So, I feel like doing some big theorycrafting and possibly trying to figure out some terms involving how Legion treats weapons, which maybe can be used to estimate future releases, or help in kind of building some common language. Might turn this into a video essay later. So I want to talk about some weapons, some of their qualities, commonalities, and the like - and get some feedback. Gonna also reference some real life ideas and some star wars ideas. Part of this also comes from my noticing that "Weapon A is Weapon A", any specific model of weapon functions mostly the same between units and even factions, unless it's specifically a hero's weapon or something. The only real noticeable exception is the AT-ST vs Shoretrooper Mortar, but technically those aren't referred to the same even though visually they are the same weapon.

Let's start with some basic stuff then move to specialists.

Rifles:

Combat rifles are the base point for a most real-life troops, and so blaster rifles are the base point for Legion.

• If we count out our 4 range bands, then typically being ranged 1-3 the rifles have above average range over all, but because they're so default, they set the range of engagement at above average as well. If we count non numbered bands like Melee (hey, Grievous has a Melee capable gun) and "Beyond" they are then the numerical average, but obviously some of these distances are more valuable than others. We can treat them as the "typical" engagement range for infantry.
• Depending on which analogy works better for you, most rifles have a "low" level of power or rate of fire - they often only contribute a single die, and only offer serious firepower when massed together in multi-man units
• The accuracy of a rifle can vary. Low-quality, mass produced arms like the E-11 and the E-5 (made at such a low bid they don't handle waste-heat well, and thus can burn an organic using them - perfect for B-1 droids though) are relatively inaccurate, where as higher quality but more expensive or rare weapons, like the DC-15A, A-280 and E-22 and E-11D (produced for more elite units) count as having a black die.
• There are some instances of a Rifle-type primary weapon with a higher rate of fire, such as the Rebels' A-300 rifles. These can put more shots down range, and at the normal rifle distance, but as a result are less accurate. The A-180 in Rifle mode blends these very well also, but we might also not see too many of those.
• There are very few instances of "Rifles" using Red dice. The full-size DC-15 is probably more of a "Battle Rifle" with higher power and engagement range, but bigger and more expensive to produce. We shouldn't expect to see it printed very often. The A-300 close config also features a red die, but sacrifices range to do so, making it behave a bit more like CQC weapon (see below).

Pistols:

While normally a pistol is more of a sidearm, Blaster Pistols pack enough punch to be a primary weapon for some units.

• Pistols have less range than Rifles. Usually R1-2 they cover a median amount of range bands, but this means they are out engaged by rifles, thus shorter than typical.
• Pistols tend to have a higher "Rate of fire", they usually feature two dice to compensate for the reduced range.
• Their accuracy can vary - common light pistols like the DH-17 and the SE-14r are only WW, while the EC-17 is used mostly by imperial special forces and packs BB punch, and the Wookiees' home-made pistols a mixture. We can even get into heavier blaster pistols such as the DL-44, which goes up to include red dice. So pistols can pack quite a punch.
• Heroes tend to get pistols a lot, often adding a few dice or some Pierce, which makes it harder to set expectations for generics beyond what we covered above.

Support Weapons aka "Repeaters":

Most blaster rifles don't have too high a rate of fire, but Heavy Blaster Rifles and Repeating Blasters can lay down the heat. Squad automatic or support weapons are carried usually only by one guy in a squad, and are intended as man-portable weapons with higher rates of fire and range, but not quite so heavy as to be "crew-served", and using the same ammo everybody else in the squad is carrying. In Legion we have some weapons as upgrades we usually see in this role, and they're not usually primary. You add them in so you can deal better suppression, or greatly improve your firepower, as one guy with these can rambo a whole enemy squad if you're lucky.

• These weapons tend to have above average range, with 1-3 and 1-4 not being uncommon. You can use them in conjunction with your primary weapons, or a little farther out.
• Unlike a marksman weapon though, these tend to have big dice pools, the Z-6 being iconic here. High volume of fire is key, even if that fire is very swingy -
• Because "accuracy" is usually on the lower side for them. Weapons like the Z-6, T-21 or CM-O/93 have the ability to double or exceed the four riflemen in your unit, but are high variance (the addition of Critical to some later weapons help, perhaps indicating weapons which may be slightly accurized, or otherwise easy to use). The RT-97C includes a single red die, but also a lot of white dice, giving you a splash of accuracy but some variance.
• The most accurate of these weapons is the E-5C used by B-1s (which has one of the smaller pools - perhaps FFG is modeling a bit into recoil here, the E-5C is much more manageable but doesn't put as many shots down range), and the new T-21B - which is a version of the T-21 modified to be more accurate, it is even called a "Targeting Rifle".
• Some of these sorts of weapons we see on Support units as anti-personnel options, such as the pintle mounts on the TX-225. They have a similar reason for working in this case as with infantry, but from the opposite end. They are better suited for engaging small infantry targets than your big huge vehicle cannons, but might also be at your normal engagement ranges, or to give you a whole squad's worth of output on a single mini - like Dewback Riders.
• As an extension of the Repeater philosophy, you can see some "heavy repeaters", which are not squad weapons. This includes a lot of our Emplacement Trooper options, which have very robust dice pools but are crew-served weapons which are more expensive to use and require a lot of effort to haul around, or certain hardpoint weapons which also have big ol' pools but tend to kick up the higher accuracy.

Marksman Weapons:

So I alluded to these above, but drawing from more real-world terms, sometimes you have one guy, usually your best shot, armed with a marksman weapon. It's more accurate, more effective range, not necessarily high rate of fire, but not a true "sniper" weapon either (since those are usually used from VERY extreme ranges by only a couple of guys, i/e Strike Teams). The marksman's job is to hit targets outside your normal range, either preemptively or because you're being shot at. They are not inherently "Anti-Materiel" weapons, because they're not suited for engaging enemy fortifications and vehicles, and using them on infantry can be overkill. That's a subset we can talk about at the end. Tactically, you're using these to punch out longer and "suppression snipe" or weaken or pick off a unit before it gets to it's preferred combat range, but are not likely to be killing any full strength units with them.

• At the moment, these weapons are kinda uncommon, so not a lot of consistency yet. The DC-15, despite being ostensibly a main-line rifle, will probably serve the Marksman roll in many Clone Units. The A-300 long range config also does similar with a normal rifle-type weapon used by the whole unit.
• On the other hand, if you're using full special forces squads with snipers, the DLT-19x and DH-447 will fulfill this role. B-1s have an example of this as well now coming, the E-5s.
• General themes so far though is they have smaller pools (lower rate of fire) but tend to have decent dice, making them accurate and suited to dropping single enemies. They may often have keywords like Pierce, Critical or High Velocity to further give their appearance of accuracy, they can make these shots count even through defenses.
• There are some "hybrid" Marksman weapons, which have that higher rate of fire like a support weapon, but also the greater accuracy and dice mods you'd expect. The T-21B mentioned above has all the firepower of a support weapon, but the range and accurizing from a Marksman weapon, and the newly announced DLT-20A (aka a "longblaster" in Legends) will be similar.
• "Anti-Materiel" weapons seem to be a subset of these. Materiel is any military equipment or materials, and weapons designated as such can be used to defeat fortifications, standing equipment and vehicles (armored or no). Basically started with the DLT-19, there are weapons which feature long range, compact but accurate pools and dice mods, but those mods are reliant on Impact, meaning they don't get their full effect (and thus full value) unless you're engaging Armor. This also includes the DLT-19D derivative, and the Wookiees' Bowcaster.

CQC (or "Breaching") Weapons:

There are some extra weapons undoubtedly suited for close combat. Either you use them when an enemy suddenly bursts into your face, or you can use them in honest "storm trooper" tactics and rush into the trenches and clear them (fun fact: US use of "trench broom" shotguns in WW1 was so effective, the Germans tried to get them declared a war crime). While "breaching and clearing" is different in Legion because as a player you have relatively perfect knowledge of the board state, there might be some situations where you are planning on busting in on some enemy units around cover, and so want to blast them good - and some of these shorter range weapons are good for it. Like a support weapon, you can take out a whole squad like this, but you got to get in close.

• Primary thing is these weapons are range 1 or 1-2, so you have to get closer than normal rifle range to engage.
• However, they tend to have even higher dice pools (or potential pools) than even pistols - this may not so much be related to rate of fire, but rather their ability to hit multiple targets at once, as most of these are scatterguns or flamers. This means if you can get to the engagement range, you can wipe a whole squad out.
• Power varies based on the units - scatterguns can get quite potent, and usually have some additional keywords to beat damage resistance in there. The Fleet Trooper "Scattergun" is only 2 dice, but they are red and backed with Pierce 1, while the upcoming DP-23 is down to BBW but keeps the pierce. The SX-21 coming with Rebel Trooper Upgrades is a real zinger though, it's RRWW but appears to have Impact 1, meaning it packs a punch against Armor. The SX-21 appeared in Solo, BTW, a model of close-range rifle utilized by Mudtroopers, but Chewie stole one for use until he got a Bowcaster - it would appear some other Rebels also like the gun. It could easily end up in imperial hands later.
• As noted above, the A-300 Close config is like the scatterguns, at least when used by the whole squad. Accurate, potent, not a lot of reach.
• Flamers are slightly different, limited by Range 1, their dice pools are usually a bit accurate, but not too accurate, and start small, but thanks to the Spray keyword they grow in size based on the number of targets. Combined with typically having Blast, these weapons are ideal at digging infantry out of cover. Scatterguns can do that too, just they'd probably prefer the flank.
• Flamers are more popular on Support units also, as they are an option for AT-RTs and Dewbacks right now. We can probably expect to see some more on infantry, but also plenty on vehicles too.
• The T-7 Disruptor continues to be an odd duck. It has range like a CQC weapon, but Ion and Exhaust mark it pretty strongly as an anti-armor weapon like some launchers. The SX-21 is a better example of an "anti-vehicle" CQC weapon, but with B-2s not too far away maybe the ability for your snowtroopers to sub in a "droid-buster" isn't the worst idea.

Launchers:

And now we come to my final category, since I don't want to get into vehicle weapons right now (and honestly be a bit of a boring conversation, most "cannon" type weapons are pretty similar). This is really just a catch-all for lots of powerful weapons firing some kind of munition, but they tend to follow some similar rules (such as often having Exhaust), and some other similarities (like mixing dice types). FFG seems to have some similar ideas here but the universe has a lot of variety in them. Grenadiers and other guys carrying a special anti-vehicle weapon aren't common in small squads, they can destroy or strike beyond cover, disable or destroy light vehicles, make area effects. You tend to use these for keywords, either to dig out of cover or to hit armor.

• Launchers are generally exhaustible weapons, and come in a few types: Anti-Personnel ones, Anti-Armor ones (Missile Launchers) and a general purpose type in between. They tend to have pretty robust dice pools of some accuracy.
• "General Purpose" Launchers pack a bit of a punch, their payload is sometimes a bit variable, but they generally operate from range 1+. The MPL are the primary example of this, they are R1-3, exhaust, have a bit of anti-vehicle work, but the Ion one is better for them or Droids, the Barrage one also for Infantry.
• The solely AP ones are a subset from this, such as the E-11D Launcher working a bit like an underbarrel launcher, not a dedicated one - range is a bit shorter, is good against cover, still exhaustible and only does a lot of damage basically massed, but quite accurate. The upcoming B-1 Radiation trooper is also only R1-2 looks like, though it'll probably have a more robust pool, but it's primary edge will probably in the fact it drops Poison tokens. If it isn't exhaust, it will probably behave more like a CQC weapon, tactically.
• Missile Launchers are like the HH-12. They have a minimum range of 2 and usually a max of 4. So you can't use them up close, but can use them farther out. Most of these exhaust (but not the RPS-6!) and have Cumbersome, so they're very heavy to use, but also tend to have quite a bit of impact and good dice to take advantage of it. They don't have Blast though, so they aren't much use vs infantry. Because they do often exhaust, blowing up troopers with them is a bit of a waste.
• The B2-HA seems like a bit of a hybrid of the light and heavier types. R2-3, good dice, good Impact, probably exhaustible but the new Cycle keyword can maybe take care of that.
• Missile Launchers (mostly just the RPS) are also seen as an option for some vehicle crewman, often not cumbersome because the gunner doesn't have to do anything but ride and shoot, but still having many advantages of it to give some vehicles that dedicated anti-armor option. On the other hand, the AT-ST has a Concussion Grenade launcher which follows anti-infantry lines.
• Mortars are like these launchers, but more infantry focused and basically in multiple stages - since we have a couple man-portable ones, a crew-served one, then a vehicle attachment. These things tend to have minimum range like Missile Launchers or even farther out, and have bigger dice pools, but unlike Missile Launchers, they usually have mostly white dice and have Suppressive, and now Critical is becoming a trend. They can wipe out a whole infantry unit in some cases, but this is rare, instead they're more likely to inflict light injuries but force the enemy to dive for cover and keep their heads down. We'll have to see how they evolve as the game goes on.

That's most of my word vomit. Melee I think is in too weird and flexible a place to point out much similarities, especially since it can include several "qualities" of unarmed combat, other than to point out Lightsabers usually have big pools, and notable Pierce and Impact. Vehicle weapons are mostly either using these types, or are a sort of generic "cannon" type, which maybe has a bit of impact or something and uses a mix of dice and ranges - basically mixing a lot of the best qualities of specialist weapons. Grenades, being their own upgrade slot, are inherently flexible, mostly united in being a single die (can only throw so many at a time!) and R1 (can only throw so far!).

Any feedback is fine: tell me I'm a lunatic, point out maybe some common tactics with similar weapons I missed, join me in wondering what sort of weird alien gun the DLT-19 really is (seriously for a Heavy Blaster Rifle the output is low, but that cheap Impact...) or the T-7, whatever. I can also offer a variety of trivia on the weapon models used - though if it wasn't seen On Screen, FFG seems to be primarily drawing from iterations of the Battlefront franchise now.

This is not meant to be a "definitive" theory on weapon stats and styles, but more a working theory based on some things I've started noticing with FFG building weapons. In general though, how or why a weapon starts with specific stats seems drawn from unit balance first - but weapons of similar roles in fluff seem to be picked to serve similar roles in mechanics, which maybe we can use to theorize on future stuff better.

Good stuff!