Back onto this, I've been trying to find the (obscure) references to ranges and how to read them.
Pg86 Attacking at Range wrote:
Heroes suffer no penalties when firing at a target within the same or adjacent areas. For each area beyond the range of the weapon used, they suffer a -1 penalty to hit.
This... doesn't read very clearly. Powers have a range defined by the Power Rank; firearms have a fixed range.
When combined with Extended Range, to give no penalty out to range 20, the weapon range of most rifles is already longer than this as written. For the average combat, Extended Range is really bad (and badly worded).
Extended Range wrote:
...no penalties for attacking targets farther than 4 areas away, up to a maximum of 20 areas. If you use such a weapon to attack someone within 4 areas you suffer double the penalties for firing at range and receive a -2 penalty when firing at targets in the same area.
So for a Rifle (Assault ammo), R quality:
Range0 / -2
1 /+0
2 /-2
3 /-4
4 /-6
5-20 / +0
21-60 / +0
61+ /-1 and goes down per area.
Possible Fixes:
Rewrite Extended Range to:
"The weapon suffers -2 per area less than 5 (making -10 penalty in the same area) and no penalty between 5 and 200 areas (out to the normal maximum range of the weapon)."