I'm going over the "step 2: Assemble the dice pool" section in performing a combat check in Chapter 6 and there's no reference to how a weapon's range affects the range difficulties.

On pg 132, Table 6-1, the long range difficulty is Hard (3 difficulty).

On pg 107, Weapon Characteristics, "Range" is defined as the effective range of a weapon.

Does this mean a hold-out blaster (close range) cannot fire at long range?

If so, then why on pg 149, Starship and Vehicle Weapons, "Range" has the text "Unlike in personal combat, the differences in distance between range bands at starship scale are so great that starships cannot attack targets beyond their range band."

I'll take this to mean that personal weapons can fire beyond their range band rating, but there's no indication of this in the rulebook. My gut reaction is to tack on an extra difficulty dice per band beyond its rating. A light blaster pistol would therefore receive one difficulty dice for attacking at long range.

If there is any reference in the book I have missed I apologize, but this has been nagging me and there's not that many references to range in the book.

Thanks!

There are Talents that allow you to fire beyond Effective Range in exchange for increased difficulty in Personal Scale, but no such Talents for ship combat. That's what it's referring to. (Sniper Shot, to be specific)

So, if you allow just anyone to fire beyond the weapons range, you're basically nerfing Assassins and Merc Soldiers.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for