Trying to wrap my head around this. I get most of it, but a single part perplexes me. Is the rulling always that every mod must be applied to some type of augment? So basically a character will have to buy some augment or part first, then they can add the mods allowed by said augment. Sure, but what about something like "Filed Front Sites?" or "Shortend blaster barrel?" do those still require some part to be purchased first?

I can see filed front sites only needing a file, which can be got from a tool box, but the booK suggests a 25cr. cost, maybe for the file? and then you can always reuse that file to mod other guns this way too or what? I can see maybe the shortened barrels being an augment part but could alos make a case that having a hacksaw might do.

Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this, as almost all the augments/mods in the core books seems to make sense that the characters first get some augment part, but it seems a few could be done without any augments.

Thoughts?

The cost listed for the filed front sight is paying for someone else to do it for you. If you do it, it doesn't cost anything but requires an Average Mechanics check. It takes up a "hard point" in that when you file off the front sight, you likely remove the ability to mount something else on the weapon.

First off, read page 187. This explains the difference between Attachments and Modifications (yes, they're different things) and how they interact.

Attachments cost a number of credits as listed in their entry, and take up a number of hard points, also listed. There is no Mechanics check required (they're designed to simply be attached to the equipment in question).

Modifications are made to attachments, not to weapons (this seems to be the thing that confuses people). They provide bonuses and effects as listed in the 'Modification Options' of a given attachment. Their cost is equal to 100 credits times the total number of modifications (so 100 credits for the first, 200 for the second) and so on, and there is a Mechanics check to install them, beginning at Hard (3 Purple) and increasing by one for each additional.

If this check fails, that modification cannot be added to that attachment, ever; if Despair is rolled, the attachment is ruined.

Also don't get hung up on taking the names too litterally or applying current firearms concepts too much. A "filed front sight" may actually be the addition of a different sight, and just setting to with a file could wreck your sights. A "shortened barrel" may well need more than just a hacksaw, after all a blaster is firing a packet of plasma energy not a bullet.

RPG rules have to walk a fine line between modeling the universe and remaining playable. Consider the sheer volume of information in the average science library, now add a similar social science library and a medical library, all that and more has to be accounted for by. The. Game rules...

OK this is what I thought, so I thank you all for confirming it.