STUTTER FIRE

   During the Yuuzhan Vong War, starship pilots had difficulty landing attacks upon Tuuzhan Vong ships, due to their dovin basals creating black hole shields that would absorb the attacks.  Eventually, they gave their weapons the stutter fire ability, using higher rates of fire to weaken the dovin basals, and allow them to land successive shots upon the enemy craft when the dovin basals could not defend them.  Though the power delivered by the weapons was reduced, the multiple shots would still cause the dovin basal to exert itself, tiring out quickly from blocking so many shots at once (for further rules, see below).

Model: Energy Weapon Rapid Fire Modification
Type: Rapid fire energy weapons
Scale: Starfighter (or Capital)
Skill: Starship Gunnery (or Capital ship gunnery)
Cost: 10% base cost of weapon (5% ship's base cost if weapon price is not available)
Availability: 1, R (during 25-29 ABY)
Range: As base weapon
Damage: As base weapon -1D+1, also -1 for each fire-linked weapon if used
Game Notes:
   When the weapon is modified with the stutter fire option, it can fire in two modes, either the original fire rate and damage, or the alternate mode.  Stutter fire allows an energy weapon to increase its Rate of Fire by +2, at a decrease in damage dice by -1D+1.  If the base weapon is a fire-linked set, then each individual weapon fires separately, adding to the Rate of Fire by +1 (added with the +2 given by the modification) for each additional weapon, and lessening the damage dice by another -1 for each additional weapon, with every 3 being a full die (along with the -1D+1 from the base modification).

   EXAMPLE: The standard X-wing starfighter has 4 laser cannons with a Rate of Fire of 1 and 6D damage dice.  If it is given the stutter fire modification, the laser cannons' Rate of Fire increases by +2 (to 3), and the fire-linking is undone so that each additional weapon from the base weapon adds to the Rate of Fire at +1 per additional weapon (+3, for a total rate of Fire of 6).  The laser cannons' damage dice decreases by -1D+1 for the modification (to 4D+2), and also decreases by -1 for each additional laser cannon from the fire-linking (now to 3D+2).

   If used against the dovin basals of the Yuuzhan Vong, a single attack grants the increased Rate of Fire, and the damage rolled from each shot stacks together to overpower the dovin basal's black hole shields as a single number result.