In the text it says, a use with a tripod could make sense.

Rule-wise...why ?

It is a basic weapon and Bipod/Tripod provide no benefit to those.

Either tripod/bipod shuld give an additional benefit, or the Sniper rifle should be counted as heavy (and maybe get 2d10 damage then instead of 1d10+4)

This is a good example of the blurry line between flavor and mechanics in FFG's weapon descriptions. You're right that a bi/tripod has absolutely no mechanical effect for non-heavy weapons. However, the iconic sniper has a giant telescopic scope and a bi/tripod supporting the front of the barrel (in real life, this provides stability to aid in aiming), which is why they included it in the description.

I'd really like to see FFG remove all mechanical text from the weapon description and instead include those bits as information in the weapon tables and weapon qualities. Thankfully, they've sort of done this with the lasgun variable power setting, but I really don't understand why it's not a weapon special quality and included alongside Accurate and Overheats et al.

I wouldnt see it as wrong though to really make a sniper rifle a "heavy" weapon which needs bracing to work properly.

To keep it balanced, a damage buff or another benefit could be thought of.

But in this scenario, a tripod would make sense and force the player to use a sniper rifle as it is meant to be.

Bipod more likely, but sure.

Wouldnt be a big thing to change; and would improve both realism and balancing.

Basic weapons in general should benefit from having a bipod.

I'll throw in the solution of my gaming group: bipod gives a straight +20 bonus to BS tests with the braced weapon. Or, well, it is actually a +5 bonus and +15 bonus with an aim action, but we use different aiming rules so let's make it a +20 for simplicity's sake .

A bipod could let you aim for longer.

A Bipod will enhance stability to be sure. Perhaps for an additional +10 while braced but I think more would be excessive I think.

The benefits of using a bi/tripod with a Basic weapon doesnt have to be big, a simple +3-5 bonus to Ballistic Skill or, if you dont mind making it a bit more potent, bracing a Basic weapon with a bi/tripod and using the Aim action generates an additional degree of success on a successful hit (which would make getting an additional hit with a automatic weapon and netting the two successes for the Accurate benefit easier).

...Of course if that were the case I would say that the sniper rifle would need the extra gear stripped and should need to purchase it separately.

I actually really like the idea of the sniper rifle getting an increase in power for the trade off of being counted as a heavy weapon. The need for bracing would actually be pretty thematically accurate. One problem is that with the accurate quality working the way it does a base incease in power could make sniper rifles pretty broken pretty quickly.

I think they avoided this to try and keep the idea of the meathead with the heavy stubber and the lithe sniper seperate, but with the aptitudes system that actually makes little sense now.

Sniper Rifles should just be heavy, I think. They were in the first beta, and that was fine. There's the long-las for a lighter, designated marksman type weapon.

Heavy with a little buff to coompensate for it. 2d10 damage would be nice to increase their RF chance.

Their statline in the original beta worked pretty well, I thought.

I agree with you on that. The sniper rifle there was one of the many things that was done very well in Beta1

I'll have to look up the beta 1 stats, but it does seam odd that you cant use the bipod with one. But wouldn't the issue with making it heavy mean you've got to pick up another talent to use is correctly?

The sniper rifle in the old beta were quite strong, one of my favourite updates.

In my homebrewed updates for the old beta. the sniper became a very strong and slow weapon to use contra weapons like a lasgun/autogun's many shots.

I'll have to look up the beta 1 stats, but it does seam odd that you cant use the bipod with one. But wouldn't the issue with making it heavy mean you've got to pick up another talent to use is correctly?

I think that would be part of the point. Real sniper's often take specialist training, and it would stop it being over-powered

I'll have to look up the beta 1 stats, but it does seam odd that you cant use the bipod with one. But wouldn't the issue with making it heavy mean you've got to pick up another talent to use is correctly?

I think that would be part of the point. Real sniper's often take specialist training, and it would stop it being over-powered

But the same "specialist training" also governs the use of heavy bolters, autocannons and missile launchers - not the most sniper-y weapons TBH .

Also, what about increasing the range of the sniper rifles? Maybe a range of 300 or even 500 meters would fix the problem with this weapon category.

I also think its a good way to reflect a snipers special training.

Or you give a soft rule in the sniper rifles text that it may be used w/o Heavy Weapon training as an exception.

I'll have to look up the beta 1 stats, but it does seam odd that you cant use the bipod with one. But wouldn't the issue with making it heavy mean you've got to pick up another talent to use is correctly?

I think that would be part of the point. Real sniper's often take specialist training, and it would stop it being over-powered

But the same "specialist training" also governs the use of heavy bolters, autocannons and missile launchers - not the most sniper-y weapons TBH .

Also, what about increasing the range of the sniper rifles? Maybe a range of 300 or even 500 meters would fix the problem with this weapon category.

The operation of a heavy bolter is hardly akin to the use of a rocket launcher either

The operation of a heavy bolter is hardly akin to the use of a rocket launcher either

Actually, the heavy bolter is a small-caliber automatic rocket launcher . But my point is that I'm pretty sure that there is a massive gap between the training required to operate a heavy weapon and the training required to operate a sniper rifle. I mean, it is not like the sniper rifle is a 10+kgs monstrosity of raw firepower with the recoil of an angry god...

But the same "specialist training" also governs the use of heavy bolters, autocannons and missile launchers - not the most sniper-y weapons TBH .

Now if only the needle rifle wasn't such a poor option

But the same "specialist training" also governs the use of heavy bolters, autocannons and missile launchers - not the most sniper-y weapons TBH .

Now if only the needle rifle wasn't such a poor option

It needs more Felling. It would be an awesome weapon with Felling (4).

The operation of a heavy bolter is hardly akin to the use of a rocket launcher either

Actually, the heavy bolter is a small-caliber automatic rocket launcher . But my point is that I'm pretty sure that there is a massive gap between the training required to operate a heavy weapon and the training required to operate a sniper rifle. I mean, it is not like the sniper rifle is a 10+kgs monstrosity of raw firepower with the recoil of an angry god...

So, you've never fired a Barret then. Or the PTRS anti-tank rifle used by the soviets.

What about mortars? They don't require the strength of the user to compensate for the recoil, thats done as part of calibration.

My point is that 'heavy' is already a fairly broad scope in terms of what it trains you for, and mechanically it would fit a sniper rifle better in terms of its use in game.

But the same "specialist training" also governs the use of heavy bolters, autocannons and missile launchers - not the most sniper-y weapons TBH .

Now if only the needle rifle wasn't such a poor option

It needs more Felling. It would be an awesome weapon with Felling (4).

Totally agree. Together with felling also ignoring X points of Toughness-Bonus if the target does not have any Unnatural Toughness