Autofire: Mo' Dakka, No Problems

Fire Selector to 'Auto'

So, in running a fairly diverse party in terms of damage-dealing potential, I observed something as hard truth that I've read in a lot of places.

Autofire is really OP. Like, beats everything else, bar none. You have to cheat with Force Power combos that require hundreds of XP to purchase to even begin to fight back. A beginner character with a heavy blaster rifle and a good enough stat/skill (YYGG will do) can pummel even an advanced enemy into paste quickly.

Autofire, RAW, costs 2 Advantages to deal base + success damage again, essentially granting you an immediately successful extra attack for nearly identical damage; damage from talents, being neither base damage or uncancelled successes, doesn't often apply on more than the original hit. It can also inflict Critical Hits, 1 per extra shot, but most Autofire weapons have 3-4 crit, so this doesn't come up much. I think there was an Autopistol that had a 2 crit, and could probably work shenanigans with this if desired.

The trade-off for this is an increase of difficulty by 1; this can be ignored via the 'Rain of Death' talent in Hired Gun/Heavy, at the cost of a maneuver. So, if you have that, and are okay with not moving (just acquire cover first) you can plug away at no increase. You can further gear down the difficulty of shots at a given range through mods, to make some really disgusting dice pools. I have a HG/Heavy base character in my party right now who rolls, against Long range, YYYYYGBB vs PP + defense value. He usually gets 3 - 4 hits against a Minion wave, which is fine, because they're intended to go down in a single hit.

The problem is, he gets 3 - 4 hits against Nemesis level enemies as well, and does equally well in test-rolls against Force-using enemies, dropping them below WT before they can close range and become effective with Force powers that can put a stop to it. (Influence can TRY at extreme range, but his Discipline is high enough that the contested roll is against RRPP and is reasonably unlikely to work.)

Something Something Lightsabers Something

"But, Seraph!" I hear you cry. "Force users can stop blaster shots cold! One soldier can't shoot a Jedi!" Well, let's talk about that.

'Reflect' only stops SOME damage - 2 + 1 per rank, with 3-4 ranks being practical for a career Jedi. And against a HBR, that's a pittance. Paper armor at best, even on top of soak. If they have the capstone from HG/Heavy and can add Breach to their attack? You are screwed. Nothing can help you. You are shaving 6 points off a 14 point minimum attack...that is hitting multiple times...and you are paying 3 strain (1 with Shien's Reflect capstone) for that, meaning that you are spending a resource to lose less of another resource. It's a bad arms race that bullets win, every time.

You could bounce his shots back, potentially, but that's a headache to set up and doesn't stop you from getting hurt at all. I'll bawww about that in another post, at another time.

Soak for a non-Brawn Jedi can be in low supply - this is what Reflect and Parry are supposed to address, so that the Jedi has melee/ranged soak roughly equal to the trooper. But the trooper doesn't have to PAY for their soak, they just HAVE it. Whereas Jedi are constantly paying strain for it, and have to be able to react to do it. Unable to react, for some reason? Well...start building something else.

Just Spray, Leave the Prayer to Them

In short, if you want to deal lots of damage in FFG SW, build a trooper who uses a big rifle (Heavy Blaster Rifle is minimum entry-level) and triggers Autofire all day. You can gear for automatic advantages; you can gear to add Boost dice to the roll and generate more advantages, you can gear to reduce difficulty and generate less threats. The difficulty penalty is low, and can basically be bought off with a talent, which Two-Weapon Fighting cannot claim. Jedi cannot properly respond to the output without straining themselves into a gasping heap - which you will then disintegrate with your fifth hit of autofire.

Really, the only thing that stands up to this is...other troopers. Heavy armor, talent trees that prioritize soak, and the ability to engage at similar range are required for defeating the Autofire heavy. Everything else just misses the mark.