And you can take the Palm Circuitry (Ballistics) augmentation for another + Momentum when firing a weapon you’re holding in your hands.
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That being said there’s no reason why you can’t let players use Tech to modify weapons. This could be a field modification or a more extensive one in a shop.
The two obvious modifications are adding Subtle X or Expert X to a weapon. There’s a couple of options for how you do this (my preference is as a Complex Skill test, as below):
For improving Weapons there are rules for “field customisation” to modify weapons to accept special ammunition but I haven’t been able to find anything else, so I’d use this formula:
Complex DX+1, 6 Momentum, X hours.
- Complex DX+1. the +1 comes from modifications of this type normally requiring a facility. Where X is undefined, use D2 (ie. D1+1).
- I’d default to 6 Momentum: this means that for a D1 test you can’t do it in a single test without something extra (ie. hitting your Focus, getting assistance). The higher you make this the more rolls that need to be made, so the higher the chance of a Complication.
- Time for the each attempt. I’d basically set this so that the time for each is 1/2 of the time you’d expect it would take a competent person to do the task. This means that if it takes the expected 2 attempts to complete it takes as long as you think appropriate but there’s opportunities for it to happen quicker or slower.
I’d also say that doing this adds the trait “After Market Modification: complications involving this equipment cost 1 less heat to perform.” This trait can be removed either by spending 3 Momentum when performing the modification in the first place, or by attempting a new modification to remove this trait.
So adding the Expert 1 trait to a Heavy Pistol I think would take a competent gunsmith 4 hours to do (ie they can modify 2 Pistols like this in 1 work day). So I’d make that a Complex D2, 6 Momentum, 2hrs test.
For example:
My character is bored in his cabin on a space-craft en route to the next objective. He spends 1hr searching for plans on Arachne (normally this would minutes, so he spends extra time to decrease the difficulty), this is now a Education D0 or Tech/Hacking D1 test. He gets 2 Successes, generating 1 Momentum. Succeeding at the test means he gains “Plans for adding Expert to a HP”, which grant +D20 to tests to perform that modification.He pulls out his Repair Kit and attempts the modification. He dedicates 4hrs for his first attempt (-1D for doubling the time it takes), and spends 1 Part and 1 Momentum. With the bonus D20 that means he’s rolling 5D20. He generates 6 Successes, and spends the 5 Momentum generated on the complex test. He only has 1 more Momentum required, so he spends another Part which with the plans means that he’s rolling 4D20 vs D2. He generates 3 Successes and a Complication. He spends the Momentum on completing the Complex test and his GM uses the complication to add the “Field Modded” trait to the weapon (this doubles the complication range when firing this Pistol).
So now he has a HP with Expert 1, After-market Modification and Field Modded.