[Michael Chandra]

Speaking of Sniper Rifles..I was not able to find this, so I might have missed it, but do Sniper Rifles still have the
"If you use them in anyway other then in proper sniping position, you can throw off the delicate calibration.." rule
from 4th?

Only one, which has Easy Break Down, does. Easy Break Down might end up with that downside for sniper rifles whenever it's introduced, or it might not.

[ZeConster]

Mechanically, the only range band in which an Accuracy X pistol and sniper rifle are the same is 0-5 meters. Accuracy in Shadowrun is not its bench MOA and is more about ergonomics (SR5, p. 168). The most Accurate pistol on the planet is outclassed in every single way by an Acc 1 sniper rifle beyond 50 meters.

Actually, with Vision Magnification, you can shoot with no penalty at 15m, and a -3 on your dice pool at 50m (which makes it less likely to shoot well, but still gives you a max Accuracy of 7). So that means that in the 5m-50m, if the Pistol user takes more time per shot (Pistol user uses Take Aim to reduce penalties? Sniper Rifle user uses Take Aim to increase their limit. Pistol user uses Take Aim to increase their limit? Sniper Rifle does the same. Pistol user raises their limit as high as it can go? Sniper Rifle user fires, without the -3), they could theoretically reach the same amount of hits as the Sniper Rifle user - but it's not very likely.

Speaking of Sniper Rifles..I was not able to find this, so I might have missed it, but do Sniper Rifles still have the "If you use them in anyway other then in proper sniping position, you can throw off the delicate calibration.." rule from 4th?

The Ranger Arms SM-5 (the most powerful and most accurate sniper rifle, and can be disassembled) get -1 Accuracy (minimum Accuracy is 3) at the end of every Combat Turn (if used) in a running firefight, -2 (minimum Accuracy still 3) if used in melee, and takes an hour to recalibrate afterwards.

[Xenon]

Accuracy make the weapon harder to dodge (but only when we talk about very experienced character shooting on other very experienced characters). You need well over 15 dice attack pool before you will start to feel any affect of that limit...

Accuracy also have the potential to raise the damage value of the weapon more than a weapon with a lower accuracy (but again that is only when we talk about very experienced character shooting on other very experienced characters). The light pistol need some +6 net hits to reach the same DV as you get with the sniper rifle (so if your plan was to use the higher accuracy to out damage a sniper rifle you failed).


You do realized you can boost your accuracy a lot when you take repeated Take Aim actions, right?

Easy to do when you lay 500m away and just waiting for authorization to take the shot.
Hard to do in a indoor firefight where you enemies are anywhere from melee range to maybe 16m away.

You get no defensive roll to avoid being shot form 500m if you don't have any way of knowing (or sensing) the attack.
You often get to roll a defense roll against targets at light pistol range.


I don't see the issue here

[Psikerlord]

to the OP: game balance, no other reason.