Heavies vs Snipers

I am the same. Pistols are back up weapons and generally much weaker than proper long arms. But
They are 1 ap and kill worms perfectly.
They are 0 AP with quick aim for Infinite damage per turn (terms & conditions apply)
They do more damage per AP than Sniper rifles against low (no) armour which is marginally relevant against bigger or closer targets (maybe strip armour with the weakspot ability - I mostly plan to deal with high armour by shredding it).

I always look for self defence specialist for heavies, or people who might MC into heavies, more for PDW than Pistols but Pistols contribute early game.

I also find Synedrion laser weapons better than early NJ weapons and not sufficiently weaker than the piercing ones to really worry about that, especially given the god tier Ancient Sniper Rifle & Shotgun. (except the Piercing PDW or turret which are just << the advanced laser ones)

1 Like

Imo, a shotgun / pistol will not allow you to fire a “judicious” direct shot at the desired part of the body when the enemy should actually prevent you from firing.
Using etermes video as an example.
Give Rapid Clearance diminishing returns - #69 by etermes


Add
In this case, speaking about the RC, each “received” AP should add a penalty on accuracy, which should be stacked.