So, I’ve been invited to join an Edge of Empire that is set more than 20 years after the Battle of Jakku. The party composition is made up of: Smuggler Thief, Technician Outlaw Tech, Colonist Politico, and a Soldier Commando (melee focuses). I was thinking of making a Hired Gun Heavy as the group said they needed ranged damage. I have this idea of a Zarya-like character (Overwatch video game) called Mother who is very protective and sweet, until the crap hits the fan... so thinking human but not tied to it.

Then I started with character creation... wow. I’ve played the game before but all two of those games used pregens. I have a basic understanding of the game mechanics, but I’d love some experienced/expert help with setting attributes, skills, etc.

The GM said I can use 200 xp (after character creation) and 1200 credits (I was gonna do Extra Obligation for 2500 credits to buy a useful heavy gun)

Any help would be appreciated!

Rather than Hired Gun/Heavy, I'd go with Soldier. That way you can get Heavy and Sharpshooter in the same career. Sharpshooter is fantastic for long-range damage, and gives you multiple ranks of both True Aim and Deadly Accuracy, not to mention Sniper Shot.

As for species, given you'r plan to make her a "motherly" character, I'd suggest Mandalorian human ( Friends Like These ). If you know anything about Mandalorian culture, not only are they badass warriors, but they also have very strong senses of family, be it biological or "adopted" .

I've got a player using Heavy and Mercenary Soldier and he's having a blast (pun intended). I think Mercenary Soldier is one of the best specializations in the game and Heavy is really good too. Either would make a formidable ranged combatant, with Mercenary Soldier adding good field commander options which could play into the "Mother" part of the character concept depending on how you roleplay that.

I prefer to prioritize Characteristics as much as possible in character creation over getting Talents or Skills. I'd get Agility to at least a 4 (4 being fine but a minimum) and consider getting another one to 3 depending what else you want to be good at. Presence makes you better at Leadership which plays into some of the Mercenary Soldier Talents. Brawn makes you tougher and helps with carrying bigger guns (though if you go into Heavy to begin with or at some point they make it easy to do with a Brawn 2).

I'd build up skills around your highest Characteristics, with 1 or 2 skill ranks being pretty good for something not central to the character.

I'd say strive to get your main Ranged skill up to 3. Maybe get another Ranted to 2 (you can't always take your big boom stick with you).

Gunnery is nice for use if the party has a ship and you see space combat.

If no one else is the main pilot and the game sees much planetary based piloting then with a 4 Agility you could also make use of Pilot (Planetary).

Just MHO, but I'd spend your extra XP from Obligation to get more initial stats. A human can easily get the 3/3/3/3/2/2 breakdown that way, and with 200XP you might be able to get (or get close to) Dedication on that Agility, giving you 4/3/3/3/2/2 out of the gate (which means you only need to spend maybe 15XP on a 3rd rank of Ranged-Heavy, because YYYG is pretty good already). That's more efficient than starting with 4/3/2/2/2/2 and then wondering where to put Dedication. Alternately, pick a species with a 1 in a stat for flavour (low Presence or Intellect can be a fun challenge), which could give you a 4/3/3/2/2/1 starting out. With Dedication popping one of those 3s to a 4, you could end up with 4/4/3/2/2/1, where the PC is a very effective shooter, plus melee/leadership/coercion or whatever secondary focus you want.

Another reason I'd steer away from spending the Obligation on credits, is because it ties your character's abilities to your equipment. High damage output equipment isn't that hard to come by. If you lose the equipment or it breaks, then you're less capable all around. I guess some of that depends on your table and the GM.

You might also consider if you want any social skills. Is her "sweetness" just flavour, or something you want to leverage with additional skills like Charm? Assuming it's just flavour, you might already have a "Face" in the Politico, but having a Heavy + Enforcer lets you help with Coercion...the Loom talent on the Enforcer is kind of amusing to narrate and it would provide a nice assist to the Face. Plus, a couple ranks of Fearsome combined with a high Coercion can be really effective (depending on your GM).