A280 BLASTER RIFLE



The A280 blaster rifle was a type of blaster rifle mostly used by rebel troopers of the Rebel Alliance. There existed two variants of the A280 blaster, the A280C and the A280-CFE, both of which being favored by commandos of the Rebel Alliance.  A medium-range rifle which fires three-blast bursts, this sturdy weapon was widely used by the Rebellion during the Galactic Civil War.



Model: BlasTech Industries A280 Blaster Rifle
Type: Blaster rifle
Scale: Character
Skill: Blasters: blaster rifles
Ammo: 100
Cost: 1,300 (power packs: 25)
-Aftermarket Scope (Dual Zoom): 300
-Improved Cooling Vents (Ammo Extension): 500
-Barrel Extension (Improved Range): 200
Availability: 1, X
Fire Rate: 1
Range: 4-40/120/300m
Damage:
-Single Fire: 4D+2
-Burst Fire: 5D+1 (three shots)

GAME NOTES:

Fire Select Options: The A280 has two fire options, single fire and burst fire.  Single fire uses up 1 ammo when used.  Burst fire uses up 3.

This weapon has aftermarket parts that can be purchased to upgrade its abilities as follows, and prices for these are listed above.

Aftermarket Scope (Dual Zoom): This item grants the A280 an improved version of its standard scope, where the user can see up to the standard x1 range (300m) or up to x2 range (600m).  The standard A280 rifle's effective range falls far short of the range of this scope, and therefor is often taken together with the Barrel Extension.  While lacking in some ways when compared to the A280-CFE sniper variant, these upgrades still make for an excellent sharpshooter rifle in a pinch.  Some people find the use of the x2 zoom to be frustrating due to the weapon's range and accuracy not matching the scope's range, but many shooters experienced with the modified A280 prefer to have this scope as it can give them warning of oncoming assaults before it is too late.

Improved Cooling Vents (Ammo Extension): In the field, in the heat of combat, every shot counts.  When ammo and energy recharges are few and far between, and every single shot of your weapon could mean the difference between life or death, shelling out the credits for an upgrade that extends the use of every ammo power pack seems a lot more worth it and practically pays for itself over time by saving on future ammo power packs.  By allowing the A280 to keep itself cooler while in constant use, it can use the power pack's energy supply more efficiently than before.  When installed, the A280's ammo is now 150, allowing 50 shots if constantly using burst fire.

Barrel Extension (Improved Range): This upgrade allows the blaster bolt to retain cohesion longer once released from the weapon, which allows it to maintain its strength and power to deal damage over a longer distance before dissipating and losing said strength.  While this improved range is not quite as much as the range of the Aftermarket Scope (only +1.5 the range, maxing the A280's long range at 450m), this still makes the A280 a useable sharpshooter weapon compared to standard blaster rifles.



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DESCRIPTION:

Though much heavier than Imperial-issue rifles such as the E-11, the A280 was a sturdy weapon and was reputed to be able to cut a fully armored stormtrooper in half at medium range. This weapon, along with its predecessor, the DLT-20A, were marketed as Longblasters. The A280 was different from the DLT-20A in that its galven circuits were clustered near the focusing crystal, giving the weapon a slight bulge at the midsection. This also provided the A280 with more power over a longer range.

The A280 was highly effective in piercing through armor and provided more power than other blaster rifles at long range. It featured a power charge system and integrated muzzle compensator. The A280-CFE (covert field edition) was a modular version of the A280 that featured a core pistol that could be reconfigured into an assault rifle or sniper rifle.

History

During the Galactic Republic's final years, the A280 blaster rifles were commonly used by local planetary forces which made them readily available on the black market, thus the Rebel Alliance acquired them with ease, and began to utilize it throughout their fight against the Galactic Empire.

During the Battle of Hoth, some of the rebel troopers were armed with A280 blaster rifles to hold off the incoming Imperial attackers until the evacuation transports flee away.

Major Lokmarcha used an A280 during Operation Yellow Moon.

The rifles were also used when the Rebel Alliance planned to assault the newly constructed Death Star II by infiltrating the surface of Endor and destroying the Death Star's shield generator.

Models

By 8 ABY, a model of the weapon known as the A280-K was used by Gottu, a member of the New Republic's Page's Commandos, during the Battle of Kal'Shebbol.  Though there are no details available of what made this model different than the common A280, as Gottu was a member of a special forces unit, this weapon must have been an improved variant befitting such a unit.  There is also the A280C, a rapid fire variant, and the A280-CFE, a sniper variant taht retains the burst option but has a scope and alterations for great range and accuracy.

As the A280 is designed to be modular and easy to modify and customize, there are likely an uncountable number of variants, both stock and custom, sold across the galaxy.

Behind The Scenes

The BlasTech A280 blaster rifle prop was based on the AR-15 series of rifles as an attempt to replicate the overall appearance of the A295 blaster rifle, which was built from the World War II–era German StG44 Sturmgewehr rifle. Many of the cosmetic features that assisted in this goal were made from stock parts of the Sussex Armoury "Jackal" air rifle.

The depiction of the A280 has varied over different sources. The image used in this article is that from Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary. Another version was depicted in the Endor Limited expansion of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, and yet another in its original appearance in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook.



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GAME DESIGN NOTES:



A280 Variants

The A280 blaster riflevis has many variants due to its modular design.  There is the regular A280, as well as the A280C, the A280-CFE, the A280K, and perhaps several others.  There are also stats for the A280 already presented in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, and that weapon came first as far as stats go.  since this version is meant to represent more or less how these weapons work in Star Wars Battlefront II, these two blasters could be seen as yet more variants of the A280.  Otherwise, GMs/players may choose the one they prefer and not use the other.

The A280 in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook (RAS) deals 5D+2 damage and costs 1,400 credits, and is stated to be strong at punching armor for a blaster rifle.  This version of the A280 by contrast deals 4D+2 with a single shit, 5D+2 with a three-shot burst, and costs 1,300 credits.  Both weapons have their differences, and also have their uses.  With similar ranges and ammo, it comes down to the A280 in the RAS having more punch per shot but costing more, and this one costing less, having less punch, but unfortunately also eating up more ammo.  With this version's "aftermarket parts" options, one of these extends the ammo capacity of the weapon and, in the long term, makes it more worth while where ammo is concerned, and even pays itself off over time in how much ammo the owner saves.  This looks like it would balance things out between the two variants of the A280.



Aftermarket Parts And Game Upgrades

Based on the A280 blaster rifle from Star Wars Battlefront II, this weapon, like several others, had three unlockable upgrades that could be attached and used to improve its abilities.  These upgrades will be presented here as aftermarket parts and mods that can be purchased for the weapons.  Some of these may not translate well to the Star Wars D6 system, and therefor will either be ommited or modified to fit as much as possible.



Star Wars Battlefront II Conversions

Before getting into the long-winded explanation of converting weapons from Battlefront II from their game stats, I also wanted to add quickly that I am pulling the lore for these weapons from wherever I can find it, as some of these weapons don't have much said about them.  If the info contradicts anywhere, my apologies, take and leave what you wish for your games.  That now said....

I've been playing this game a bit now, it's fun, and I was inspired to take the weapon statistics in the game, and use them to make some conversions for rpggamer.org in case anyone wanted to use these weapons in their games, or if they already exist, then these write-ups could be used as alternatives.  For example, in the case of the A280 blaster rifle, it is supposed to be a very modular and modifiable blaster rifle, and it will already have some of these variants listed here as they are in the game.  If GMs/players do not like these conversions, or feel they need to choose between one version or the other, it's ok to change these conversions as desired, or pass on them all together as your group sees fit.

Weapons in Battlefront II have four stats we can use to convert to D6 rules: Cooling Power, Range, Rate Of Fire, and Damage, and each of these ranks between 1 to 10.  To figure these out, we'll do them backwards, from Damage to Cooling Power, as Damage is the easiest to convert.

DAMAGE:  To figure out these weapons' D6 damage dice, I take the Damage rank, convert it to be 3D at rank 1 (because 3D is the most common low end I remember ever seeing for blasters in Star Wars D6) and 6D at rank 10 (as 6D was the most common damage dice I remember seeing for more powerful single-fire blasters before getting into blasters that have rapid fire).  For the ranks in between, just apply pips as Star Wars D6 commonly does (rank 1=3D, rank 2=3D+1, rank 3=3D+2, rank 4=4D, etc).  This conversion gives the blaster's (or other weapon's) base damage for a single shot before accounting for any rapid fire from the Rate Of Fire stat.

RATE OF FIRE (ROF):  This is also simple and straightforward.  ROF rank 1 is a single shot.  Any weapons with this rank are single-fire and need multiple actions to fire more shots, as per the Star Wars D6 rules for multiple actions.  For every rank beyond 1, this counts as an extra shot fired from the weapon with each attack.  To represent this, we make it as simple as possible, and look at Star Wars D6's rules for combined actions and fire-linked weapons.  Every rank past 1 will add +1 pip to the damage.  So a weapon with rank 4 Damage and rank 5 ROF does 5D+1 damage in D6 rules (4D base damage per single shot, but it does 5 shots per attack, so that damage is +4 pips, totaling at 5D+1).  This means the weapons' ammo magazine will also be decreased this many shots for every attack action the player makes.  GMs/players could have their weapon have a single-fire option to toggle between these fire options if they wish to conserve ammo (if they even keep track of ammo, more on that below).

RANGE: To figure out range, we take the Range rank, multiply this by 10, and the resulting number is the weapon's short range (Rank number x10, in meters).  Medium range is this times 2 (Rank number x10, then x2, in meters), and long range will be times four (Range rank x10, then x4, in meters).  As of this writing, my intention is to go ahead and make this part of the conversion a simple formula applied to all of these weapons for the sake of expediency.  This may not fit every weapon, and I may make exceptions where needed with weapons that have unique features and qualities.  The reason for this simple approach isn't because of laziness, it's more because....well, I was just looking at the blasters in my Star Wars D6 rulebook for ideas and comparisons, and though there are similar traits to some blaster types (pistols, carbines, rifles, repeating blasters, etc), their ranges still seem a bit mixed up between the different types.  I suppose this was done for variety.

A simpler approach to Range is to look at the weapons presented in the Star Wars D6 rulebook, pick the weapon that most fits the weapon being converted here, and use that range for the converted weapon.  This is up to GM discretion.

NOTE!: Everything stated above for Range is my attempt to just keep it simple.  While using the weapons in the Star Wars D6 Rulebook as general examples of weapons and weapon types (blaster pistols, blaster rifles, etc), the method I would prefer to use to convert range would involve using the ranked stats from the game as a modifier to the ranges of the generalized weapons listed in the Star Wars D6 Rulebook.  As to how to do that, I am not sure yet.  Every time I look at it, it gets complicated, and seems like it will have to be on a case by case basis depending on the weapon.

COOLING POWER (CONVERTED TO AMMO):  This trait is probably the most difficult to figure out.  In Battlefront II, weapons do not have ammunition, as they all seem to have a nearly unlimited power supply.  Instead, they have to cool down after firing so many shots (much like the Mass Effect game series did after the first game in the series).  With how blasters in D6 have very high ammo in their stats, many GMs/players often don't even bother keeping track of their ammo and act as though their blasters have unlimited ammo.  Going in favor of D6 rules having ammo, we can use "Cooling Power" to convert into a number for ammo.

The "simple" method here would be to compare these weapons to a similar weapon in the Star Wars D6 rulebook, and use the same ammo, such as: Hold-Out Blasters have ammo of 6 (or something under 10); Sporting Blasters, ammo of 50; Blaster Pistols, ammo of 100; Heavy Blaster Pistols, ammo of 25 (as they sacrifice ammo for the power boost to damage); Blaster Rifles, Blaster Carbines, and Sporting Blaster Rifles all have ammo of 100; Light Repeating Blasters, ammo of 25; Heavy Repeating Blasters, ammo of "unlimited" if plugged to a power source (fusion generator, see Star Wars Sourcebook for purchase options), otherwise they have ammo of 50.

NOTE!: Weapons that have higher damage with multiple shots to simplify rapid fire, every "1" from ammo will supply the power to this "rapid fire burst" when applying the collective damage dice for that weapons attack (Example: an E-Web does 8D damage, some sources say this damage has 8-10 shots in it, but there's no need to break this down into single shots for ammo consumption, and every use of the E-Web's 8D damage counts as a single attack, which counts as "1" from its ammo (if using a portable ammo magazine and not a fusion generator)).  If GMs/players want their rapid fire weapons to have a single fire option, first they figure out how much damage the single fire shot does.  Then, every "pip" between that lower damage and the full damage counts as a single "shot".  This total number of "pips" between single fire damage and rapid fire full damage is used to multiply the weapon's ammo to figure out how much ammo there is for single fire shots.  Just keep track of how many shots the rapid fire option takes of using this altered ammo number.

As an example, let's use the E-Web.  The E-Web does 8D damage.  If the E-Web fires 10 shots per attack, and each shot counts as a "pip" for fire-linking and combined actions rules, then -9 pips reduces this 8D damage to 5D damage per shot.  This also means the E-Web's ammo (if using a portable ammo magazine instead of  fusion generator) would be x10 as well if using single fire as an option now, and rapid fire would still consume 10 ammo when doing 8D damage.



So, as always, if GMs/players do not like the these conversion results, feel free to change these up as desired.  Some general guidelines to go by that I used for these conversions include....

-Blaster Pistols are average strength (3D-4D), shorter ranged than most bigger blasters (120m), ammo around 100.
-Hold-Out Blaster Pistols tend to be the weakest pistols (3D-ish), shortest ranged (12m), little ammo (6), but easily concealable due to very small size.
-Sporting Blaster Pistols tend to still be weak (3D+), have better ammo (50) and range (60m) than Hold-Out Blasters, but not quite as good as normal Blaster Pistols.
-Heavy Blaster Pistols are stronger (4D-5D), but shorter ranged (50m, more short ranged than normal Pistols), and less ammo (25) than normal Blaster Pistols.
-Blaster Rifles are stronger than Blaster Pistols (4D-5D), have much better range (300m), but similar ammo (100).
-Sporting Blaster Rifles are described as generally the same as rilfes, but a bit smaller.  However, the example given seems more like damage similar to a pistol (4D+) with the range and ammo of a rifle (slighty better range at 350m).
-Blaster Carbines are as strong as rifles (4D-5D) but have slightly less range than Rifles (250m).
-Targeting Blaster Rifles are effectively blaster sniper rilfes, with similar strength to Blaster Rifles (5D+) and better range (Blaster Rifle range x2 to x4 on average).
-Repeating Blasters are generally stronger than Rifles (6D-8D due to rapid fire) and simalarly ranged or better.
-Light Repeating Blasters are stronger than Rifles (6D+, rapid fire), have Rifle ranges (300m), and can be carried.
-Heavy Repeating Blasters are stronger still (7D-8D+, rapid fire), usually have better ranges than Rifles (500m), usually need tri-pods to be fired without penalty, usually found in weapons emplacements for vehicles/bunkers/etc, and may need a second person to carry a power source like a fusion generator for "unlimited ammo" (otherwise hey have their own ammo, which will probably be cumbersome, and have ammo between 25-50 or more).  While these blasters are heavy and cumbersome, there are some cases where they can be portable, due to unique designs, modifications, or the carrier being exceptionally big and strong.

There are also some exceptions to these weapon types. For instance, any hard corp fan of Star Wars D6 probably remembers the Thunderer Heavy Blaster Pistol in Gundark's Fantastic Technology guide, a heavy blaster pistol that does 6D+2 damage with each single shot it fires, only having ammo for 25 shots, and though it is described as a heavy blaster pistol, its size would have it closer to a blaster carbine.  If any of Battlefront II's weapons and gear seem unique like this, I hope I will give them the attention they require.

An example of this kind of weapon is the A280 blaster rifle.  This blaster in the game has a ROF rank of 4, implying it does four shots per attack.  But it obviously has a three-shot burst in game play, and even says so in the weapon's description.  Since the gap between shots and damage is only 1 pip, it's easy enough to add this into the damage and be done with it, as all three shots combine together for a single damage dice code.  But some weapons may wind up being trickier than this as i go into these conversions.