[Greysword]

So, I was thinking of making a carbine version of an assault rifle, and I was looking at the Short Barrel modification.  It says:

removes the longest-range Attack Rating available for the
weapon (thus decreasing its range), and alters the AR as follows: +2/+1/–
2/—/—.

If I add this to the Ares Alpha, does the AR go from '4/10/9/7/2' to '6/11/7/7/-' ?

Thanks for your help!

[Xenon]

Yes. That seem accurate.

Personally I think it would have made more sense if Short Barrel AR would remove top category and modify weapon AR as +2/+1/–2/-2/— (reducing AR for both Medium and Far, similar to how Extended Barrel increase AR for both Far and Extreme).

But if you test it out you will see that it also kinda work out the way it is currently written.

Your AR used to be decent at Near and Medium and kinda crappy at Close and Extreme. With short barrel it will become even better than before at Near and no longer suck at Close range. It will no longer be decent beyond Near and it can no longer even be fired at Extreme range at all.

The edge case here will perhaps be sniper rifles (that tend to have higher AR at any range beyond Near). With a short barrel they will still have an optimal range at Far but they will now no longer be great at Medium and they can not even be used at Extreme range anymore at all and they will still suck at Close. A better fit here would probably be the extended barrel which would make it even more useful at any range beyond Near where it already shine.

[MercilessMing]

seems like an oversight that short barrel doesn't reduce Long range AR.  Not that range based AR is a very important mechanic.

[Greysword]

Thanks Xenon & Ming!  I wanted to be sure I was applying the rules correctly and was able to explain it if challenged by the players.  Now that you both know about this, I'm confident that it will get errata, if it is warranted.  if not, then we will just go with the flow.

Firing Squad mentions carbines, and I was trying to figure out how to make any rifle into a carbine, should the desire arise (like go-gangers with carbine AK's shooting from bikes would be a nice surprise ).

Thanks again!

[Xenon]

Not sure I would use anything bigger than a SMG while shooting from a bike though..... ;-)

[Midnight_Creeper]

Not sure I would use anything bigger than a SMG while shooting from a bike though..... ;-)

Depends on the go-gang. I could see the Spike Wheels (a Troll go-gang) rocking a collapsible stock carbine like a normal ganger would an SMG.
Other go-gangs might use them when they have to be fighting dismounted, like when protecting their clubhouses and businesses (or attacking the same of other gangs) as they would be easier to carry on bikes than a full sized rifle and offer more punch than a handgun or SMG (which could come in clutch in an age where a target could have heavily armored skin). Even a group of gangers rolling to a stop, unslinging a bunch of AKs and spraying down a target, then slinging them and rolling away quickly could be a thing.

[cuidaBeja]

Not sure I would use anything bigger than a SMG while shooting from a bike though..... ;-)

An AK with folded stock and a short barrel is basically SMG sized. Original design concept for the AK had it replacing an SMG anyway.

I do wish there were more explicit hands rules.