Rifle Combat; Who Fires First?

[John Robinson]

When using a rifle.

Who Fires First?  One of the most important questions in STF.

Making a good Initiative roll is obvious, but not what I need to know.

1.) Falcon XE : "Uses Strength and Rifle Skill" 
     Will high Strength and Rifle skill pools increase the chances of getting a shot off before the enemy does?
 

2.) Keening Sniper: "Uses Quickness and Rifle Skill"
     Will high Quickness combined with the Rifle skill pool increase the chances of first shot?

[tenbsmith]

I'd really like to know this too. Really important when considering initiative-based self-buffs.

[Brutus Aurelius]

Wisdom and Quickness are the Attributes used for Initiative. Weapon skill does not have an effect as far as I know

[fallen]

Initiative is not based directly on weapon, but if you look at the equation, Quickness is. So, if you're high Quickness, consider high quickness weapons!
startraders.gamepedia.com/Crew_Combat_Initiative

[John Robinson]

Nov 26, 2017 16:15:23 GMT -5 fallen said:

Initiative is not based directly on weapon, but if you look at the equation, Quickness is. So, if you're high Quickness, consider high quickness weapons!
startraders.gamepedia.com/Crew_Combat_Initiative

I'm still a bit confused, and could use a little more help.

Wiki;
"Each character's Crew Combat Initiative is equal to the following equation. It is important to note that all
Initiative bonuses are added after the Big Dice is rolled, meaning they are static and not part of the roll.

Crew Combat Initiative = Big Dice((Quickness + Wisdom)/2)) + Initiative Bonuses"

Should the formula have one more "+" in it?  Like so:
Crew Combat Initiative = Big Dice + ((Quickness + Wisdom)/2)) + Initiative Bonuses"

1.) In the above equation what is "Big Dice"?

2.) To clarify; Strength plays no part in initiative,  So what does it do when firing a rifle?  
     Why would I want to raise Strength above the default number?
 
3.) There is only one rifle using quickness, and it cannot fire AOE. All other rifles use Strength.  All pistols use Quickness.

[tenbsmith]

John, the wiki explains 'Big Dive.' "In some situations, a single Big Die is used to generate a number. In the case of rolling a Big Dice, a single large die with many sides is rolled. For example, you might roll Crew Combat Initiative of 18 on a Big Die, which is equivalent to rolling a D18." startraders.gamepedia.com/Dice_Mechanics

I suspect that increased strength improves accuracy and/or damage on strength based weapons. Would like to know though.

I'm starting to imagine an officer with Spy, Pistoleer and very high quickness and wisdom...

[John Robinson]

Nov 26, 2017 19:34:43 GMT -5 tenbsmith said:

John, the wiki explains 'Big Dive.' "In some situations, a single Big Die is used to generate a number. In the case of rolling a Big Dice, a single large die with many sides is rolled. For example, you might roll Crew Combat Initiative of 18 on a Big Die, which is equivalent to rolling a D18." startraders.gamepedia.com/Dice_Mechanics

I suspect that increased strength improves accuracy and/or damage on strength based weapons. Would like to know though.

I'm starting to imagine an officer with Spy, Pistoleer and very high quickness and wisdom...

tenbsmith Thanks for pointing out the wiki. I wonder how we can estimate what size big die will be used.

For example we know critical hits are tested against a D100.

[fallen]

The 3 dice mechanics are explained on the wiki here:
startraders.gamepedia.com/Dice_Mechanics

Strong/Weak Dice, Big Dice, and Percentage Dice.

If you had 20 Quickness and 10 Wisdom .. you'd get BigDice((20+10)/2) = BigDice((30)/2)) = BigDice(15) ... means you roll a D15.

[John Robinson]

Thanks fallen !

That's just what I needed; An example with real numbers plugged in.

Really appreciate the help.

[tenbsmith]

Now I'm curious what strength does for strength-based weapons...

[cooperton]

Han shoots first.
Always.

But I'm still gonna pay attention to this thread for the STF answer.