So a modified heavy repeating blaster weapon shouldn't be very effective in the types of conflicts where they are intended to be used? Yeah, I don't really get it.

So a modified heavy repeating blaster weapon shouldn't be very effective in the types of conflicts where they are intended to be used? Yeah, I don't really get it.

First, I said heavy blaster rifle, not HRB. Second, I said it is too good compared to all other comparable options that lack Auto-fire because the RAW for Auto-fire makes it too good.

The RAW for autofire only makes it really good if its modified. If it's modified, it should be pretty good. I really can't understand the argument that autofire weapons should not be good at killing things, especially a heavily modified one. What comparable alternatives are we talking about in a firefight where heavy autofire weapons are intended to be used?

The other part of this "problem" is that the person getting a lot of Advantages to activate a lot of Autofire hits is a highly skilled PC, which makes the argument that a highly skilled shooter with a heavily modified Autofire blaster weapon should not be really effective in combat even stranger.

There is nothing wrong if something is too good, as long as the journey to achieve said item..moves the story forward. If the item becomes the story, remove it. Some things are just better...and that is okay. It doesn't have to be balanced, as long as it fits into the story it shouldn't matter. If the GM is handing out random stuff and the players are constructing their characters without GM input then it could become a problem. Just some thoughts, I don't have to be right and anyone can modify anything in the book...you don't need FFG approval. If a player waves the rules at me....well I just don't play with that kind of crowd. Story driven, rules don't get in the way...it is not a tactical board game.

The RAW for autofire only makes it really good if its modified. If it's modified, it should be pretty good. I really can't understand the argument that autofire weapons should not be good at killing things, especially a heavily modified one. What comparable alternatives are we talking about in a firefight where heavy autofire weapons are intended to be used?

The other part of this "problem" is that the person getting a lot of Advantages to activate a lot of Autofire hits is a highly skilled PC, which makes the argument that a highly skilled shooter with a heavily modified Autofire blaster weapon should not be really effective in combat even stranger.

You say it should be "pretty good" but nothing in the game benefits from Jury Rigged to the degree that Auto-fire does. That's the point of this thread.

That's because Autofire is one of the better, if not the best weapon trait in the game. This doesn't mean it shouldn't be though. A heavy modified Autofire weapon should be really effective at killing, and it is.

The GM needs to balance this with situations that make rolling it out difficult. As GM, I don't let a player just spray the entire combat area with Autofire. Placement of enemies and fire arcs are important.

I personally don't see it as broken or needing fixing, and I've had PC's with those weapons in my games.

If I was going to houserule Autofire, I would houserule the item quality itself rather than the interaction with Jury Rig. I'd say require +1 more cumulative Advantage for each successive hit, to make it account for kickback.

This way, to hit a three times with a jury rigged weapon you would need 3 Advantages total (0+1+2). To hit three times without Jury Rig would be 5 total (0+2+3).

I solved the issue in my game by only allowing one hit per target per attack with an Auto-fire attack. That makes it great for spreading damage around but not astonishing effective at concentrating damage on a single target.

I think there is a lot of applications of jury rigged that are pretty good. I guess it really does come down to the type of campaign you are in. Personally I like modifying the pistols more...quicker (lower level) access and broader application.

Aren't licensed Bounty Hunters allowed to carry pretty much whatever they want wherever they want?

We actually starting limiting ourselves to something similar. It all depends on where we're going. I haven't used my Auto-fire Heavy Blaster Rifle since the summertime. I just felt it was game breaking at that time.

I like HD's rule about auto-fire not being able to hit the same person more than once. I'll have to run that by my GM.

The reasoning was that one hit already represents multiple blaster bolts.

The issue isnt autofire and Jury Rig, the issue is the PC with it taking out the nemesis on the first turn. There are plenty of ways to have this not happen. The easiest is to have intelligent bad guys not be stupid. If the PCs are running around with that much firepower, just dont let the HBR guy just pick him out and kill him.

'You hit the deflector wall between you and him' is a good way to do it. Make him move through the wall to get off the shot.

'He grabs a minion and uses him as an ablative meat shield' works too. Makes him waste all the minions first.

'The shots go right through the hologram' is a classic. Ignore the man behind the curtain indeed.

'The giant war droid looks straight at you and says in a loud voice "Target Aquired"' is what autofire and Jury Rig are made for.

Wasting rivals and minions is what someone spending all those XP and Cr is supposed to do. Let him waste minions and rivals to his hearts content, and make it so that just targeting the nemesis first thing only works about half the time with it being a bad idea about a quarter of the time. It shouldnt take long for the player to figure out to look before he blasts, and to go after the chaff first.

I had the opportunity to see another group play the other day, I wasn't involved with the game just there to drop something off for a buddy, and I saw auto-fire in action with them. I noted that they did something that I realised might be one of the problems a lot of people are having, I don't know if this is so so it may not apply.

Anyway, in the Auto-fire rule you are supposed to state which targets you are attacking prior to rolling, so if you have three targets on the field and you only state you're attacking two of them then you don't get to spend leftover activations of Auto-fire on the third target if you take out the other two, you spend the Advs on something else. This group kinda just let that go in a way by letting the Player say "I'm attacking everyone I can hit" and allowed the Auto-fire to keep going. So thats one thing that will affect how powerful Auto-fire is and I don't allow that in my group. What I require is that you choose your targets and how many times your going to hit them before you move on to the next target. You can move back and forth if you want but you still have to say "A then B then A again then C" etc. or "A twice then B" etc.. So if you say your going to hit A twice then move to B and A goes down after the first hit you still have to spend that second Activation on A because in the heat of battle you're not going to know how many Hit Points they still have you're just going to keep firing. This makes sense, doesn't gimp Auto-fire, and has helped a lot in keeping it from getting too out of hand.

I have allowed a Player to say "I target A until he goes down then move to B and C" but they have to spend an Advantage to "Notice a single important point in the ongoing conflict." to represent the knowing for sure that target A is down.

Both these things are well within what we think is the spirit of the rule and although it sounds like they would bog down combat when you read it, in action they really don't, at least not after the first couple of times you do it.

I have never had a problem with Auto-fire being used to shoot multiple opponents as an Action. I have had problems with Auto-fire being used to shoot one opponent multiple times as an Action.

I have never had a problem with Auto-fire being used to shoot multiple opponents as an Action. I have had problems with Auto-fire being used to shoot one opponent multiple times as an Action.

Different groups different problem for sure, but one thing to take away from this is the use of "Notice a single important point in the ongoing conflict." to keep your BBG from getting splattered in the first round. Since EotE combat isn't written as a tactical simulation or to use minis, in a narrative sense the PCs may not know which target is the BBG when combat starts. The Players may know from which counters you place or if you use minis (metagaming) but the PCs may not know for at least the first round, or until he exposes himself in some way, you can require the use of a single Adv to properly identify the BBG before they can target them specifically.

In some situations this won't work but in others like ambushes or combats with groups they haven't just interacted with you can make a reasonable argument that in the thick of it you aren't going to always automatically know which guy is the BBG, at least not at the very beginning of combat. It's going to be harder if you lay out maps tactically like D&D but if you aren't, which looks more like EotE seems to have intended it to be, it's going to be easier.

I play it pretty close to what FuriousGreg described. You have to state each individual you are shooting, they have to be within a believable fire arc. They don't get to hit any of these guys multiple times unless they have "extra" hits beyond the number of enemies they wanted to hit in the first place.

Most Nemesis have Adversary. It sounds like everyone is worried about the guy with autofire getting loads of Advantages every turn, as well as enough successes to hit. I've seen just as many cases with Threat generated as Advantage, and Threat with an autofire weapon can really mess up a PC's day.

I also have the Nemesis not be stupid, like standing out in the open and facing down a PC with a huge weapon.

The difficulty for all the shots has to be based off the toughest enemy in the fire arc, per RAW. A PC wasting this on firing his autofire weapon at the Nemesis usually only gets taken out later that round when every other enemy on the map fires at him that round.