Any ROF 1 or higher weapon is more accurate than the weapons with the accurate quality

On a normal weapon an aim action adds +10 for each AP you spend on it. For an accurate weapon you get +15 instead because:

The weapon is crafted for precision attacks, with finely
crafted las lenses or finely honed steel.

But in combat they are actually less accurate than weapons with 1 or higher ROF, because users of the accurate weapons spend more AP on each shot, while users of the other weapons can instead spend that AP on aiming.

Lets compare a lasgun and long-las for accuracy, with the lasgun spending 1 AP on the attack and the target within the lasguns range. If 2 AP is spent on aiming and firing each weapon, the lasgun has a +10 bonus while the long-las doesn't. 3AP and the lasgun gets +20, long-las +15. 4AP is the point where they both have +30.

Best case, the long-las is just as accurate as the lasgun. The rest of the time, the lasgun is more accurate.

The sniper rifle is less accurate than the long-las, since it has an even lower ROF. Even if you somehow had 5 AP for aiming+attacking, the lasgun would have a higher chance to hit than the sniper rifle. At 6AP the sniper rifle finally has more accuracy. Since I'm not aware of any way to get more than 4AP per turn, and aim only works if you attack in the same turn as the aim, this means that a lasgun is always more accurate than a sniper rifle unless you get outside the lasguns range.

Range brackets

In the other 40kRPGs, a longer ranged weapon would have places where it gets a higher chance to hit than a shorter ranged weapon because of where the target fell into each weapons range brackets. So longer ranged weapons were inherently more accurate, even without the accurate quality.

With range brackets gone in second edition, this is also gone.

Accurate has always felt a bit odd

It doesn't matter how accurate a weapon is if the user isn't putting in the effort to aim it well. Inaccurate weapons are no less accurate than weapons without this quality unless the character uses the aim action.

So why are accurate weapons more accurate without the character doing anything to earn the extra accuracy ?

You're only aiming for the general vicinity of the target, not any specific body part. Yet you're also aiming so well you can hit hard to see weak spots (Pb penetration)

What changes do I suggest ?

- Bring back range brackets.

- Change the long-las and sniper rifles ROF to 1.

- Remove the Pb penetration and vengeance qualities from the long-las and sniper rifle.

- Change the accurate quality so that it gives the weapon vengeance and Pb penetration if fired with a called shot. Maybe give an bonus to the attack roll as well, or only if the weapon is fired under the effects of both the aim and called shot actions.

Accurate should give a damage bonus per DoS.

That would make accurate weapons more dangerous.

Also, accurate weapons could be enabled to carry over aiming into the next turn, if the target remains in sight and no other actions are taken.

Maybe aiming should also be limited to shots with just 1 bullet ?

I know I brought this up in another thread but given that a sniper rifle isn't really that much more accurate at short distances (and is in fact impractical for short range use), giving weapons effective ranges would fix this. Only a sniper rifle is effective past 100m but it sucks at less than 60m, or something like that. You don't even have to use abstract movement (though lord knows I want to).

Still a supporter of a effective range trait for certain weapons like sniper rifles and shotguns either.

How about they deal an extra 2 damage per DoS, and gain the to-hit bonus beyond short range only?

So aiming remains +10, then gets the +15 starting at normal range?

Simple and a nice enough boon.

Again though, we definitely need rangebands back. Psy powers as well, rather than being set limits, when they're attack powers.

Accurate should give a damage bonus per DoS.

That would make accurate weapons more dangerous.

Also, accurate weapons could be enabled to carry over aiming into the next turn, if the target remains in sight and no other actions are taken.

Maybe aiming should also be limited to shots with just 1 bullet ?

A damage bonus could work, especially since unaware targets can't reduce your DOS with evade. But it will still feel odd unless you need to do a called shot to get that bonus.

Carrying over the aim bonus would feel strange if you could do it vs a target that moved. But not if the target stayed still.

Both would favor using accurate weapons against targets who don't know you are there. Which is when you'd expect a sniper rifle to be used.

Aiming only counting for one round fired is a bad idea:

- Since the current system favors more hits on a target, lots of people would stop using aim because more hits is better than the +10 to hit.

- It wouldn't feel right. Recoil isn't going to knock an autogun around enough that the second bullet shot loses all the benefit from aiming. Bolters will have, at worst, the same recoil as a SP weapon*. Maybe less. Las weapons won't have any recoil.

*I'm talking about human bolters here. Not Space Marine bolters with their rudimentary biometric security.

The movement of a moving target could be followed though and tried to be anticipated better - therefore the aiming bonus...

I do like Kitons ideas though.

That is true.

The fundamental issue is the partial RoF weapons. Make everything a minimum of 1, and apply Single Shot or Double Tap (change names as desired) to limit the total RoF during a round. This then allows people to spend AP on aiming instead of spending it taking ten seconds to pull a trigger once.

Definitely agree. Just a single special quality, with a bracketed value representing the amount of shots you can squeeze off per turn would be the best way to handle things I think. Straightforward, and lets more accurate weapons actually give you time to aim.

Definitely agree. Just a single special quality, with a bracketed value representing the amount of shots you can squeeze off per turn would be the best way to handle things I think. Straightforward, and lets more accurate weapons actually give you time to aim.

Since called shot comes with a single shot restriction, encouraging called shots would have a similar effect.

I still think a damage bonus to called shots would be good to make it more valuable - the bonus could be higher if the weapon is accurate.

I would certainly not drop the vengence trait. That is the only thing that gives long las and sniper rifles their ability to instantly kill off minions and elites in one shot. Why ruin a good thing in a already weaken gun? Make them RoF 1, let accurate trait do some damage, and then it is fix.