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Fighting with a sword in each hand is objectively cool-looking, but I'm not quite sure how to do it effectively in Starfinder. It looks, from my perspective at least, like the devs strongly encourage you to limit dual-wielding to small things like knives and pistols, and to especially focus on the Operative class, who gets the most bang for their buck out of such weapons.
So if I wanted to dual-wield actual swords (long, plasma, wailing, etc.) and didn't want to be Solid Snake, the character that immediately comes to mind when I hear the word "Operative," what AM I left with in terms of options? Can it be done, at least well enough that I can meaningfully contribute in combat so the twin swords aren't just for show?
Feat boosts are the answer you're looking for.
Multi Weapon Strike
As a standard action, you can make two attacks against a single foe, taking a –3 penalty to each attack. Both attacks must be made using small arms or operative melee weapons. If both attacks hit and deal the same type of damage, combine the damage and apply damage reduction, resistances, vulnerabilities, and similar effects only once
Multi Weapon Versatility
You treat all one-handed melee weapons as if they had the operative special property for the purpose of determining whether they benefit from the Multi-Weapon Fighting feat and any other combat feats and feat boosts that list Multi-Weapon Fighting as a prerequisite.
As an alternative to multi Weapon Versatility, there's also...
Finesse Striker
You add half your soldier level to damage rolls using weapons with the operative special property.
Having the ability to attack with each sword as a standard action then let's you start looking at other feats and class abilities, to expand your options when you don't need to move.
The ability to perform a similar action with a 1-handed melee weapon and a small arm is the 12th level theme ability for Space Pirate.
If you have a Technomancer buddy the Arcane Virus hack lets him put a stored spell on each weapon (if they're tech and not analog), allowing you to activate a buff spell on yourself from the first attack you do with each weapon. It's a big boost to using multiple weapons, since those are the most efficient way to activate the spells in combat.
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If a vanguard is using Entropic Strike through those swords, they can benefit from the Multi-Weapon Fighting feat.
But still, there is no inherent benefit to carrying 2 weapons, just specific abilities to take advantage of them. If you want a "general case" answer to how any character can benefit from 2 non-operative melee weapons, other than having two weapons that cover different properties (like the standard weapon solarian tactic of carrying an offhand reach weapon for increased threat range) or energy types, or doubling up on 1/day fusions like entangling, then you will be out of luck.
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If a vanguard is using Entropic Strike through those swords, they can benefit from the Multi-Weapon Fighting feat.
But still, there is no inherent benefit to carrying 2 weapons, just specific abilities to take advantage of them. If you want a "general case" answer to how any character can benefit from 2 non-operative melee weapons, other than having two weapons that cover different properties (like the standard weapon solarian tactic of carrying an offhand reach weapon for increased threat range) or energy types, or doubling up on 1/day fusions like entangling, then you will be out of luck.
Wait, there are 1-handed reach weapons? I thought reach weapons were things like pikes and lances.
I'm not looking so much for advantages as much as wondering how much work mitigating the penalties are. I was under the impression that dual-wielding was a major investment that required you to either play a class that got a lot of feats and make that your "thing" like a fighter/soldier, or a class that had it baked into its features so you weren't penalized for it, like a ranger/operative.
The way you're describing it makes it sound like you can either just have two weapons as part of a standard full attack, where having a pair of identical weapons would effectively be the same as using one weapon twice, or you can go all in on it as your thing as an operative or soldier, but it'll only really do more if you're committing to specific gimmicks.
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Yes, there are 1 handed reach weapons, like taclashes, plasma lashes and disintegrator lashes.
No feat of any type is needed to use 2 weapons in a normal full attack without penalty. That's a thing in PF and dnd3, not SF, and it is best not to assume a PF rule in SF, until you actually see it in the SF books, because a lot of things aren't quite the same.
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Yes, there are 1 handed reach weapons, like taclashes, plasma lashes and disintegrator lashes.
No feat of any type is needed to use 2 weapons in a normal full attack without penalty. That's a thing in PF and dnd3, not SF, and it is best not to assume a PF rule in SF, until you actually see it in the SF books, because a lot of things aren't quite the same.
Oh, whips! I completely forgot about those. DERP!
Thank you for the clarification. It sounds like if I wanna be a paladin-y two-sword user maybe a Divine Champion Soldier would fit or something...