Recently started a campaign and another player and I brainstormed an idea of master/blaster. I went with a gadgeteer chadra-fan was able to start with 4s in agi and int I wanted to focus on mechanics while being an off DPS, i had starting points in both ranged heavy and ranged light. The other player went Wookie Marauder with a vibro sword (to start) and a shield. We keep his encumbrance in mind, and he always assigns me a limit of what I can carry on me, and he can carry on him. The idea works pretty well for a bit, as we are farther away I can use my blaster rifle for great damage on them, he runs up to engaged, and I have swap to a pistol for close encounters. There have been two times that I have gone into combat without the batpack, and well I get targeted fairly quickly do being able to a fair bit of damage and havent had luck getting much in terms of armor.

So the question we ran into a little money, and I am going to be getting a few things reflect body glove for my armor...

For close combat weapons, i am leaning towards but cant decide which I wanna choose

Cryoban rifle
2 enc, 6 damage, range: medium, ensnare 1, pierce 5, stun damage, when making a melee attack against a target struck by the weapon during the round they gain two blue.

Multi-goo gun
2 enc, 2 damage, range: short, disorient 1, ensnare 4, knockdown

Acid Projector
4 enc, 6 damage, range: short, blast 6, burn 3, vicious 1 (CAN BURN MY FRIENDLY)

8Gauge scatter gun
3 Enc, 7 damage, range: short blast 3, knockdown

The max I can carry is 4 enc.

Don't overthink it; just slap a forearm grip on the blaster rifle and now it handles as well as a pistol at Engaged range.

Id recommend the cryoban for the pierce, sure its stun damage only but its perfect for non lethal options... but if your wanting to kill things... then id suggest HH-50 Heavy Blaster Pistol; Dam 7, crit 3, range short, encumb 3, hard points 2, linked 1, stun setting, Vicious 1... its the perfect pistol for when you want to say F@%# you in particular...

but as a mechanic/engineer, take your hand in crafting your own weapon... get enough schematics for your "prototypes" and you can make a pretty kickass weapon that will suit you perfectly.