I have a few questions about the use of spread barrels on pistols and carbines.

In our group, we have a technician/pilot, a socialiser/melee fighter and a gunslinger and therefore lack a bit on crowd control capabilities. My gunslinger as well as our melee fighter are very capable if it comes to fighting one on one against rivals or even nemesises, but if there are groups of minions we have problems to get them under control in short time. This is a problem because we play with nerfed stimpaks (1 encumberance per 5 stimpaks, not one day delay but a week). Grenades are not really an option because of availability, costs and the need of transportation (encumerance limit) as well as they are in my optinion a rather military weapon and not a real choice for a group of smugglers/bounty hunters/criminals.

In an other campain i played a Gadgeteer with a VES-700-Pulse Rifle and used it with great satisfaction. Considering the widespread use of sawed-off shotguns in movies and other games, i had the idea of using a blast-weapon with my gunslinger as well.

As i already use quicktrigger-blasters wich come with a lot of hardpoints the underslung scattergun (3HP) would be an option, but they have limited ammo which brings us to the same issue as when using grenades and they are very weak compared to the VES or the Blast Barrel. So i had the idea of using either a VES-700 with H9-Pistol-Grip, which would be the best option considering damage output and the use of other modifications, but for the price of 4 points encumberance. The second option would be a modded blaster carbine with 3 points of encumberance, a little better, but would be harder to bring to the same performance as the VES and as a spread barrel is needed a lot more expensive. That would be the by-the-book-approach.

Considering other options i came across the DR45 (Dragoon) in Carbine Mode. The questions are: Is this weapon able to take rifle upgrades (Spread Barrel), will i have to mount a H9-Pistol Grip to use it as a light weapon with blast quality or if it is possible to use it in the default pistol mode with spread barrel. The last option would be asking our game-master if he is willing to let me use a spread barrel with standard blaster pistols with further drawbacks such as a even more reduced range as a house rule. (The last word in this case has of course my GM; but the closer to the rules, the better for game balance.)

Greetings from Austria

Minion groups share a wound pool. When you shoot a group of minions who each have 4 wound threshold and you do 6 wounds after soak you have taken out 1 of the minions. but importantly the extra damage you did is not wasted. A second minion in the same group will have taken damage too. Soak is also only applied once.

Example:

4 minions, 5 Wound Threshold each(it takes 6 wounds each to exceed their WT and kill them), 3 soak.

Your using 2 Damage 7 pistols.

You roll and hit, with 4 success and 2 advantage, allowing both weapons to hit.

First weapon does: 7+4-3=8 damage, the first minion is removed and the second is now suffering 2 wounds

Second weapon does 7+4-3=8 damage, the second minion in the group is now killed, the third is suffering 4 wounds.

Is this how your GM is running minions? As a gunslinger I would be surprised if your not taking out a couple of them at least every round.

Thank you for your insights at the Dragoon. My idea was a Profile like "encumbrance 1, Range Short, Damage 6, Blast 6" and loosing the option to convert it to carbine mode. But as you say - the last word has the GM. The other Idea is to talk about the encumbrance of "Shotgun-Shells" - like 1 Encumbrance for 8-16 shots and 2-4 credits a shell.

Our GM handles Minions as individuals when damage is applied. So i would need the spitfire-talent to take out two of them in one round. Any access-damage applied is lost. So going either for full auto (SE14R) or Blast is the only option to decimate a mob quickly. It adds much to the drama The group often has "Die Hard - Moments", bleeding, tired, out of supplies - winning against all odds.

Your GM is handling them wrong, if they are grouped they count all as single target and the wounds spread amond the group, that's RAW. Enforce that interpreatation or you will always struggle needlessly. Also the stimpack effect are nerfed too much one week delay is crazy, again enforce the raw on that or you'll struggle forever with the wounds; it' not like stimpacks need to be nerfed anyway.

I really don't understand why there are GM that impose such stupid rules, it needlessly complicates the player's life.

It is indeed very hard in comparison to RAW but we play it that way for about 1.5 years. It is hard but we can handle it. So i don't want him to change this. It is just like playing on a higher difficulty setting in a video game. Fighting outgunned and outnumbered through a hutt palace and winning is much more satisfying than doing it by the book. In fact i already suggested to go back to RAW at least for stimpacks but he refused. As long gaming is fun, i don't want to fight with him over RAW vs. House Rules.

The question concerning Blast on a Pistol is more a question of style since just getting an automatic blaster pistol and spending a few XP on Gadgeteer or Outlaw Tech would be the far more efficient solution and would not require house rules. I want a weapon that works like a sawed off shotgun. (i watched a few old wild west movies and mafia films to get in the mood for this campaign). He has also granted me a underbarrel flame projector as a wrist mounted light weapon for my gadgeteer in the past, so i think we will come to a solution at this topic.

Yep, if they have skill ranks for dice rolls then they must be grouped, making them a single pool of wounds. If he wants to run them as individuals then they don't get to roll any yellow dice.

Minions are there to make combat against large groups of rank and file enemies easier for the GM. They are there to give players a feeling of being special, able to take on big groups and win. It's about getting the feeling of a big bold cinematic combat.

A good way to understand this systems combat is to remember that a single round could be over a minute long, a skill check to attack could be many shots of a blaster. It's not 1 shot, hit or miss.

Again, at the end of the day it's your GM and your groups game. Bring it up with the GM, see if they know they are not using Minions to their fullest. They may turn around and say "hey thanks, I had no idea I could do that"

Edit: ignore my irrelevant post, you clarified before I responded.

There is a pistol with Auto-fire, essentially an SMG, but I can't for the life of me remember the book it's in.

If you want the most effective solution then Jury Rig that auto fire down to a single advantage.

One more thing on minions, a crit removes an entire minion from a group, one that has full health, so your missing that as well.

IMHO your group is missing one of the best parts of this system, it just seems your GM hasn't realised what fun a minion group can be.

10 Storm Troopers rolling YYYGG on a combat check with an entire wound pool of over 50 is an almost impossible challenge. I'd actually say you have it more consistent but much easier.

There is a pistol with Auto-fire, essentially an SMG, but I can't for the life of me remember the book it's in.

If you want the most effective solution then Jury Rig that auto fire down to a single advantage.

The weapon is the SE14R from dangerous covenants. I used exactly this gun with my mandalorian gadgeteer in combination with a wrist mount and a blaster actuating module and later on after i aquired tinkerer a banthas eye laser sight. Jury Rigged and fired with a pool of 4 yellow dices it worked just like a lawnmower. But this time i wanted to try a different aproach with more style over use and a western- or mafia- like approach. But i wanted to stay as near as in the books as possible.

One more thing on minions, a crit removes an entire minion from a group, one that has full health, so your missing that as well.

IMHO your group is missing one of the best parts of this system, it just seems your GM hasn't realised what fun a minion group can be.

10 Storm Troopers rolling YYYGG on a combat check with an entire wound pool of over 50 is an almost impossible challenge. I'd actually say you have it more consistent but much easier.

We use the system with crits and in some cases he even let us kill more minions with a good crit. In the last session it took me 3 approaches with my disruptor pistol (the first two shots missed entirely) to land a hit on a pillbox equipped with a repeating blaster and the GM did not only remove one of the two minions inside but set the entire pillbox in flames. I rolled 2 triumph symbols. A very movie-like moment as our technician was already lying unconcious next to my character and i had only 1 or 2 wound points left.

He also uses the combined pool rule for skill checks. A group of 3 Stormtroopers would use a Dice Pool with YYG and each of them has his own wound pool with his own soak treshold. So a group of 3 Minions with blaster rifles or carbines is a serious threat and a very big problem if we don't take them out quickly.

Ok cool, sounds like a nice balance your group has found. There is also slug thrower shot gun in enter the unknown.