Gunpowder Missing?

[Random_dragon]

So basically a “moar dakka” mod?

[Agoelia]

Yes please, that mod would be great and actually fair to everyone. That’s why Cata is awesome, because you play the way you like it. I would do it myself, but I don’t even know how to open the json files

[Dlightfull]

Yes please, that mod would be great and actually fair to everyone. That’s why Cata is awesome, because you play the way you like it. I would do it myself, but I don’t even know how to open the json files

Have you tried double clicking (or pressing enter) on them?

[Valpo]

You could open jason files with a simple editor… but they ll probably look weird. I mean like the the format.
I usualy open these with eclipse.

[Dlightfull]

[quote=“Valpo, post:31, topic:10127”]You could open jason files with a simple editor… but they ll probably look weird. I mean like the the format.
I usualy open these with eclipse.[/quote]

i opened a json file with the very special program WordPad, made by the very special company Microsoft. PM me if you want a pirate copy of the program, since it comes in package with another very big and expensive program.

[Valpo]

No pls i avoid as much of them as i can. I already deleted my inetexplorer.

[Dlightfull]

No pls i avoid as much of them as i can. I already deleted my inetexplorer.

if i would’ve been motivated enough to check if my favourite games open in linux i would’ve used linux, but as it is, i can’t be arsed.

[Random_dragon]

You mean you don’t use wordpad to edit .json files like a certain derpdragon? XP

[Valpo]

You mean you don’t use wordpad to edit .json files like a certain derpdragon? XP

You can use it but… Its more comfortable to use a program that is meant for such things.

At least your doing something. I am to lazy to directly contribute.
Maybe i will some day… i wouldn t count on that though. So whatever you use you are achieving more then me.

[Shopkeeper]

So if smokeless gunpowder is now agreed upon as too difficult and dangerous for the average survivor to make, what about the self installation of CBM’s? That seems like a medical procedure completely impossible even for an experienced surgeon. I realize there are consequences for failure (unlike gunpowder right now), but it feels a little inconsistent to remove one ridiculously a-historical crafting recipe and leave in another. Not to mention the alpha nature of the game, or the fact it’s a game full of zombies and unrealistic fantasy and sci-fi tropes, where the last thing someone is going to question is your ability to craft gunpowder. Gee, Fred, I like this game and all but don’t you think it’s a little silly we can craft gunpowder? Like, how unrealistic is that! Wait is that another electricity-spewing corpse from outer space lets go kill it. . .

“Compact Bionics Modules (CBMs) are surgery kits that contain all the tools required to install a cybernetic implant, also called bionics, in a human. They are automated in some ways, but manufacturers’ warranties insist on having a fully qualified technician and medical doctor to assist in the installation–in a proper medical facility.”

The main thing about CBMs is less ‘you are operating on yourself’ and more ‘you program and oversee the procedure to ensure nothing catastrophic happens’ thus the reason succesful install chance increases with medical, technical, and electronic knowledge. You know how to tell when something’s gone wrong, what to do to fix it, and how to tell the CBM to do it. The only real issue is the fact that currently you can just instantly install them. You should have to lie down somewhere and let it work for an hour or two, and being interrupted in the middle of it should have dire consequences.

This just boils down to the design philosophy of the game not really making any sense to me, but I'm not here for that larger discussion. Removing gunpowder due to the unrealistic nature of it's production seems a little overboard when it comes to maintaining realism in an apocalypse simulator.

Honestly this is probably one of the more crucial changes when it comes to apocalypse realism. While it’s usually just glazed over in post-apocalyptic fiction, there is one place in the country that manufactures the stuff necessary to make modern firearm quality smokeless powder and there is a 99.9999999% chance that the place is gone/blown up and its staff dead or zombified. This means the only way to get more in the short term is to disassemble other ammunition for its primers and gunpowder (or go about digging up minefields). Just like you have to scavenge for gas or diesel, because short of existing stockpiles nobody is going to be making anymore anytime soon. The facilities designed for its creation are gone, the knowledge of its craft are all but lost, and its likely the human expertise is dead and gone as well.

This doesn’t mean however that a sufficently advanced late game survivor and their small army of followers couldn’t make a dedicated effort at piecing together the equipment, knowledge, and expertise necessary to jump start production again. But that’s something that would have to wait for further fleshing out of NPCs and the faction mechanics.

And, I don't play the experimentals, but are you still able to craft reloaded ammunition? Like with gunpowder that you find lying around? Or has gunpowder been removed entirely from the game? If the former is still the case than I'm not too frustrated by this decision, just a little frightened by whats to come.

Yep, dissembling unneeded ammunition or using scavenged gunpowder in order to reload your own rounds is exactly what this change is suppose to encourage.

Edit: Okay, guys seriously. This is like to fourth thread where some of you have just gone off the rails. Please, take it over to General.

[Random_dragon]

Maybe, though it’s usually quite comfortable so long as the text itself is formatted right. Awful lot of the files in the game have sporadic bits of drunken formatting, or simply inconsistencies in general.

[Belteshazzar]

I’ll just point out that if we really want to take this route of realism then all gasoline vehicles should be completely useless within a single year, that shit can’t just sit around, it decays into a flammable, but otherwise unusable blend of hydrocarbons and vapors.

Diesel fuel can last MUCH longer, but isn’t quite available on every street-corner and car wreck (thankfully it’s usually stored in much larger quantities) and requires proper upkeep (algicides and well maintained storage facilities) to last to a decade or so of usability.

Before anyone suggests, proper fractional distillation of fuel is well beyond the preview of most survivor bands, you’d need at least a well equipped kingdom of sorts to manage both the manpower required for fuel extraction and refinery and then the farmers to feed those workers.

[Random_dragon]

Problem with that is we don’t really have “decays into other material” as an option. Brewing might work but is a tad wonky, whereas regular decay would make it rot away into nothing, and I don’t think engines care if the fuel is rotten.

[Shopkeeper]

I feel like that’d be something that falls into the category of realism butting heads with fun. Deathmobiles are an integral part of the Cataclysm experience. Sure you could convert something to run off of electric solar power exclusively but then you’d have people questioning the dedgration of solar cells… Firearms are a useful tool that require you to use your survivor wits and a bit of inventive ingenuity in order to keep on shooting once your vanilla ammunition starts to run low.

[Random_dragon]

Basically, realism should enhance gameplay rather than detract from it. And breaks from reality should be for when the the realistic option makes thing worse. Given ammo is usually available to some extent, crafting smokeless powder isn’t essential unless you’re managing to make a game last quite a long while.

[ShinQuickMan]

Noisy, and limited ammunition stock with no reliable way of sustaining that. Yep. I’ve had no regrets for not even bothering with conventional firearms in this game since I first started playing, and by the looks of it, it seems that’s not going to change anytime soon.

[Random_dragon]

I do use guns at times, and again I find it easy enough to stay supplied if used carefully. Either have a huge collection of guns and use whatever you have the most ammo for, or pick one very high-power efficient weapon and break down all other ammo to feed it.

[Valpo]

I recently used a carbine to shoot down a hulk on the friggin first day of my playthrough. it was super effective.
The weapon saved my life there.
You ll probably only need weapons like this early in the game when you are inexperienced.
And lateron i find it hard to even find a situation where id need to fire a gun.

[TheWumpus]

I would like to point out, probably redundantly here, that anyone REALLY upset about the removal of smokeless powder making from the future of CDDA should just grab 0.C or an older version, use a simple .json editor (I use JSONedit) and edit it back into the recipes file. Problem solved. Heck, someone will probably have a mod available before too long reintroducing it.

And while I would LIKE to cite situations such as Fallout and Wasteland, where gunpowder manufacturing has been (at least partially) reestablished, they are also something like at least 75-100 years in the future.

As for that guy fucking up his .45-70 hand load…well there’s a reason there’s 20+ different smokeless powder compounds on the market.

I still want to reiterate the possibility of using black powder to hand load modern style ammunition. If you have a suitable primer it works just fine. It will have reduced power and does gunk up weapons much faster. In something like an older style lever gun/revolver it’s not that big a deal. I wouldn’t try it in an AR variant, or a modern hunting rifle with tight tolerances. In something like an 03A3 or K98 it would probably work as well, but the weapon would require cleaning after 10 rounds or so.

[Random_dragon]

So if you were insane enough, you could load a semi-auto with blackpowder handloads?

…I might be in favor of adding this for .22 LR and other rounds that existed back before the advent of smokeless powder.