• Damage: This number is the base damage the
  weapon inflicts with a successful attack. For every

  generated during the attack, the attacker adds

  
  

   + 1 damage to the base damage.

  
  


• Critical Hit Rating: This number is the amount of
  O required to trigger Critical Hits with the weapon.
  If enough O is generated and a Critical Hit is trig-
  gered, the character firing the weapon rolls IdlOO
  on Table 7-9: Critical Hit Result on page 244
  to determine the Critical Hit's effect on the target.
  Some weapons and talents modify this Critical Hit
  roll, potentially making it more or less effective. In
  addition, a character can only generate one Critical
  Hit per hit on a target. However, if the roll generates
  enough O to result in multiple Critical Hits, the char-
  acter can choose to add an additional + 10 per ad-
  ditional Critical Hit to the roll result.


• Fire Arc: The direction or directions a weapon
  can be fired, based on its mounting. Fire arcs are
  discussed in further detail below.


• Special Qualities: Many weapons, such as ion
  cannons, tractor beams, and repeating blast-
  ers, have additional special qualities that affect
  their performance. Descriptions of these special
  effects are found on page 154 of Chapter V:
  Gear and Equipment

BLASTER CANNONS

Known colloquially as "flash cannons," blaster cannons
are heavy, crew-served versions of the common personal
blaster. Although they are less powerful than laser can-
nons, blaster cannons are highly effective against infan-
try and light vehicles and are typically found mounted
to atmospheric vehicles or smaller spaceships. Blaster
cannons come in several versions of varying power.

AUTO BLASTER

Auto blasters are rapid-fire variants of common blast-
er cannons. Advanced XCiter technology and highly

specialized actuating modules means these weapons

achieve high cyclical rates of fire, spraying hails of

shots with a single pull of a trigger or push of a button.

ION WEAPONS

Ion weapons are anti-ship and anti-vehicle weapons

designed to disable rather than destroy their targets.

They use ion turbine generators to create masses

of negatively charged particles which are fused with

plasma and released as blasts or pulses. The nega-

tively charged particles interfere with a target's elec-

trical systems, shorting circuits, corrupting computers,

and forcing system shutdowns in an effort to subdue a

target or make it easier to destroy via more traditional

means. Although designed to do little-to-no physical

damage to targets, collateral damage such as fried cir-

cuits, fused joints, and even fires may occur due to the

intense energy surges.

LASER WEAPONS

These weapons use focused light beams combined

with charged particles to produce long-range, accu-

rate, and incredibly damaging blasts of energy. The

number one choice for anti-vehicle and anti-personnel

work, laser weapons make a fine complement to the

lower yield blaster.

LASER CANNON

The standard anti-ship weapon mounted to starships,

laser cannons are found on nearly every class of ship

from the smallest starfighter to the mightiest capital

ship. Preferred over blaster cannons for their damage

and accuracy, laser cannons can be paired in batteries

or mounted separately. Light and medium laser can-

nons are often found on starfighters and freighters.

Heavy laser cannons are mounted to capital ships as

secondary weapons to deal with smaller ships. Lasers

are also often mounted to military ground vehicles.

FIRE ARCS

E

very ship and vehicle has four fire arcs: forward,

aft, port, and starboard. Each fire arc covers an

area of the ship in a ninety degree arc extending

from the center point of the ship. Depending on

where on a ship's hull a weapon is located, and the

manner in which it is mounted, a weapon can cov-

er one or multiple fire arcs. Fixed weapons cover

only one fire arc. For example, the laser cannons

mounted in the nose of the BTL Y-Wing are fixed

forward and can only hit enemies in the forward

fire arc. Turret-mounted weapons, such as the tur-

bolasers mounted to the CR90 corvette, can tra-

verse to cover any fire arc required, which is listed

as "Fire Arc All" in the weapon's description.

Some ships also have Dorsal (top) and Ventral

(bottom) fire arcs. Weapons mounted on a ship's

dorsal surface cannot hit ventral targets, and

ventral-mounted weapons cannot engage threats

approaching from the ship's dorsal side. For ex-

ample, the ventral-mounted laser cannon on a YT

1 300 medium freighter has a ventral fire arc of All,

which means it can engage any threat approach-

ing from below the ship, but must reposition itself

to engage enemies coming in from above.