[penllawen]

If I gun's text says it comes with a laser sight, is that "baked in" to the published stats? What about a smartlink?

The most significant example I could find is on pg 252:

"The [Ares Light-Fire] 75 comes preloaded with smartlink hardware and software, and both [the 70 and 75] come with a laser sight."

The 75's listed AR stats are 10/7/6/-/-/. What, then, are the effective AR stats for the 75 when used by:

1) a user without a smartlink - I think this could be 10/7/6 (ie. the laser sight is "baked in"), 9/6/7 (the smartlink was baked in and must be subtracted), or 11/8/7 (neither was baked in and the laser sight should be added.)

2) a user with a smartlink - similarly to above, it could be 10/7/6, or 12/9/7, or 11/8/7.

A similar issue effects every weapon with a pre-fitted laser sight or smartlink, though. The '75 is egregious as it has both.

[Michael Chandra]

This increases the weapon’s Attack Rating
by 1, not cumulative with smartlink modifiers. [...]
Note that in weapons with a laser sight included
as standard equipment, this bonus is already
calculated into the Attack Rating.

If you’re using a
smartlink, the smartgun system increases the gun’s
Attack Rating by 2 across all available range categories.

Laser sights are included, as stated in the rules, which likely is because they're a default bonus (though of course they can be turned off, removing the bonus). Smartguns aren't, because you need a Smartlink to get that bonus. No mention whatsoever of being calculated into the default AR.

The 75 thus has 10/7/6/-/- normally, because the Laser Sight alwasys is there. If you're using smartlink and have the smartgun on, the stats become 11/8/7/-/- (subtract the laser sight, add the smartgun). If you're using a wireless laser sight instead, you also get 11/8/7/-/-.

[penllawen]

Perfect -- I totally missed the text on page 260 like a dumabss. I think in my head I expected to find that in the preface to the gun section, so probably didn't look at the gun mods section closely enough. Thanks!