Is it considered a secondary weapon? I could not find out specifically in the rules…just wondering cause krassis trelix allows for rerolling one die with secondary weapon?

My understanding is that any weapon system added by upgrade cards (with the exception of bombs) is considered a secondary weapon. So yes, heavy laser cannons would count as secondary weapons.

Check page 19 of the rulebook, under the Secondary Weapons header. The relevant sentence is: "Secondary weapon cards show the
header “Attack:” as a reminder that a ship attacks with either its primary weapon or one of its secondary weapons." Since Heavy Laser Cannon has the "Attack:" header on the card, it is considered a secondary weapon, as are any cards with the "Attack:" header. Note that, as mentioned above, the Bomb cards do not have the "Attack:" header, and therefore are not considered secondary weapons.

Thanks! And immediately after getting this answer, in my next game, I took a crit on both of my fire sprays that knocked out my secondary weapon. No missiles left to take the crit!

jetsetter said:

Glad to see you got it sorted out! What a bummer that Munitions Failure showed up on both!

I wanted to add that the Heavy Laser Cannon's requirement to turn all crits to hits also takes place on any rerolls of the attack dice, such as with Krassis' ability or a target lock. Other effects or abilities (such as Mercenary Copilot) can then be used to change hits to crits as appropriate. I know it may be obvious, but I had to be "reminded" of this the last game I played, so I thought I'd pass it on…

Something else to keep in mind, since it is a secondary weapon, there is no range bonus to the defender if using the HLC at range 3. That's what makes it even more powerful at range 3.

I'm new to this but can anyone tell me why I would want to change all my crits to hits this is a. "heavy" laser cannon should it not be hits to crits?

son of baal said:

You wouldn't, but it is worth losing your crits to be able to roll 4 dice. And since it's a secondary weapon, the defender doesn't get an extra defense die at range 3.

Ok I see what you mean 4 dice but thats not 4 hits it's only 4 chances I would still rather change any hits to crits with thoes 4 dice the word is "heavy"

Throw a mercenary copilot on the crew and you get to change a hit to a crit at range 3 :-)

son of baal said:

It's a point of damage either way. If there are shields up it's a moot point. If not then a crit may be effective or not. In any case, I'll take a 4-dice REPEATABLE weapon with no range penalty, thank you very much.

As has been mentioned, if you really want the crits that badly, pair it up with the Merc copilot. Or Marksmanship. Or Luke.

Have fun.

ziggy2000 said:

Now Zig, you know better. Luke is Rebel only.

Ok I'm convisted but in normal space a "heavy" weapon dose more not less damage when it hits

it attacks with more dice than a normal weapon and defenders don't get any advantage for long range… it will do more damage

hothie said:

Ack.

hothie said:

And generates hits from eyeballs, not critical hits. And allows a primary weapon attack, not another shot with the HLC.

But if you ignore that you can't take Luke, that he can't fire the HLC, and that he can't generate extra crits, Luke's a great option for getting crits out of the HLC!

Buhallin said:

Yup, that's what I get for posting late after a few beers…

I'll try to keep it brief.

In my opinion the HLC is/should be a primary weapon.

Because:

-expensive (7Points)

-Picture on Card showing Primary weapon system

-if not a primary weapon one would not get a extra red die at range 1 -> Realy? HEAVY laser canon on range one without a bonus?

-//story// Boba fett modified his ship to the max and would certainly not keep his normal lasers as a primary weapon if he has his HLCs in there

- Rules just state that a secondary weapon gets the Attack: keyword, not that a primary weapon doesn't.

I think the card should replace the normal primary weapon or upgrade it, instead of adding a secondary weapon…

I think FFG should join in to this conversation.

slayerBarosh said:

None of this has anything to do with the rules of this game and thus shouldn't be in the rules forum.. And no FFG won't be joining this conversation. I agree with none of your points.

slayerBarosh said:

That would actually make the HLC worse… by being a secondary weapon the defender does not get an extra defense die at range 3. If it were a primary weapon, the defender would get that extra die and you still wouldn't get an extra attack die at range 1 because it cannot fire at all at range 1.

son of baal said:

If you have spent any time at all actually playing with this upgrade, you will see that it does do more damage. I regularly run this with Krassis Trellix, and I'm here to tell you, always rolling four attack dice at anything in your front arc, and more importantly, being able to threaten them *much* more at Range 3 than they can fire in return…it is horrifying how much damage you can dish out with this thing, particularly against low-Agility Rebel ships and denying them the extra evade die they desperately need.

FFG developers seem to love crits. They seem to think that the crit benefit for Proton Torpedoes, Merc Copilot, Marksmanship, Maarek Stele, Kath Scarlet, etc. justifies the point cost and that it's an adequate drawback for the sheer weight of firepower on the HLC.

Crits aren't all that.

• You might get the direct hit for double damage.
• You might get some status effect that hamstrings their effectiveness
• You might also get a status effect or a nuisance effect that might as well be standard damage.

So, you're paying extra for something that may or may not have any effect, and to an absolute certainty will have zero effect until you've managed to burn through 40% or so of their total hit points if you're fighting something with shields.

So yeah, the HLC does massive damage, reliably, at all possible ranges, and denies them any bonus defense, doesn't need a Target Lock. Accept no substitutes. >;-)