault, while their friends are sneaking in the back door.

Or maybe your group gets attacked by a whole family of Lyleks, Rancors, or Terentateks. Maybe the group is somehow marked for death by these creatures, so it’s not just one whole family, but it’s a wave today, and then another wave tomorrow, and another wave the next day, etc….

Or any combination of the above.

Having played a Wookiee Marauder melee monster, I can think of all sorts of ways to take them down, or put them at serious disadvantage — or let them fight a really hard fight that needs to be fought.

Glop grenades. Concussion grenades. Noise Grenades. Improved Stunning Blow. Static Pistol. Bolas. Disruptors. Lots of ways to take them out just as quickly.

Parry is not a force talent, any appropriate NPC can have ranks in it.

Monsters.

Put them in a situation where they "get" to fight a Rancor, or something similar. One severe stomping usually calms things down.

Alternately, have them fight through a shield of minions while a Nemesis repeatedly uses Scathing Tirade to wear down the
PCs strain.

Have them fight in hip-deep swamp water against aquatic foes who can slip into the murk and disappear.

Put the fight up on scaffolding and make them do Coordination checks to not fall. Have them drop a weapon on a despair or 3+ threat.

Break the Molecular Stiletto. The flavor text mentions that it is rendered useless after one level of damage; it's not supposed to be a robust, use all the time to kill everyone kind of weapon. It is especially not designed to have a lot of Brawn behind it.

Fight people with talents that attack the PCs strain. The doctor tree has some, but that could just as easily represent a marital art.

Why would a Nemesis fight a vibro axe with a name anyway? They would thrown their meat shield/entourage using squad/squadron rules and then step back to toss a TD on the lot of them...

Put the fight up on scaffolding and make them do Coordination checks to not fall. Have them drop a weapon on a despair or 3+ threat.

Catwalk over vats of acid or molten metal. That would be nasty to fall into….

Why would a Nemesis fight a vibro axe with a name anyway? They would thrown their meat shield/entourage using squad/squadron rules and then step back to toss a TD on the lot of them...

AKA the Imperial Valor talent... Never mind, forgot that one is ranged..

I'd say that your issue with combat isn't the rules, but your own self-imposed restriction on ranged weapons.

Sure, ranged weapons might be hard to come by, but surely that won't stop the (possibly corrupt and evil) government forces from using them.
And it surely won't stop the highly organised crime syndicates either.
Or the big bad nemesis characters.

Just look at sweden for comparison (where I'm from).
We have very strict gun laws.
Firearms are very rare and almost impossible to get for the common man.

But every police has a pistol.
Military forces have military weapons.
And the organised crime syndicates have access to not only firarms, but military ones at that. Handgrenades and rocket launchers have been used in gang wars.
But the common criminal doesn't have firearms.
And firearms are extremely rarely used against civilian victims.
They're used during bank robberies (and the like) and when one big gang is at war with another big gang.

Allow me to recommend to you the Durable talent. Give about 10 ranks in it to any Nemesis NPC you have, and the one-shot criticals will be a thing of the past. If you really want to add insult to injury, give them the Unstoppable talent on top of that. As for the Gank Marauder and his 6 Brawn, there's no reason why your Nemesis can't have 10 soak, the Cortosis quality and a wound threshold of 30.

The bottom line is that if your players are blowing through your end-of-adventure boss fights in two rounds then you're not challenging them enough. Take any (or all) of the suggestions in this thread and pile them atop each other. When you're two rounds into combat and you start seeing fear in their eyes, you know you've hit the sweet spot.

I don't know how they are statted up for this game (I may have overlooked them, or just not have the splat book yet), but the Stokhli spray sticks that the Noghri used against Luke in the Thrawn Trilogy could really mess up some Melee-only parties. Or nets, bolas, stun grenades or other goodies that let your villains keep their distance. Remember Return of the Jedi, where a party with a Wookie and a Jedi were foiled by a giant net.

Or, get them in the dark with an ambush by Defel that they can't see to attack. Underwater attacks by amphibious species could also be good here.

I don't know how heavily Cyborged up your Gank is, but an Ion blaster can usually ruin their day (for only 250 credits!), making even Jawas a significant threat.

Bring down the Full Might of the Empire upon them, stormtroopers are not shy of ranged weaponry. Even just throwing a few in alongside an AT-ST can really ruin your party's win streak.

Also, keep up the pressure on your guys. Run them through a gauntlet of enemies, without time to heal up between fights, then confront them with a Nemesis.

Also having some "Brick" tough guard enemies in the ranks can help to.. Guys with High WT and high soak... maybe some natural defense. Decent melee'rs themselves if not quite as goods as the players.. Something that can take and or hold off their assaults while the rest of the opponents work on them.

One thing I always Say to players...

"There is always a Bigger fish"

A Nemesis highly skilled with pistols and Gunslinger talents, use those Advantages and Triumphs to make crippling limb shots.

Well, one thing you DON'T want to do is to prevent them from playing their character. You set up the parameters and they made what you asked for. Player want to play what they've made. So that should rule out bringing down the hammer on them by throwing a 10-dice melee-skill nemesis against the 8-dice melee-skill PC "just to challenge them". You end up placing 300pt nemesis characters all over the place just to make it a challenge! Plus, that usually just let's the non-melee players sit and watch (or assist). Every now and then, yes, challenge them with something appropriate. To build it up, maybe they have heard rumors of the "deadliest sword in the ____" coming here! So, then, they WANT to fight him but need the non-melee skills to arrange it (whether by politicking, deceiving, or sneaking).

The best way to handle this is to give them their glory. Reputation. Best Knife in the Galaxy. Did anyone ever try and draw on Wyatt Earp? Jesse James? Maybe the stupid did. Once you get such a reputation, people avoid fighting you. They give you what you want. The PC's will enjoy playing their characters while gaining reputation. The other side of this is the social impact. Ironically, the most challenging opponent to a muscle-bound oaf is a lowly bureaucrat, noble, or crime boss. They'd probably kill this guy in one swipe! But, he's securely tucked away by layers of security. He'd make life difficult in all areas other than melee after they've stepped on his toes. Decreeing that, "Anyone who helps the gank & assassin droid leave the planet is a dead man (or will have their business confiscated)" Or... their reputation precedes them...they are given wide-berth when walking down the street. I mean, once you knew about them, who in their right mind would want to fight them? Or... people start bringing their problems to them because they are like the Don in the Mob (someone SO powerful people won't say no to). Now they have to intervene in disputes. I think they'll enjoy immersing in those situations without having to have a climactic combat every adventure.

I love the beasts in Star Wars. You start opening up critters like Rancors and Acklays that the tough guys have to deal with while the rest of the party handles minions or other objectives, they will feel challenged.

I love the beasts in Star Wars. You start opening up critters like Rancors and Acklays that the tough guys have to deal with while the rest of the party handles minions or other objectives, they will feel challenged.

Speaking of beast, what books have details on these?

I love the beasts in Star Wars. You start opening up critters like Rancors and Acklays that the tough guys have to deal with while the rest of the party handles minions or other objectives, they will feel challenged.

Speaking of beast, what books have details on these?

It's a bit of a spread, the cores have some and Stay on Target has mounts.

Have you tried using a large number of weaker foes? Let them one shot one bad guy each a round as the group faces a dozen or more foes. More enemies can focus on the big guys while the less combat oriented pcs can face just 1 enemy each.

You could just not record all the damage they do. They don't have to know how many wounds a foe has.

Separate them from the others sometimes. Have a ship crash and smoke and debris splitting up the group.

Don't make the real bad guys look like the big bads. Have them seem like middlemen or obscure their appearance or use holograms to taunt them. Have the scared merchant hostage really be the ring leader who ganks the OP PCs while their guard is down.

You could also try talking to them about keeping the characters in check.

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. I plan to make next session quite interesting for the group.

Let us know how it goes!