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Does wearing an efficient bandolier shorten the reload action to a Swiss action?
That would be too cheesy.
It doesn’t appear to actually do much of anything except for using grenades. Maybe they intended that though.
So you still have to use a move action to reload your weapon? That doesn't make sense. You can just use a move action to pull out a new magazine and reload normally. I'm thinking they meant the bandolier to allow you to reload using a swift action.
They could have meant that. It’s not what they wrote.
Does wearing an efficient bandolier shorten the reload action to a Swiss action?
No.
every edition seems to make some sort of bandolier to make drawing/.reloading faster and in production it gets nerfed and then no one notices the nerfed version does approximately nothing
I wouldn't be surprised if the swift action was to just to ensure people don't try to apply the "need to take a manipulate an object" action to get things out of a container thing.
You can tell this item is just FUBAR by the conflation of compartments dedicated to specific weapon types that only hold 1 bulk of ammo - an irrelevant distinction for the four weapon types that can hold totally interchangeable batteries or use three different types of physical ammo.
It probably lets you carry 5 bulk of ammo in a L bulk item. Yay? You can squeeze in 40k charges if you use negligible bulk 80 charge batteries.
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It probably lets you carry 5 bulk of ammo in a L bulk item. Yay?
That is the use case for the bandolier.
Like anything else it’s situational and depends on your build. A petrol tank is 1 bulk, so this lets you carry around 5 tanks for 1 L bulk. Which can be retrieved as a swift action instead of the move action a Starfinder backpack requires. Probably the most useful for someone using a missile launcher (1 bulk per missile).
Swift action reloads (as gear) is the province of the manufacturing fusion.
Well, the backpack is a bulk increaser. If I strap on the back pack i have more bulk, whether its 400 sack lunches in the backpack or the ysoki i throw over my shoulders and run out with.
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While it is possible that the original idea for the bandolier did more, the published version does have use. But again: it's the bulk decrease that matters. And it's not that useful for every build. If you only use weapons that use batteries - yeah, not really helpful. Just carry spares around as part of your accessible gear.
But lets say you are wearing Skyfire Pinion Armor and carrying an IMDS Missile Launcher. If you want to carry around 5 missile reloads as part of your gear you need at least 18 strength to avoid being encumbered. Assuming you aren't carrying any other gear or bulky armor upgrades.
Longarm/heavy weapon users quite often run into encumbrance issues, particularly if they also use heavy armor. Because their focus is on ranged combat they tend to have lower strength scores than melee characters. So the bandolier can be a helpful item. (Also remember that the bandolier appeared in the CRB. Other ways of increasing carrying capacity/decreasing bulk appeared in later books.)
I think if the intent of the item were to be for super heavy ammo it would be a portable missile silo or something. The concept and nerf still left it with a niche (a really nicheniche?), but I think its in that niche almost on accident.
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You know what? I just re-read the whole thread, closely parsed Xenocrat's post, then went back and read the item one more time, and I was completely missing something.
This bandolier fits over any Medium creature and contains five compartments, each corresponding to a specific type of weapon: melee weapons, small arms, longarms, heavy weapons, and explosives. Each compartment contains an extradimensional space designed to house up to 1 bulk of ammunition or batteries (for this purpose, 10 batteries or pieces of ammunition with no bulk count as having light bulk).
Now I'm really uncertain and confused. What's the point of the bolded section (bolding mine)? My "Five Missiles" strategy doesn't seem to work if I can only put a missile in the heavy weapons pocket. Even though it doesn't explicitly say they aren't interchangeable, the designations sure point that way. But then where do batteries fit? . . .
OK, I'm with everyone else now. This item had to have been written with an earlier version of the rules than those in the final published book. Maybe a system where ammo retrieval was more laborious and definitely one where ammo was less interchangeable.
"OK, we need one more item, we're all tired, loopy, and highly caffeinated and/or slightly inebriated. Here's the deal. Everyone write up an item that sounds useful but turns out on really close examination to be as close to useless as possible. You have 5 minutes. Cleverest idea gets published!"
"Hmmm, here's one that lets you carry two more bulk but is two bulk itself. Here's a weapon that targets grid intersections. . . oh, only the intersection, it doesn't hit the surrounding squares at all. Here's a bandolier. . . wait, this is actually useful, and only 2000 credits! Why wouldn't I buy it?! Oh, I see now, no one is actually going to be carrying around 5 different types of weapons. Oh, and it doesn't actually take any action to retrieve ammo, so that doesn't help, and as for the ammo weight issue. . . you know what? We have a winner!"
This seems to be a problem for any kind of cool backpack or loading thing.
What I think happens is someone starts with realistic "hey, it would be cool if my backpack/bandolier could teleport stuff to my hand or hand me the thing i need" (and seeing how expensive some tactical and toolbelts are, I think that would be a real market for magitech...)
But the rules are already abstracted enough that your characters items strapped somewhere handy already function that way. There's a very narrow space in between "handier than is realistic" and "doesn't do anything by the rules" : especially when the rules are still being written and moving around.
Pathfinders bandolier and efficient quiver smacked pretty hard into don't do anything territory. You can already hold 60 arrows on your person and draw any of them you want the second you need an adamantine arrow with the cold iron blanch.
The starfinder backpack, gear pouches, and cheek pouches have all nailed that space because they apply to things other than ammo. Ammo is already accessible, appears automatically in your hand, and you always get what you reach for instantly. making it any easier than that messes with ammo limits to the point of eliminating them completely. And some things are built around that (automatic fire weapons and weapons with very low ammo capacity)
This seems to be a problem for any kind of cool backpack or loading thing.
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especially when the rules are still being written and moving around.
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The starfinder backpack, gear pouches, and cheek pouches have all nailed that space because they apply to things other than ammo. Ammo is already accessible, appears automatically in your hand, and you always get what you reach for instantly. making it any easier than that messes with ammo limits to the point of eliminating them completely. And some things are built around that (automatic fire weapons and weapons with very low ammo capacity)
I Concur with BigNorseWolf.