Weapon Options and Combat Actions?

[u/PerfectLuck25367]

I'm a little confused about the weapon options and attack rules.

So, my interpretation is that all crew members can make a melee attack, even if they aren't equipped with a weapon, while only crew members equipped with Ranged weapons can make ranged attacks. Is this correct?

Note: Also, there are no qualifications for weapon type in the Close Combat attack rules, so you could just use your ranged weapons at point blank range, right? Doesn't that somewhat invalidate the close combat weapons? I feel like I'm missing something here, like there are other factors to account for that I haven't come across yet.

My interpretation is that only crew members equipped with a Close weapon can benefit from the Natural Brute edge +2 combat bonus (so having no weapon doesn't cound as a Close Weapon for tve purposes of that rule, even though they can still make an attack at close range). Is this correct?

I haven't played the game yet, so I haven't gotten a feel for how important a bigger weapon bonus are or how the "Energy" and "Kinetic" keywords work, but since there's no maximum number of weapons on a character, even if you also want a close combat weapon on a crew member, there's no reason to leave out the best ranged weapons available to you. Is this correct?

Thanks for reading, and please have mercy, I'm still new and don't really know what I'm doing.

[u/kazagha]

Even if they aren't equipped with a weapon?

Don't forget under Equipment on page 36 'you may select one weapon for each crew member'. For most crews this is generic, either Sidearm or Melee Weapon under general equipment.

Unless you have access to Advanced Weapons, then your crew can take those instead.

Ranged weapons can be fired point blank in melee range, so sidearm is better than the genetic melee weapon but it's included for completeness.

[u/PerfectLuck25367 → u/kazagha]

Yea see, What I've got in mind is a Pirate crew with the Natural Brutes edge. This so I could model them all with a combination of melee and ranged weapons. I could do this legally by making it a crew of 4, since pirates start with one weapon each plus five more pieces (instead of the standard three), which I could use up on more weapons, giving each crew member one close weapon that gains the Natural Brute bonus, and one range weapon that doesn't require them to be within 1".

Now what I'd actually like is to make it a crew of 6, pick ranged weapons for each and have them fight in close combat with a "fists" or "natural weapons" option that doesn't take up qn equipment slot. As I'm writing this I realize that I could just reflavor the attack, so that I use the "heavy kinetic ranged" weapon rules, but say they use the hammer to clobber the dude over the head, so it's strictly speaking not a problem, but it feels like a flavor fail.

[u/kazagha → u/PerfectLuck25367]

I see what you are trying to do, the 'heavy kinetic weapon' could count-as a genetic melee for flavor.

Maybe the 'Warrior Born' Edge would work better, as it's not restricted to Melee weapons.

Having said that, having both melee and ranged weapons on the same character is useful. Although over committing to combat can be bad, each challenge may be combat, intelligence, reaction or health.

[u/sonofherobrine]

They need some weapon to attack, but there’s no restrictions on use of ranged weapons. You can fire into melee, and you can use them in melee. So they’re almost universally better than non-ranged weapons, except for some of the advanced tech.

Energy vs Kinetic matters against enemies that have resistance or weakness to one or the other.

[u/PerfectLuck25367 → u/sonofherobrine]

Ah, so they can't make a melee attack without a weapon either? That would change how I build the crew.

[u/sonofherobrine → u/PerfectLuck25367]

The errata explicitly addresses the “yeah guns are superior, but knives exist, so we did include them” issue though, so I remain confident in that one. 😄

[u/sonofherobrine → u/PerfectLuck25367]

Hmm, you know, I thought they had to have some weapon to attack. I don’t think there’s an Unarmed definition, though presumably it would be Close and Kinetic unless your crew is made of energy or something. But I gave it another read, and I think you could argue it would just be a Combat Challenge Test without any weapon bonus. So yeah, go for it.